DUI among 48 bills OK’d by Assembly

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Assembly passed 48 bills Monday, including a measure requiring people arrested for drunken driving to stay in jail until their blood-alcohol level drops or, if they took drugs, for 12 hours.

Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, said Assembly Bill 8 will make streets safer by ensuring people don't leave jail after a DUI arrest when they are still drunk or under the influence of drugs.

"People were being released two to three hours after being arrested" even though their blood alcohol was well over the legal limit, Manendo said after the vote. His bill would require the blood-alcohol count to drop to 0.04 percent. The level at which someone is considered too drunk to drive is 0.08 in Nevada.

The Assembly also passed Assembly Bill 72, sponsored by Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, which would make it easier to prosecute Internet predators who go online to lure someone they think is a child but instead turns out to be a police investigator.

Assembly Bill 72, a reaction to a state Supreme Court ruling against prosecutors in such cases, would broaden current state law that makes it illegal to knowingly contact or try to contact someone under age 16 with the intent to lure that person into sexual conduct.

The Democratic-controlled Assembly also passed several bills opposed by most of the Republican caucus, including Assembly Bill 127, which would allow people to record telephone calls from collection agencies without their consent. It passed on a 28-14 vote.

The other issue was Assembly Bill 601, which would allow state employees to form a union to bargain for benefits. It passed by the same margin.

Assembly Minority Leader Garn Mabey, R-Las Vegas, said the law would force "workers to pay unions for so-called representation they did not ask for and perhaps did not want."

The Assembly also passed:

• Assembly Bill 247, which restricts the way hospitals can collect debts, a step Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said would help to protect consumers.

• Assembly Bill 282, which expands types of domestic violence by an individual against another to include killing or injuring an animal.

• Assembly Bill 353, which would allow a court to restore parental rights if a child is not likely to be adopted and if it's in the best interest of the child.

• Assembly Joint Resolution 1, which requires that public officials must forfeit their office if they commit three or more ethics violations.

• Assembly Bill 106, which would prohibit prisoners from owning cell phones.

• Assembly Bill 468, which would require health care providers to disclose in writing any financial interests in a physical therapy facility when referring patients to such a facility.