Assembly urged to meet yearly

CARSON CITY -- An Assembly panel was urged Thursday to support the latest attempt to replace Nevada's every-other-year legislative sessions with annual sessions.

"The reality is it's time for Nevada to join 45 other states and have annual sessions," Assemblyman Richard Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, told the Elections, Procedures, Ethics and Constitutional Amendments Committee.

Every-other-year sessions worked for Nevada when it was sparsely populated, but with a current population of 3.5 million and the state's economic problems "we need a way to come back and look at the budget every year," Segerblom added.

AJR6 would amend the Nevada Constitution to keep existing 120-day legislative sessions in odd-numbered years and add a 60-day session in even years.