Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

The Legislature:

Citizen Legislature gives ordinary people power over what’s important to them

Legislature

Sam Morris

The Nevada State Legislature building in Carson City.

Shirley Breeden

Shirley Breeden

The strength of a citizen Legislature, proponents argue, is that lawmakers lead real lives outside of government and bring that experience to bear on legislation, hopefully imbuing it with common sense.

Indeed, this session has brought bills drawn straight from legislators’ personal experiences.

Some are seen as innocuous — Assemblyman John Ellison’s effort to knock speeding tickets down to non-moving violations could help the Elko Republican on his long weekend drives home.

Others bring the appearance of a conflict of interest, legislating in an area that would benefit a lawmaker’s business.

Still others are born of simple frustration. Take Sen. Shirley Breeden’s Aunt Pauline. When the Democrat moved her elderly aunt to Las Vegas from Arizona because of illness, Aunt Pauline came with 14 medications.

“I had to look each one up,” Breeden said. “I didn’t know what they were for. It really was hard and very stressful.”

So Breeden introduced Senate Bill 329, which would require physicians, if asked by a patient, to note the reason a medication was prescribed on the prescription and pharmacists to note it on the pill bottle label.

“For me, this is real personal,” Breeden said.

Breeden acknowledged she had no other reason for introducing the bill, had spoken with no constituents or health care professionals about it and hadn’t thought much about any opposition it might provoke.

Although the bill won the support of the Senate’s Democratic leadership, Republican lawmakers in its first hearing questioned why the state should mandate something doctors could do at their discretion anyway.

Pharmacies opposed the measure outright. Reproductive rights advocates raised privacy concerns.

Breeden has said she’ll try to work things out with critics.

Ellison also was incited to craft legislation because of a pet peeve.

Under his measure, Assembly Bill 341, a motorist would not be subject to a moving violation for speeding. The ticket wouldn’t be reported to the motorist’s insurance company or result in any driver’s license demerits.

Ellison, who drives the 300 miles to Elko from Carson City each weekend, said he’s been caught speeding multiple times.

“Oh God, yes,” he said when asked if he’d been pulled over. “The last time I went to get my driver’s license renewed I was sweating it. But I ended up only having one demerit. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten a ticket.”

Ed Goedhart

Ed Goedhart

A seven-year battle with the federal government over buying land to expand his dairy led Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, to introduce Assembly Bill 186, which attempts to give the state eminent domain to condemn federal land for renewable energy projects.

Never mind the idea is — as Assembly Judiciary Chairman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, said during the bill’s sole hearing — unconstitutional on its face.

But Goedhart argues: “If the government can exercise eminent domain against citizens, then we as Nevadans can exercise eminent domain over the federal government.”

About five years ago, Goedhart went through the Bureau of Land Management process for buying “disposable land” from the government. It took six years and added 30 percent to the purchase price to go through the process. That, he argues, gets in the way of economic development and jobs.

His legislation is so unlikely to pass that a fellow lobbyist presented Goedhart with a toe tag from the Clark County coroner’s office to hang on the bill.

Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, says he has a bill that would create jobs as well. Assembly Bill 285 would make it much less expensive for Hansen’s plumbing business to defend itself against construction defect lawsuits.

The measure would award attorney’s fees only to the party who prevails in a lawsuit.

Hansen, who estimates his business has been sued a dozen times for construction defects, said his insurance company often settles because it would be more expensive to prove he wasn’t responsible for the defects.

“I have a ton of personal experience with this,” he said. “They’ve never once asked me to come back and do a warranty fix. They just automatically sue me. Subcontractors can really get killed.”

Hansen said he doesn’t see a conflict in sponsoring construction defect legislation.

“Because it helps everybody equally, not just me,” he said. “But my business gives me a very personal perspective on it.”

Sen. Mike Schneider

Sen. Mike Schneider

Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, is no stranger to legislation that might benefit his professional interests. In 2003, he was criticized for proposing legislation to help casino time shares while he had an interest in such properties.

In 2009, he proposed legislation to compel North Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Clark County and Henderson to assemble land for a light rail system. The route would pass close to land on which Schneider is building a senior living complex.

This session, his last, Schneider has reintroduced that bill. The real estate developer also is proposing legislation to further regulate real estate appraisers and another further regulating common interest communities and private real estate transfer fees.

Schneider, who declined to comment for this story, has said his light rail bill poses no conflict of interest.

Other lawmakers said such potential conflicts of interest are to be expected in a citizen Legislature.

“You become a subject matter expert in areas where you have real life experience,” Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, said. “A lot of that experience you gain through your employment.”

So when does it become a conflict of interest?

“Well, that line is probably determined on a case-by-case basis,” Kieckhefer said. “Most members know if they’re approaching that line.”

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