Columnist Jon Ralston: Folly in mad rush of bills

Friday, March 25, 2005 | 3:31 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the Ralston Report. He can be reached at (702) 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com.

WEEKEND EDITION

March 26 - 27, 2005

I try to take The Gang of 63 seriously. Really, I do.

But if that old definition of insanity holds true -- repeating the same action again and again and expecting different results -- start measuring me for the Norman Bates outfit. After the events of the last week in Carson City, I fear my biennial dementia has returned.

It began with lawmakers, who missed the last deadline of last session, ignoring the first deadline of this session. Monday was the deadline for introducing bills but it fast became apparent that it was evanescent. And the Gang of 63 did what it does best -- it blamed someone else (in this case, staff) for forcing them to blow through the barrier, which like the 120-day session limit is clearly set not in stone but in Jello.

And what important legislation compelled capital leaders to arbitrarily move the deadline to Friday? What bills needed to be introduced to protect the health, safety and welfare of the populace? What thoughtful, visionary laws are required so the Gang of 63 could ensure they don't fail to surpass the much-coveted 1,000 mark in total bills considered by sine die?

Consider some of the 350 bills introduced last week -- look upon these works and despair. First the Assembly:

The upper house didn't elevate the debate much, but there are fewer silly bills (then again, there are fewer senators than assemblymen). A couple of them:

I acknowledge -- and I have experience at this -- that the Gang of 63 is easy to ridicule, mostly because they are so skilled at making themselves look ridiculous. But that is not to say that there is no reason for hope.

Some bills with potential were introduced last week, such as state Sen. Terry Care's attempt to more reasonably define when a lawmaker has a conflict. And the Gang of 63 actually appears to be near a reasonable compromise on property taxes.

Of course it took Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley and Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, two thoughtful lawmakers coincidentally not seeking higher office, to push this to where it should have started -- harnessing the "severe economic hardship" statute as a mechanism to help those truly in need.

So instead of always fretting about legislating to the LCDs -- Lowest Common Denominator seems charitable and the hectoring, irrational masses often are the Loons Crying Death -- perhaps the property tax debate will end up being one where policy won out over politics. And maybe instead of fretting about whether they should criminalize taping a kid's mouth shut in school, lawmakers should consider yet another bill making it mandatory to apply the duct tape to any member of the Gang of 63 who introduces a vacuous bill or says something really inane.

That ought to keep it quiet up there until June.