Gibbons signs drug discount measure

CARSON CITY -- Clark County residents could secure 20 percent or better discounts on prescription drugs as the result of Gov. Jim Gibbons' decision Friday to sign Assembly Bill 6 into law.

The law will allow Clark County and other Nevada counties to participate in the National Association of Counties' prescription drug discount card program.

Eight rural counties have been handing out the cards since the fall, and 18,000 residents have received savings averaging 21 percent, according to state officials.

Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, introduced the bill because of the reluctance of Clark County lawyers to let the County Commission pass an ordinance to participate in the program without enabling legislation.

He expects county residents soon will induce the commission to pass an ordinance to participate in the program.

"If you have five prescriptions, you will get one free," said Hardy, a physician. "The cards will be made free to the county, and the county will pass them out to each and every family."

If a family already has insurance for prescription drugs, Hardy said the pharmacist will give the policyholder the discount offered by the prescription card if it is greater than the insurance discount. If it is less than the insurance discount, then the prescription card discount will not apply.

"All you have to do is pick up a card, walk into a pharmacy and use it," Hardy said. "This is a huge benefit for real people who need medicine."

Customers do not need to sign up or give their name for the discount card. All they have to do is pick one up and use it, he said, adding that he expects the card will be available at health clinics, doctor offices, senior citizen centers and other places where people gather.

Gibbons also signed Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus' Senate Bill 302 into law. It blocks credit card companies from increasing cardholders' interest rates based on late payments or their failure to make payments to other companies.

Titus, D-Las Vegas, testified at hearings that credit card companies can jack up their interest rates to 24 percent if a cardholder fails to pay a water bill or gets behind on payments for a credit card issued by another company.

The new law eliminates "universal default charges," the wording in credit card contracts that allows such increases.

"Your interest rates have been increased for nothing to do with their card," Titus said. "Finally people are realizing we need to put checks on credit card companies."

Several large banks, including Citibank and Chase, recently rolled back or eliminated universal default clauses because of political pressure in Congress. At least five pending bills in Congress would tighten credit card regulations further.

Nevada joins a handful of other states that have banned universal default clauses. Many Nevada consumers still aren't protected because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states can't regulate banks based out of state -- and most cards are issued by such banks.

Other measures signed Friday by Gibbons include:

• Assembly Bill 217, requiring one of the at-large members of the State Environmental Commission to have expertise and experience as an advocate for conservation issues.

• Assembly Bill 575, repealing an obsolete statute on county workhouses for indigents.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.