Assembly renews push for more power

By Cy Ryan

Wednesday, May 6, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The part-time Legislature wants the power to call itself into special session.

Now only the governor can convene a special session, and he sets its agenda.

In 2006 voters turned down a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the legislators to convene special sessions and determine the subjects. The vote was 52.3 percent against and 47.6 percent for giving the lawmakers the extra power. It lost in every county.

The Legislative Operations & Elections Committee heard testimony Tuesday in support of a new proposed constitutional amendment. Assemblyman Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, told the committee this power would be used only in “the most extreme circumstances.”

Assembly Joint Resolution 5 has the support of the League of Women Voters, Nevada Families, Nevada Eagle Forum and the Independent American Party.

Samantha King, president of the League, told the committee: “The voters need the Legislature to be able to respond.” She said the proposed constitutional amendment would be the “most expedient and most effective” way for the lawmakers to act.

“We want a citizen Legislature,” she testified.

AJR5 would require a two-thirds vote in each house of the Legislature for a special session.

It says a special session called by the legislators “takes precedence over a special session called by the governor.” The special session would be limited to 20 days. But the lawmakers, with the signatures of two-thirds of the members in each house, could convene one right after the conclusion of the first 20 days.

Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, asked whether it isn’t easier to go to the governor and ask him to call a special session. “It seems like a lot of trouble” for the lawmakers to call themselves into special session, she said.

In her 13 years in the Senate, Cegavske said, there have been more special sessions than regular sessions, which are held every two years.

Janine Hansen, representing Nevada Eagle Forum, said there are safeguards in this proposed constitutional amendment because it requires two-thirds support from both houses.

She said it could be used during a terror attack or a health emergency. “The governor could turn into a dictator,” she said. “There would be no oversight.”

This resolution has passed the Assembly. If approved by the Senate, it would have to be passed again by the 2011 Legislature and then ratified by voters in 2012.

The Senate committee put off a vote until later.

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The state Transportation Department has awarded its first contract from the $140 million it received in federal stimulus money.

A&K Earthmovers of Sparks submitted the low bid of $10.8 million for a nine-mile overlay project on Interstate 80 in Pershing County, northeast of Reno.

There were five bidders. Scott McGruder, spokesman for the department, said the five bids were “about average” for transportation construction jobs. The bids ranged up to $11.3 million.

Other projects that would use stimulus money will be advertised later.