73rd Nevada session starts today

Monday, Feb. 7, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Taxes, marijuana and improving Nevada schools are among the major issues that will confront the 73rd Nevada Legislature that was to open at noon today.

The 63 lawmakers -- 42 in the Assembly and 21 in the Senate -- will devote themselves to ceremonial functions such as electing officers and passing a bill to finance the first part of the session.

The session, expected to cost $18 million to $19 million, will last 120 days unless the legislators can't finish their work and Gov. Kenny Guinn has to convene a special session.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said there are several "tough" problems to deal with but he thinks work can be completed in the 120 days. Guinn doesn't see this session rivaling the 2003 Legislature when lawmakers couldn't agree on taxes until their second special session during the summer.

"The height of interest is not what it was two years ago," Guinn said.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said this session "will be easier. Nothing can be as bad as things were last session." But there will still be major issues to tackle.

The Legislature will have to find a way to balance government income with escalating land value and thus higher property taxes. Lawmakers will also be dealing with several proposals to spend a surplus as well a proposals to bolster health care and education.

The session kicks off with a series of parties, receptions, lunches and dinners hosted by lobbyists who hope to curry favor with the legislators. The first is Tuesday night, sponsored by Carson City and other local governments in the area.

More than 500 paid lobbyists are expected to register to try to influence legislators during the session.

So far more than 55 bills have been pre-filed for introduction on the opening day. They include measures to imposition of the death penalty on people who are younger than 18 when they kill. There are also bills to require full-day kindergarten and to allow local governments to install digital or video equipment at intersections to nab errant motorists.

More than 1,000 bills and resolutions have been requested and a couple of hundred of these are expected to be ready and delivered to legislators for introduction during the opening week.

The most pressing issue in the early session will be skyrocketing property value leading to higher taxes. Assemblyman Richard Perkins, D-Henderso, who is expected to again be elected the Assembly's speaker, wants to put a cap on the valuations that have risen, in some places, 30-40 percent. Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, suggests freezing the value at last year's rate to give the lawmakers time to study the impact of skyrocketing property taxes.

The Assembly Growth and Infrastructure Committee, led by Perkins, and the Senate Taxation Committee start taking testimony Tuesday in trying to work out a solution. City and county officials are scheduled to testify about the effect of any tax freeze or tax limit on their operations.

Raggio said, "It's the toughest issue we have. I know we have to deal with it promptly. But there are a lot of ramifications whatever you do with it, whether it's a freeze or a cap."

Any plan must be completed within the first two months to give the assessors time to prepare the tax bills.

Raggio said this session would be faced with big issues including the governor's plan to put an additional $50 million a year into low-performing schools and the proposal to rebate $300 million to owners of motor vehicles who registered with the DMV last year. The plan would give people up to $300 per vehicle. Raggio said the rebate plan "is up in the air."

Buckley plans to push for a state solution to the health care crisis in Southern Nevada where hospital emergency rooms are being filled with mentally ill patients.

And the Legislature has to find a way to improve the schools as well, Buckley said. The proficiency and graduation rates are "horrible" now, she said.

Lawmakers also want to make changes to the $833.5 million tax plan enacted two years ago.

In this opening week, Secretary of State Dean Heller will deliver three initiative petitions dealing with allowing Nevadans to possess one ounce of marijuana and two of them competing plans to limit smoking in public buildings.

The Legislature has 40 days to act on them or they will be on the statewide ballot in 2006 for the voters to approve or reject.

Heller will officially open the Assembly at noon and then give way after the House elects Perkins as its speaker. Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt presides over the Senate.

Democrats control the Assembly 26-16 while Republicans are in charge of the Senate 12-9.

Each lawmaker will be paid a $130 per day salary for the first 60 days of the session. Each is also paid $91 per diem, each day, for the entire session. Each lawmaker also is allowed $2,800 for telephone expenses and $60 for postage. They receive free stationary as well. . They also have a travel allowance of $6,800 to permit their return home on weekends. Out of that $6,800, the legislators from outside the area can use up to $600 a month to pay for lodging, says Lorne Malkiewich, director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

Those in leadership and committee chairmen and chairwomen each receive an additional $900 for the session.

There are 10 freshmen in the Assembly and three in the Senate. Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, moved from the Assembly to the Senate. Assembly members Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City, and Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, served previously in the Assembly but were not at the 2003 session.

An estimated 260 extra staff have been added for the session including secretaries, janitors and security. The attaches came on board in early January for training.

This is the last session for Guinn whose term ends in January 2007, and though Perkins and Titus have already announced that they want to succeed Guinn, a Republican, Democrats say that competition won't create any problems.

Buckley said Perkins and Titus are good leaders and "their gubernatorial aspirations will not create acrimony." She said she and the other Democrats "are not going to fight among ourselves."