LOOKING IN ON: CARSON CITY

Sunday, April 15, 2007 | 7:24 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Another plan to reduce the population of the state prisons and avoid construction of more beds is moving forward in the Legislature.

A bill that would grant early parole to more than 1,500 inmates has cleared the Assembly Select Committee on Corrections, Parole and Probation, despite law enforcement opposition.

Assistant Clark County Sheriff Ray Flynn warned that the measure would "dump ... felons into our community."

Assembly Bill 510 would double the good time and education credits inmates could earn, making them eligible for parole earlier.

The Assembly committee changed AB510 on Thursday to make it effective July 2008, rather than this July. Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, said the parole commission asked for the delay because it could not handle the workload if hundreds of additional inmates were released this year.

With that change, the committee voted unanimously for the bill.

The actions are aimed at easing prison crowding, which could help avoid building more prisons.

Prison officials estimate that the bill would reduce the state's inmates by 3,800 over 10 years. Those available for early release would be medium- and maximum-security inmates, prison officials said.

The law now permits sentences to be reduced by 10 days for each month that prisoners are not disciplined. The bill would raise that to 20 days and would increase credits for earning a high school diploma from 60 to 90 days. There also would be increased credits for other educational achievements.

The Legislature hopes to avoid spending $60 million to build four prison units to relieve crowding. But delaying the early parole measure's effective date to 2008 could jeopardize that goal.

One of the more contentious issues before the Legislature is the battle between management and residents of homeowners associations.

"When I walked door to door in the last campaign, one of the top issues I heard was, 'Can you rein in my homeowners association?' " said Assemblywoman Francis Allen, R-Las Vegas.

Three bills, two from the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee and one from the Assembly Judiciary Committee, were approved last week. They will be voted on in their respective houses this week and then move to the other chamber.

One of the biggest critics of homeowner associations has been Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, who said his Senate Bill 362 would delegate more authority to the state Commission on Common-Interest Communities.

Among other things, his bill would ban associations' use of radar guns and ticketing of speeders in their complexes. Some associations have cited pizza delivery drivers and fined homeowners to whom pizza was delivered.

His proposal also would prohibit association boards from banning, as some have, motorcycles that are legal on the streets.

Assembly Bill 396, sponsored by Allen, would prohibit proxy or delegate voting on the election or recall of board members to prevent board manipulation.

Now, board members "cast a significant portion of the uncast votes for themselves," making it difficult to dislodge officers, Allen said. Senate Bill 235 also would set new voting rules for homeowners.

AB396 also would compel association directors to disclose and abstain from voting on any issue in which they have a financial interest. "There is no shortage of stories where board members have moved business to their friends or family" without open bids, she said.

Allen's bill also would require associations to go through extra steps before putting a lien on the property of homeowners who fail to pay dues.