Ease on smoking ban among 100-plus new measures

Associated Press

Monday, March 23, 2009 | 6:54 p.m.

Nevada lawmakers introduced just over 100 new measures on Monday, including one to ease terms of a voter-approved ban on smoking at restaurants, bars that serve food and around slot machines at markets and gas stations.

Also among the new measures, submitted on a deadline for introductions from Senate and Assembly committees, is a plan to impose a $5 tax anyone who pays for or collects money for services of a prostitute. The money would help pay for a state ombudsman for sex workers.

With Monday's introductions, the total of bills to change state laws and resolutions to change the Nevada Constitution climbed to nearly 1,000.

The smoking measure, SB372, would revise the 2006 voter-approved smoking ban to allow for smoking in bars that serve food as long as minors are restricted from entry. Also, businesses could wall off separately ventilated smoking rooms.

SB368, the prostitution measure, would impose the $5 tax to help pay for the ombudsman who would work within the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. One of the ombudsman's main tasks would be to help sex workers find other types of employment.

Among other measures proposed on Monday was AB504, a "photo cop" proposal that would let authorities use cameras to catch drivers running red lights or committing other traffic offenses. Lawmakers in 2005 and 2007 shelved similar plans.

Also introduced was AB542, authorizing the state Department of Transportation to establish a "demonstration project" for toll road lanes on the Interstate 15 and U.S. 95 corridors in the Las Vegas area.

The bill would enable the state to enter into public-private partnerships to construct, finance and operate the toll roads, and authorize the state to establish user fees.

Other new measures included:

-- AB522, a comprehensive energy bill that would create a Nevada energy commission, consolidate energy programs and add a production fee for renewable energy. The measure also provides for a tax on electricity generated by renewable resources.

- SB252, authorizing police to have access to sealed court records of applicants for police jobs; and AB497, requiring the state's criminal history repository to facilitate the exchange of crime-related information among various criminal justice agencies in Nevada.

- AB526, which would authorize the state to issue up to $100 million in general obligation bonds to continue projects protecting the Lake Tahoe Basin. The revenue generated by the bond sale would pay for various projects through mid-2020.

- AB493, which would prohibit state agencies from contracting with companies that do business in Sudan, a ravaged but economically booming African nation that has been widely criticized for human-rights abuses.