Brothel, TV tax among dying bills

Kirsten Searer

Monday, April 18, 2005 | 10:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Some died, most lived.

Legislative committees had until Friday to give an initial OK to most bills now in front of the Legislature.

No official numbers are out yet, but most of the Assembly's 556 bills and the Senate's 506 measures made it through their first deadline.

Typically, about 100 bills die in each house after the first deadline, said Legislative Counsel Bureau director Lorne Malkiewich.

"Today is the biggest bill killing day of the session," he said on Friday.

Bills that are now among the dead: A new tax on satellite television viewers, a tax on brothels, a bill to stop daylight-saving time in the state and a bill that would specifically prohibit day care centers from taping children's mouths shut.

Committees could subtly kill bills by not voting on them by Friday, as the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee did when it didn't take up a bill to foster health savings accounts in the state.

Or committees could specifically vote "no" on a bill, as the Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee did when it voted against a bill that would prohibit public officers from using government time or equipment to work on political campaigns.

The bill was proposed by Sen. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, in response to charges last year that Controller Kathy Augustine had her employees work on her campaign.

Legislators are now over the hump -- they have completed 70 of the scheduled 120 days of the session.

Many committee chairs expressed relief Friday that one of the toughest parts of the session is now over. The Assembly Judiciary Committee, for example, heard 91 of the 105 bills that were sent to the committee.

It took motions on 54, said chairman and Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks.

The Assembly Education Committee more than doubled the number of bills it heard last year, said the new chairwoman, Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City. And the Assembly Government Affairs Committee heard all but nine of the 108 bills it received, said chairman David Parks, D-Las Vegas.

Other bills that died last week include:

Sun Capital Bureau Chief Cy Ryan contributed to this story.