LEGISLATURE: DEAD BILLS
• Tax and Spending Control in Nevada (TASC): For the second consecutive session, the Senate Finance Committee killed Sen. Bob Beers’ proposed constitutional amendment (Senate Joint Resolution 3) to limit state spending to the combined rate of inflation and population growth.
• HELMETS ON BICYCLISTS: Sen. Valerie Wiener’s Senate Bill 207 to require children under age 18 to wear helmets on bicycles was allowed to die by the Senate Transportation Committee.
• TIP SHARING: With no time to prepare acceptable amendments, the Assembly Judiciary Committee let Assemblyman Bob Beers’ Assembly Bill 357 die without a vote Friday. The bill was designed to stop Wynn Las Vegas from ordering its dealers to share tips with casino supervisors.
• PRESCRIPTIONS FOR SUDAFED: The Assembly Health and Human Services Committee amended out a provision in Assemblyman Bernie Anderson’s Assembly Bill 150 that would have required people to secure prescriptions to buy Sudafed and other cold remedies and decongestants containing pseudoephedrine. The ingredient is used in making methamphetamine.
• PROTESTS AT MILITARY FUNERALS: The Assembly Judiciary Committee let Assemblyman Lynn Stewart’s Assembly Bill 159 to ban protests at funerals for service members die without a vote. Stewart wanted to stop groups like the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., from showing up and upsetting mourners at funerals of service members killed in action.
• TEACHERS ARMED WITH GUNS: The Senate Human Resources Committee voted to kill Sen. Bob Beers’ Senate Bill 286 that would have allowed teachers with appropriate training to carry guns on campus.
• CUTTING CAR REGISTRATION FEES: Sen. Bob Beers’ Senate Bill 96 to cut in half the money people pay in annual car registration fees was allowed to die without a vote in the Senate Taxation Committee.
• MOTORCYCLE HELMETS: Once again, a bill to repeal the law requiring motorcyclists to wear safety helmets died in the Senate Transportation Committee. Sen. Bob Beers’ Senate Bill 49 was allowed to die without a vote. Attempts to repeal the helmet law, which was passed in 1971, have failed in virtually every legislative session.
• NO BENEFITS FOR NON-CITIZENS: The Assembly Judiciary Committee let Assemblyman Ty Cobb’s bill to deny most benefits to noncitizens die without a hearing.
• SIGNS ON SIDEWALKS: The Senate Government Affairs Committee let Sen. Terry Care’s Senate Bill 13 die without a vote. Care wanted to overturn a Clark County ordinance he said allowed police to arrest people for carrying signs protesting the war or praising Jesus Christ on sidewalks.
• OVERSIGHT OF UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: The Senate Human Resources Committee gutted Senate Bill 533, which would have required an appointed board to oversee the financially troubled University Medical Center. Instead, the bill passed with the requirement that an audit of UMC be conducted and only a few minor changes be made in oversight of the hospital.