Legislative briefs for March 17, 2005

Thursday, March 17, 2005 | 10:54 a.m.

Homestead hike is questioned

A bill to boost the homestead protection to $500,000 from $200,000 ran into opposition before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

The homestead law is there to protect people from a forced sale of their homes if they are hit with a civil judgment. "The exemption is to allow somebody to have a roof over their heads," said Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas. "But it should not be so high as to allow the judgment-debtor to escape his transgressions altogether."

"That's precisely why O.J. Simpson moved to Florida where the (homestead) exemption is the house and the land it is on," said Care.

Jim Nadeau, representing the Nevada Association of Realtors, and Ernie Nielsen of the Washoe County Senior Law Project both supported the bill.

Nadeau said the homestead exemption "keeps people in their homes," but he added it's up to the committee to determine the amount of the exemption.

The committee asked its staff to research the average price of a home, so that might be the amount that is protected from a forced sale of the property.

Panel approves building funds

The Assembly Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday approved a bill for $17 million in early funding for construction projects, part of which will be used for building an additional 40-bed wing at the mental hospital now under construction in Las Vegas.

Assembly Bill 204 allows $10.3 million for the addition to the 140-bed hospital and for other improvements to the facility at Jones and Oakey Boulevards.

The 2003 Legislature allocated money for the construction and the state Public Works Board estimated the cost at $25.7 million, but the low bid in December by Sletten Companies was $27.8 million.

The board received permission to defer $3.7 million worth of construction and award the bid to Sletten. That $3.7 million is in AB204 plus enough money for the added wing to give a total bed capacity of 190 beds.

The committee deleted $8 million from the bill to repair the outside of the Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas, where the tile is falling off. Removal of the tile is under way.

Help sought for well owners

Well owners who can't meet the federal safe water drinking standards would be eligible for a grant from the state to hook up to municipal water systems, under a bill approved by the Senate 21-0 Wednesday.

Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, said this would not force well owners to connect to publicly owned water systems. At present there is a $90 million state fund that allows municipal water systems to apply for grants to make improvements to meet the federal standards.

The bill would extend those eligible to well owners.

Hardy cited problems, mainly in rural Nevada, with arsenic in the water. Passage of the bill would provide financial help for the well owner to tie into the municipal system. Senate Bill 19 goes to the Assembly.