Legislator discloses work ties, then votes

cathleen allison / nevada appeal file

Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, a marketing exec for an auto repair chain, voted on a bill aimed at keeping Allstate from expanding its auto repair business in Nevada.

By David McGrath Schwartz (contact), Cy Ryan (contact)

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Carson City — Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, has a day job as the marketing and public relations chief for a chain of Las Vegas auto body shops. He also happens to be the author of a bill that critics say is meant to squelch competition from auto body shops run by insurance companies.

Assembly Bill 297 passed out of the Assembly on Tuesday, with Manendo voting on the bill but disclosing that he works for a body shop. He said the bill wouldn’t benefit him any more than other body shop employees.

The bill, Manendo acknowledged, is aimed at preventing insurer Allstate from expanding its auto repair business in Nevada. Allstate owns Sterling Auto Body in North Las Vegas, and is planning on expanding, he said.

“There’s a conflict some see in an insurance company owning an auto body shop,” he said.

He claims Allstate tries to steer business to its auto repair shop. “If customers take it somewhere else, Allstate can take weeks to come out (and appraise the damage), as a way to punish you for taking it somewhere else,” he said.

Jim Haas, Southwest regional general counsel for Allstate, said, “That’s untrue.”

“It is a bad bill that is designed to stifle competition in the auto repair industry,” he said.

Allstate offers three options when paying a claim: People can take their cars to Sterling or a preapproved auto body shop; drive the car to an Allstate facility to get a check for the repairs; or take it to an unapproved shop, where an adjuster comes out to make an estimate.

Collision Authority, which employs Manendo, is not a preapproved shop, an Allstate spokeswoman said.

Manendo said he asked legislative legal staff about the perception of a conflict, and whether he should abstain.

“I was told they think I need to disclose my position,” he said. “But I have always disclosed. People in my district know what I do. I don’t hold back.”

He said several legislators vote on issues that affect their employment.

•••

A legislative budget subcommittee agreed to give additional support to a program providing home care for senior citizens.

The subcommittee agreed to pump an extra $5.5 million — enough to serve 394 people — into the Community Home-Based Initiatives Program.

The additional funding will address a waiting list for the program and allow some additional growth in the home care program. Gov. Jim Gibbons recommended that the number of seniors helped during the coming two years be 1,612.

Lawmakers noted that home care saves money in the long run by keeping seniors out of nursing homes.

“We’re adding money to save money,” said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, the chairwoman of the subcommittee. “We’re saving these people so they don’t go into nursing homes or institutions.”

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said he estimates expanding the program will save the state $2 million.

The program is financed by federal, state and tobacco settlement funds. Its total cost over the biennium is in excess of $20 million.

•••

A legislative audit found the Nevada Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards & Training, which trains law enforcement officers, is lax in its computer system security.

Legislative Auditor Paul Townsend said auditors found “an increased risk a hacker could gain unauthorized access to the commission’s confidential data,” because of the commission’s failure to follow state security standards.

The commission did not store backup disks off-site, putting the information in danger of being corrupted or deleted, the audit said. “In the event of a disaster, either man-made or natural, all these things can happen at the same time,” stated the audit, released Monday.

Townsend said that the commission took immediate steps to address some of the issues raised in the audit.