Assembly almost forgets Canadian drug bill

Wednesday, June 8, 2005 | 9:40 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nobody liked the ending of the Nevada Legislature Tuesday, but it did avoid a blooper.

Lawmakers worked more than 29 hours straight through Monday night into Tuesday and finally called it quits -- at 12:38 p.m. in the Assembly and 12:43 p.m. in the Senate.

"It was awful. This should have been resolved two weeks ago," said Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas. People were exhausted, she said.

The final bill passed was to allow Nevadans to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. But the Assembly, where the measure had strong support, almost forgot to approve it.

The bill was passed from the Senate to the Assembly. Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, then sent three Assembly members to notify the governor the House was ready to adjourn. It wasn't until newspaper reporters alerted some to the potential mishap.

When Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, learned of the error, she cried out, "Oh My God. We're so tired. Oh my God." And then she started laughing.

Buckley and the Assembly Democrats had made the Canadian drug bill one of their major planks in their agenda.

Realizing its plight, the Assembly quickly voted, approving Senate Bill 5 by 35-0 and sending it to Gov. Kenny Guinn, who said he would sign the measure.

The governor, who had indicated he might not approve the bill, said there is regulation in the plan.

But he added, "We don't expect thousands of people to use it but it's an alternative."

It was a session of the changing of the guard. Perkins is going to run for governor and will not be back. Neither will Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, a Republican, who has also indicated she will challenge for governor.

Titus is also in the race for governor, but if she loses, her Senate term doesn't expire for two more years.

Assemblyman John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, the senior member of the House, said he didn't know whether he would seek another term. He has served since 1981.

Titus said, "There are going to be a lot of changes."

Buckley, in her closing remarks to the Assembly, said "We did a lot to be proud of. Don't let this one day overshadow your work."

Perkins said he hoped that Buckley would succeed him as speaker in the 2007 Assembly.

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said "It wasn't pretty" but "we worked together" with the Democrats.

Hettrick said 90 percent of the public probably doesn't know the Legislature conducted a special session because "most people are busy living their own lives."

The deadline for the regular session of the Legislature to end was 1 a.m. Tuesday. But they didn't make it. So Guinn agreed to call a special session to start at 3 a.m. to last for four hours. He put a dozen items on the agenda. But then the glitches kicked in.

When the special session convened all the numbers on the original bills were junked and the legislation was assigned new numbers.

But bills were not prepared correctly. The Senate started approving bills before it was allowed to. Copies of the bills were not ready for distribution and lawmakers complained about "flying blind."

Guinn gave an extension to 10 a.m. and then made it noon. The lawmakers didn't make the deadline set by Guinn.

Democratic senators complained that the governor has no power to limit the special session. Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said Guinn can convene a session but he can't limit the time. He said the governor made it appear there were three special sessions, rather than one. Others agreed including Titus, who said she called former Democratic Sen. Joe Neal of Las Vegas, who is knowledgeable of constitutional law.

And distrust between the Republican controlled-Senate and the Democratic Assembly continued until the end. The Senate would not pass the Canadian prescription drug bill until the Assembly had approved an energy measure the Senate wanted.

Senators watched the Assembly on the Internet and when the lower house approved the energy bill, the Senate voted out the prescription bill.

"We held it (the drug bill) to determine if they were going to pass the energy bill," Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said.

The bill requires the state to cut its energy consumption by 20 percent by 2015 and to use a high-energy efficiency code when constructing new building.

The other major legislation approved by the Assembly included $22 million to start a full-day kindergarten program in 2007 at 118 schools and a bill to finance the Millennium Scholarship program. Guinn told reporters the Millennium Scholarship measure was his major concern because it will affect thousands of lives of students in the future. He said these students will help Nevada enter the high-tech world and reduce its reliance on gaming.

Guinn pushed for the creation of the scholarship program after he came into office in 1999. It is funded with money from the settlement with the tobacco companies although has seen its revenue dip as the settlement money has lessened.

While the governor decided on 12 bills that lawmakers would take up in the 22nd special session, there were scores of bills that failed in the closing hours of the regular session because they could not be processed in time.

This is the third consecutive session that the Legislature has not met its 120-day deadline. And some are wondering if that is too short a time in view of the rising population and the complex problems.

But Raggio said without the 120-day deadline, this Legislature would have run until August. When there was no deadline, sessions in the past ran more than 160 days.

It was the hang-up between the houses on the Millennium Scholarship bill that resulted in delays and the failure to adjourn on time. After the regular session ended, Guinn got together with lawmakers and worked out a compromise.

The bill on Canadian drugs sat in the Senate since June 4 with the Assembly waiting for agreement. Time ran out before the Senate could act, and it was taken up in the special session.

The bill allows the state Board of Pharmacy to license Canadian pharmacies. Nevadans could then order their drugs through the Internet or through mail order.

Drugs from Canada must be approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration. And a person could not order more than a three months supply.

The lawmakers gave $400,000 to the Nevada Commission on Sports for Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and they passed and sent to the governor legislation strengthening the Equal Rights Commission to deal with housing discrimination.

There was a so-called "pork bill" in which $35.8 million would be spent on special projects.

Another bill responded to a federal court order that declared part of Nevada's initiative and referendum process unconstitutional. The lawmakers approved a plan to require that initiative and referendum petitions must bear the signatures of 10 percent of the voters in the three congressional districts.

The referendum bill must return for approval in the 2007 session and then be ratified by the voters.

The Legislature decided to wait for more studies before moving the state Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse to under the state Division of Mental Health and Development Services. A study will be conducted in the meantime, and nothing is planned until 2007.