Bills on prescription drugs, minimum wage approved

Kirsten Searer

Friday, May 20, 2005 | 10:58 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A Senate committee passed measures this morning to raise the minimum wage and allow people to buy prescription drugs from Canada, though senators put their own mark on both ideas.

The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee voted to approve Assembly Bill 195, which would set up a state-run Web site linking Nevadans to state-approved Canadian pharmacies.

But the committee stipulated that the pharmacies can only sell drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The bill's main proponent, Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said she likes the amendment.

But she and Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, were less enthusiastic after the committee voted to gut a measure designed to increase the minimum wage.

Their bill, Assembly Bill 87, mirrored the constitutional amendment passed overwhelmingly by voters last fall. The initiative must pass again in 2006 to change the constitution.

The bill would have raised the minimum wage by $1 an hour starting in July and give yearly boosts based on the Consumer Price Index.

Senate committee members said they were uncomfortable with the link to the Consumer Price Index. Instead, they voted to boost the minimum wage one time by $1.25 to $6.40 an hour starting October 2006.

And, they said, they want to put a referendum on the ballot giving voters a choice of maintaining the $1.25 boost or voting for the constitutional amendment that would link minimum wage to the CPI.

The change would give businesses more than a year to prepare for a minimum wage boost while still giving voters the option to link minimum wage to the CPI, said committee chairman Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno.

Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, initially bristled at the idea, saying the Legislature rarely increases the minimum wage, and the minimum wage buying power will decrease unless it's linked to the CPI.

"Everything goes up every single day of our lives, and the second measure could cause stagnation again," she said.

She said she was also concerned that two ballot initiatives on the same issue would confuse voters.

But ultimately the committee voted unanimously to approve the changes.

The changes are sure to face trouble from here. Perkins said he thinks for the initiative to get on the ballot, he would have to sign off on it and he said he wouldn't.

"If you don't adjust things with CPI, they become stale," Buckley said. "They just don't keep up with the modern day."

The next big test for the prescription drug bill will be if it passes muster as legal.

The bill passed the Senate committee 6-1 with Sen. Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, dissenting, saying she thought it was illegal.

Buckley said she is obtaining legal opinions from other states that run Web sites linking people to Canadian pharmacies.

She said she hopes to use the opinions to assure senators and Gov. Kenny Guinn that her plan will not violate federal law.

She points to a stipulation in law that allows individuals to re-import a 90-day supply of the drugs for personal use.

At one point, the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee considered an amendment saying the Web site could only be run with a waiver from the FDA. That amendment died because it lacked support.

Buckley said it would have ultimately killed the bill.

"It guts the bill," she said. "The feds are never going to issue a letter saying, 'sure, go ahead and do this.' "

But Guinn has been especially wary about the legal implications. Chief of Staff Mike Hillerby said he appreciates efforts from Buckley to gather legal opinions from states such as Kansas on the issue, but Guinn needs assurances that the state wouldn't be breaking the federal law.

"We're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy," he said. " 'Everybody else is doing it' isn't an excuse when you're governor."