LOOKING IN ON: CARSON CITY

Saturday, April 7, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY - As part of a new highway safety plan, Gov. Jim Gibbons favors a law that would allow police to stop motorists who don't buckle up.

The proposal's first major test will come in about a week, when legislators vote on Senate Bill 42, similar to measures that have failed in the past.

Under current law, an officer can cite a driver for not wearing a seat belt, but only if the motorist is stopped for another offense. The bill would permit an officer to stop a motorist simply for the seat belt violation.

The bill was approved by the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, and Chairman Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, said some members favor an amendment requiring insurance companies to give a rebate or some other benefit to those insured.

A survey last year by the state traffic safety office found that 91.8 percent of the state's drivers were wearing seat belts. More than 50 percent of those who died in crashes last year were not wearing seat belts, the office said.

Nolan said the Legislature's approval of the bill would bring $5.5 million more in federal money to Nevada.

He said the 91.8 percent survey finding does not represent the true picture because it was taken Monday through Friday during the daytime. "Most of the fatalities without seat belts in rollovers are occurring after hours and on weekends in recreational time," he said.

Recent polls show 75 percent of those sampled have no problem with the primary seat belt law, Nolan said.

If the seat belt law passes, there will be more Highway Patrol officers to enforce it. Gibbons' budget recommends 60 more officers, most of them stationed in Las Vegas.

The stepped-up collection of part of $25 million in overdue fines and assessments imposed by Las Vegas Justice Court is going to help ease the budget woes of the Nevada Supreme Court.

Last month a legislative budget subcommittee was displeased that the court was asking for a 38 percent increase in judicial spending and ordered the court to revise its $4.2 million budget request.

Chief Justice Bill Maupin told the subcommittee Thursday the court has made reductions and some of the increased expenditures will be offset by the actions of the Justice Court.

Maupin said it is estimated that 20 percent of the local courts' $25 million backlog in fines and assessments will be collected, with the Supreme Court's share of that being more than $2 million. An additional $1.6 million also will come to the court from the Justice Court via a change in the distributing of fines and assessment money.

Ron Titus, chief of the state's administrative office of the courts, said the backlog has been reduced by a program allowing drivers and others to pay fines by credit card or the Web, rather than having to stand in line .

The court also has reduced its budget by $2 million by delaying a court reorganization that would have added personnel and by deleting expansion of longevity pay for judges.

One remaining sticking point is a proposal to give big raises to the state Supreme Court justices and District Court judges.

"I don't see how we can give 30 percent increases when we are giving state employees 2 and 4 percent," Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, told Maupin.

A task force appointed by former Gov. Kenny Guinn recommended that justices' salaries rise from the current $140,000 to $182,000, with District Court judges' pay increasing from $130,000 to $169,000.

Maupin said the proposed salary increase was not part of the Supreme Court's budget, adding that it will be up to the Legislature to decide that matter.