Legislative committee likely to abolish sports commission

CARSON CITY -- It's a safe bet that the Nevada Commission on Sports will be abolished by the Legislature next year.

Members of the Legislature's Sunset Subcommittee learned Tuesday that the panel might have had something to do with the Olympics but that no one knows anything else about it. They even don't know whether the commission ever has meetings or has actual members. It is listed as "inactive" in legislative manuals.

Lorne Malkiewich, administrator of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, said he tried twice by mail to get information from the sports commission about its meetings and duties but got no response. He also left a message with the last known director of the commission, but the message wasn't returned.

"I believe the commission has not met for several years," Malkiewich said. "I know it has no funding."

David Goldwater, a member of the Sunset Committee, added he was a member of the sports commission for eight years, and as far as he knows, the commission never had a meeting.

"I believe it was created in the 1960s to try to bring the Winter Olympics to Northern Nevada," he said.

The Sunset Committee was created by the Legislature last year to review the hundreds of state agencies, commissions and boards and determine whether they still are needed. Members can recommend that nonfunctioning boards be abolished during the next legislative session.

Malkiewich told the committee that the Sports Commission is the only board that has not responded to requests for information.

According to the state law creating the commission, it is required to meet at least four times a year. Of its nine members, one must have participated in the Olympic Games.

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