Regents would be paid per meeting

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 | 11:12 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Members of the Board of Regents would receive $80 for each meeting they attend under a bill considered this morning by the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

Right now, the Regents are one of the few public bodies that receive no compensation. Senate Bill 149 would cost the state about $24,850 a year, according to the bill's fiscal note.

The Regents do, however, receive $2,500 a year in host accounts, which are funded by a university endowment and allow them to be reimbursed for certain expenses, including sports games or dinners related to their duties.

Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, said he would rather pay the Regents for each meeting -- he estimated it would be about $2,500 a year -- than allow them to receive the host money, which he said is "kind of under the table" compensation.

"My goal would be to put them on a salary and take away anything that isn't out in the sunlight like your legislative pay is," Lee told the committee.

Plus, he said, most people are prevented from running for the Board because they can't afford to take time off of work unpaid.

Only "people who don't need money can actually serve in the Board of Regents," Lee said. "It becomes an upper class society of people."

The committee did not vote on the bill.