‘Dracula,’ other bills refuse to stay dead

Erin Neff

Friday, May 23, 2003 | 10:28 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- When the legislative session begins winding down, lawmakers begin looking for vehicles.

Not the ones that will drive them the 426 miles back to Clark County, but the ones that will move their beloved proposals from death's door back into the realm of possibility.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, calls Senate Bill 308 "Dracula" because the proposal that local governments hate has re-emerged in a Senate tax proposal.

SB308, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, died earlier in the sesssion without a vote. It would let the state share in future growth of local property tax revenue.

Other Senate bills also are being hijacked by Assembly Democrats looking for a way to move their pet plans to the governor.

A credit scoring bill that didn't get a hearing in the Senate was amended into a routine insurance bill. The amendment prohibits insurance companies from using a driver's credit report to set auto rates.

Another Assembly bill that died in the Senate was revised in an amendment Thursday. Senate Bill 425, a pharmacy bill, now contains language that a pharmacist must fill a prescription, even if he disagrees morally.

The original bill doing that was pushed by Planned Parenthood in response to a Carson City pharmacist that refused to fill a prescription for birth control.

Numerous Assembly Republicans opposed the amendment Thursday, with Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, saying: "Moral, ethical and religious reasons do play a part in the pharmacist's job and should be honored."

A proposal to require young children to ride in booster seats was reprised in an amendment to Senate Bill 116 on Thursday in the Assembly.

All children 6 years or 60 pounds and under would be required to be secured in a booster seat when traveling in a vehicle under the amended bill.

Senate Bill 370, sponsored by Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, is a measure authorizing small counties to increase property tax to pay for the abatement of invasive species, certain endemic pests and weeds.

The bill was intended to wipe out grasshoppers munching uncontrollably on alfalfa and other crops in rural counties. But when it was put on the chief clerk's desk this week, it soon became clear it was going to be the vehicle for Assembly Democrats to reduce the vehicle registration tax.