Lawmakers to rule on cab recorders

Monday, May 2, 2005 | 10:49 a.m.

The Legislative Counsel Bureau will ask the Nevada Legislature within the next month whether it wishes to reject a regulation from the Nevada Taxicab Authority that allows taxicabs to be equipped with video cameras that can also record sound.

The American Civil Liberties Union has threatened legal action against the regulation, which it views as an invasion of passengers' privacy.

But if the Legislature does not approve a resolution by the end of its current session to reject or rewrite the regulation, it will be allowed to stand. Some taxicab companies have defended the regulation, saying it gives drivers an extra layer of protection from potential threats.

Bureau director Lorne Malkiewich said Thursday that his office should have sent a letter to the taxicab authority explaining why the regulation, which was adopted in October, was rejected in January by the Legislative Commission's Committee to Review Regulations. The interim committee disliked the fact that the regulation permitted sound to be recorded.

Malkiewich said a letter was never sent because his office has been swamped with other legislative business. But he said the taxicab authority is aware of the interim committee's objections.

He said his office will give the Legislature a list of regulations, including the one from the taxicab authority, that were rejected by the interim committee so that lawmakers can determine whether they wish to reject or rewrite the regulations.