Nevada Legislature subcommittee considers viability of state boards

CARSON CITY -- The year was 1984. "Amadeus" won the Academy Award. Harry Reid was a member of the House of Representatives. The Dunes, Sands and Sahara were some of the top drawing casinos in Las Vegas.

And the 11-member state Gaming Policy Committee held its most recent meeting to discuss gaming matters in Nevada.

"Do we need this?" asked former legislator David Goldwater, a member of the Sunset Subcommittee of the Legislative Commission, which met Monday.

The Sunset Subcommittee was created through a bill sponsored by Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno. Approved unanimously and signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval, the law allows the subcommittee to determine whether boards or commissions "should be terminated, modified, consolidated with another agency or continued." The goal is to make state government more efficient.

After a half-hour discussion Monday, the panel took no action on whether to disband the Gaming Policy Committee. But members questioned why this committee, more than any of the four they discussed, should continue to exist.

The answer Goldwater received was basically this: Someday something will crop up that will cause the committee to spring into action.

Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Pete Bernhardt said if the committee didn't exist, then there might be a time when the governor would have to appoint one.

While the committee has not discussed gaming policy matters for 28 years, a review panel of the committee has met nine times, most recently in 2007. The review panel oversees decisions of local governments to allow casinos outside of gaming enterprise districts.

"It is not a great cost for the state to have it there," Bernhardt said.

The Gaming Policy Committee does not have a budget, or staff, or even any travel funds.

Bernhardt, who is a member of the nonfunctioning committee, and others noted that Sandoval serves on the policy committee and that he has called for a meeting at some unscheduled time in the spring.

Sandoval wants to hold a meeting on gaming technology changes, such as the spread of online poker, and named new members to the committee in January.

Bernhardt said governors traditionally have left the Gaming Control Board and the Gaming Commission alone when it comes to regulating the industry.

But the governor serves on the Gaming Policy Committee. Gaming industry figures might be more candid in discussing gaming changes before the policy committee while they might not be as open during appearances before the regulatory bodies.

Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, said if the Legislature disbands the committee, then there would be a cost to amending it out of the state laws.

"If we are going to use more resources to discontinue it, then why not just continue it?" she asked.

During the meeting, members also discussed the functions of the Commission on Postsecondary Education, the Well Drillers' Advisory Board and the Nevada Athletic Commission.

Voting on whether to disband boards and commission will be made by the subcommittee later this year. Actual decisions on whether to end them will be made by the Legislature in 2013.

No one even hinted at repealing the Athletic Commission, which regulates boxing and mixed marital arts. But Assemblywoman Irene Bustamante Adams, D-Las Vegas, questioned why the pane doesn't change its name to more accurately reflect the sports it regulates.

Keith Kizer, the Athletic Commission executive director, said members have discussed new names, but a change needs legislative approval.

In other states, commissions with similar functions are called the Unarmed Combat Commission, he said.