MINUTES OF THE ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS Sixty-eighth Session May 15, 1995 The Committee on Government Affairs was called to order at 9:15 a.m., on Monday, May 15, 1995, Chairman Lambert presiding in Room 330 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada. Exhibit A is the Agenda. Exhibit B is the Attendance Roster. COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. Douglas A. Bache, Chairman Mrs. Joan A. Lambert, Chairman Mrs. Deanna Braunlin, Vice Chairman Mr. P.M. Roy Neighbors, Vice Chairman Mr. Max Bennett Mrs. Marcia de Braga Mr. Pete Ernaut Mrs. Vivian L. Freeman Mr. William Z. (Bill) Harrington Ms. Saundra (Sandi) Krenzer Mr. Dennis Nolan Mrs. Gene Wines Segerblom Mrs. Patricia A. Tripple Mr. Wendell P. Williams GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT: Assemblyman John Carpenter STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Denice Miller, Senior Research Analyst OTHERS PRESENT: Stephanie Licht, Elko County Chairman Lambert called for a motion to approve the minutes of the committee meetings through April 11, 1995. ASSEMBLYMAN BACHE MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES THROUGH APRIL 11, 1995. ASSEMBLYMAN HARRINGTON SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Apparently, the lobbyist from Elko, Stephanie Licht, was present at the meeting but the Elko County Convention and Visitors Bureau representatives were not. Mrs. Lambert indicated Ms. Licht would call them to see what they wanted to do with the bill and someone went to fetch Assemblyman Carpenter, sponsor of the bill, to testify. Assemblyman Bache had a bill to introduce. BDR 58-388 - Authorizes the Public Service Commission of Nevada to collect assessments for public utilities which provide telecommunication services. ASSEMBLYMAN WILLIAMS MOVED TO INTRODUCE BDR 58-388. ASSEMBLYMAN BACHE SECONDED THE MOTION. Assemblyman Tripple asked who submitted this bill. Mrs. Lambert said she and Mr. Bache requested it from the telephone industry. They have been working for two years with the Public Service Commission to put together regulations to deal with competition in the telephone industry. Everyone concerned has reached a consensus on the bill's contents and it is needed to complete a long-term process. THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. ASSEMBLY BILL 521 - Authorizes Elko County Convention and Visitors Authority to submit to voters question of whether additional bonds may be issued and sold. (BDR S-99) Assemblyman John Carpenter, District 33, opened with his testimony on A.B. 521 indicating the purpose of the bill. Mr. Carpenter said the county commissioners have been doing it up to now, but the Convention and Visitors Authority (CVA) board should be selling the bonds and submitting the question to the voters. There have been various bills dealing with this issue in the past and Mr. Carpenter felt the board of the CVA had matured sufficiently to be able to handle the sale of the bonds. This bill was requested on their behalf. Mr. Carpenter mentioned the CVA in Elko was currently looking at expanding their facility there and would be selling new bond issues in about two years, when their current bond issue is paid. Assemblyman Ernaut questioned whether any other convention and visitors authority in the state had the authority. Mr. Carpenter did not know. Mr. Ernaut assumed the bonding would be subject to the provisions in the bonding commission. Absolutely, Mr. Carpenter replied. Chairman Lambert indicated there would be an attempt to find out if any other convention and visitors authorities had the power to issue bonds. Mr. Harrington had a question dealing with special elections because they were controlled by special interest groups and to be avoided if possible. Second, he asked about line 10 on page 1 and lines 25-26 on page two, which would remove the limitations on how much an entity could borrow. Mr. Harrington felt it would be reasonable to put some limitation on how much the CVA could borrow. Mr. Carpenter said the bond issue originally sold to build the convention building was 2.5 million. He felt the cost was reasonable as a new building would soon have to be constructed and costs were not going down. He pointed out there were many safeguards and the voters ultimately would have to approve it or the bonds could not be sold. The CVA are the ones who are aware of the needs of the county in this area and should be the ones to submit this question to the voters and be in charge of the new facility construction project. Mr. Harrington brought up special elections being held as opposed to general elections. Mr. Carpenter thought that the elections were general municipal or general state elections. Mrs. Lambert politely interrupted and said if the actual statute was read, there was a section stating a special election could be held if there was an emergency declared by unanimous vote. Assemblyman Segerblom asked if they were having a lot more conventions in Elko. Mr. Carpenter said yes, the usage of that building has increased quite a bit and is not able to hold everyone who wants to use the facility. There is also a lack of exhibit space. A new facility is desperately needed and a private fund has been started to help finance the project. Assemblyman Bennett questioned page two, lines 4-6, and wanted to make sure there was no ambiguity between the wording and the declaration of an emergency. Mrs. Lambert looked up subsection three to section 4.5 of the act and said it was parallel language to all other election laws in the state that require the unanimous vote to declare an emergency to have a special election. Assemblyman Freeman's interest was piqued by Mr. Carpenter's comments on the CVA having matured to the point to be able to sell the bonds. She asked Mr. Carpenter if he had confidence in the CVA to do this. Mr. Carpenter replied there had been some controversy over the entire situation, especially with one of the Directors there. There was a lot of small time political in-fighting. He had introduced this bill to eliminate some of the problems. He was confident the current members would do a good job. The people on the board have an interest in the CVA. When the city council was in charge, they did not have an interest in it. Ms. Tripple questioned the relationship between the Elko CVA and the community college there; did they share facilities? Mr. Carpenter indicated they did share the convention facilities. The community college was in the process of building a small auditorium, but many of the events sponsored by the college were held at the convention center because of the greater capacity for attendance. Mrs. Lambert thought the language in section three was too broad because the bonds sold would be intended to build the facilities, rather than to manage, operate, advertise and promote the facility. Mr. Carpenter said this would just be for the issue of bonds for the construction. He mentioned the operation of the facility itself would come from room tax and fees charged to the users, not from the bond sales revenues. He suggested if that was what was meant by those lines, an amendment would be needed. He would have that checked. Mrs. Lambert asked if the CVA had the authority to levy a property tax rate to pay off the bonds. Mr. Carpenter answered in the affirmative. Stephanie Licht, lobbyist for the Elko County Commissioners, said in speaking with the commission, they indicated the bill would not raise the property tax rate of the county because it would be a continuum on the end of the bond that would be retired. Mrs. Lambert pointed out the original issue of bonds was for 2.5 million and the new issue would be for 4.5 million; would this not result in a higher tax rate? Mr. Carpenter understood that the new bond would not be voted on until the old bond issue was paid off. He did not think the rates would be increased. The size of the project was being decreased in order to keep the costs down. Mrs. Lambert closed the hearing on A.B. 521. Assemblyman Nolan had received a memo from bill drafting on A.B. 276 and indicated they had told him the request from the subcommittee could be handled two ways: 1. By statute or 2. By an agreement between the state telephone franchisees and the telephone companies. He said they were going to try to come to an agreement. Mrs. Lambert asked if Mr. Arberry had been apprised of this. Mr. Nolan confirmed he had. New developments would be eagerly awaited. Mrs. Lambert adjourned the meeting at 9:45 a.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: ___________________________ Denise Sins, Committee Secretary APPROVED BY: Assemblyman Douglas A. Bache, Chairman Assemblyman Joan A. Lambert, Chairman Assembly Committee on Government Affairs May 15, 1995 Page