Hundreds of bills made cut, died by Assembly deadline

CARSON CITY -- It was deadline day Friday at the Legislature.

A bill to allow patients injured through gross negligence of doctors to sue for as much as they can get made the cut, as did another to keep foul-mouthed protesters away from funerals.

But the perennial bill to repeal Nevada's 37-year-old law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets and one to allow citizens to look at complaints filed against builders they are thinking of hiring died without so much as a whimper.

Literally hundreds of bills were debated and swiftly disposed of by committees that completed their work before 4 p.m.

Since voters approved a constitutional amendment limiting legislative sessions to 120 days in 1998, legislators have imposed limits for passing bills as a way to ensure rapid action.

Bills that passed out of committees by Friday, the 68th day of the session, remain alive.

Those that survived that first cut Friday now face an April 21 deadline for receiving approval in the houses in which they were introduced. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn June 1.

One upbeat legislator Friday was Assemblyman Lynn Stewart, R-Las Vegas,

After failing to receive approval two years ago when he first introduced a bill to prohibit demonstrations at military funerals, he tried again.

This time his Assembly Bill 1 received 11-3 approval from the Assembly Judiciary Committee. The bill would outlaw people from protesting within 300 feet of any type of funeral. They also could not use loudspeakers.

During the hearing Friday, Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, opposed the bill, saying laws "won't stop speech you like or you find abhorrent."

Horne, who is black, said he finds it repugnant that white supremacy groups can walk through black neighborhoods, but "I would defend their right to do it."

"When we pick out one group and say we don't like your speech, other groups are going to stand up and say what about us? We want to exclude that group's speech, too."

Stewart said he respected Horne's view, but that no mourner at any funeral should be subjected to cruel taunts from protesters.

Assemblyman Don Gustavson, who saw his Assembly Bill 300, the helmet repeal bill, die without a vote in the Assembly Judiciary Committee took the defeat in stride.

He said he will be back again with a similar bill in 2011.

Gustavson, R-Sparks, said the issue is more than just about freedom of choice.

But doctors testified at a hearing that treating brain injuries suffered by motorcyclists without helmets can cost millions of dollars. Motorcyclists cannot cover those costs, which end up being written off by hospitals or paid for by state or local governments.

For the second straight session, legislators rejected a bill sought by the state Contractors Board to allow it to show people complaints filed against builders. Senate Bill 50 died in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee without a vote. The arguments against the bill were that some complaints may be unfounded and would unfairly hurt the reputations of businesses.

Like Stewart, Assemblyman John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, also was a happy man Friday. The Assembly Judiciary Committee voted unanimously for his Assembly Bill 283.

Under the amended version of this bill, pimps cold be fined as much as $500,000 if they are convicted of using teenage girls as prostitutes. Their assets also would be forfeited and the funds used for programs to help sexually exploited and runaway children.

During a hearing, witnesses said there are no facilities in Nevada today to care for sexually exploited children and that often teen prostitutes return to their pimps.

Las Vegas police said they investigated 150 cases of teen prostitution last year and about 50 so far in 2009.

In response to complaints from Hepatitis C patients and others who said they were hurt by doctors, the Judiciary Committee voted 8-6 for Assembly Bill 495.

This bill removes the $350,000 limit on what patients can secure from doctors for pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. Under the bill, there would be no limit for such damages, but patients would have to show they were hurt through the "gross negligence" of their physicians.

Bills to help indigent patients also remain alive.

The Assembly Health and Human Service Committee approved Assembly Bill 433 which would require University Medical Center to reopen its outpatient cancer center and treat indigent patients from Clark County.

While hospital officials testified that reopening the program would cost them $3.5 million a year, the committee backed the bill without designating a source for the funds.

The proposal likely will not be acted upon until legislators determine whether to increase taxes to make up a budget shortfall that's been estimated as high as $3 billion.

Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, who wants to restore $25 million a year to the indigent accident fund, saw her Assembly Bill 404 remain alive after receiving an exemption from the Friday deadline.

Hospitals in counties have received funds for more than 25 years to cover the cost of treating poor accident victims.

In his proposed budget, Gov. Jim Gibbons took the money to cover state spending shortfalls, although witnesses have testified that several rural hospitals will fail without the funds.

A Nevada Department of Transportation bill to construct a $1 billion toll road adjacent to existing Las Vegas freeways through private funds officially died Friday.

Chairman Kelvin Atkinson quickly convened his Transportation Committee and adjourned it after members elected not to consider any more bills. That meant the toll road bill, Assembly Bill 524, died without a vote.

However, the toll road proposal could be revived in the Senate. Members of the Senate Energy, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee approved Senate Bill 206 which sets up requirements for establishing toll roads in Nevada.

Gibbons also fared well in the Legislature. His bill to induce renewable energy companies to build facilities in Nevada through tax breaks was backed by the Assembly Government Affairs Committee.

The fate of Assembly Bill 395, however, likely won't be decided until near the end of the legislative session. He and Democrat legislators who have their own energy bills will have to make concessions to each other.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.