Senate Bill No. 53-Committee on Human Resources and Facilities
(On Behalf of the Department of Employment, Training
and Rehabilitation)
January 29, 1997
____________
Referred to Committee on Human Resources and Facilities
SUMMARY--Changes name of bureau of services to the blind. (BDR 38-576)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to the bureau of services to the blind; changing the name of the bureau to include the visually impaired; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
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Section 1 NRS 426.045 is hereby amended to read as follows:
426.045 "Bureau" means the bureau of services to the blind and visually impaired in the division.
Sec. 2 NRS 232.920 is hereby amended to read as follows:
232.920 The director:
1. Shall:
(a) Organize the department into divisions and other operating units as needed to achieve the purposes of the department;
(b) Upon request, provide the director of the department of administration with a list of organizations and agencies in this state whose primary purpose is the training and employment of handicapped persons; and
(c) Except as otherwise provided by a specific statute, direct the divisions to share information in their records with agencies of local governments which are responsible for the collection of debts or obligations if the confidentiality of the information is otherwise maintained under the terms and conditions required by law.
2. Is responsible for the administration, through the divisions of the department, of the provisions of chapters 426, 426A, 458, 612 and 615 of NRS, and all other provisions of law relating to the functions of the department and its divisions, but is not responsible for the professional line activities of the divisions or other operating units except as specifically provided by law.
3. Is responsible for the preparation of a consolidated state plan for the bureau of services to the blind [,] and visually impaired, the bureau of vocational rehabilitation and any other program administered by the rehabilitation division which he considers appropriate to incorporate into the consolidated state plan before submission to the Federal Government. This subsection does not apply if any federal regulation exists which prohibits a consolidated plan.
4. In developing and revising state plans pursuant to subsection 3, shall consider, among other things, the amount of money available from the Federal Government for the programs of the division and the conditions attached to the acceptance of that money, and the limitations of legislative appropriations for the programs.
5. May employ, within the limits of legislative appropriations, such staff as is necessary to the performance of the duties of the department.
Sec. 3 NRS 232.940 is hereby amended to read as follows:
232.940 The rehabilitation division of the department consists of the following bureaus:
1. Bureau of services to the blind [.] and visually impaired.
2. Bureau of alcohol and drug abuse.
3. Bureau of vocational rehabilitation.
Sec. 4 NRS 281.210 is hereby amended to read as follows:
281.210 1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, it is unlawful for any person acting as a school trustee, state, township, municipal or county officer, or as an employing authority of the University and Community College System of Nevada, any school district or of the state, any town, city or county, or for any state or local board, agency or commission, elected or appointed, to employ in any capacity on behalf of the State of Nevada, or any county, township, municipality or school district thereof, or the University and Community College System of Nevada, any relative of such a person or of any member of such a board, agency or commission who is within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity.
2. This section does not apply:
(a) To school districts, when the teacher or other school employee is not related to more than one of the trustees or person who is an employing authority by consanguinity or affinity and receives a unanimous vote of all members of the board of trustees and approval by the state department of education.
(b) To school districts, when the teacher or other school employee has been employed by an abolished school district or educational district, which constitutes a part of the employing county school district, and the county school district for 4 years or more before April 1, 1957.
(c) To the spouse of the warden of an institution or manager of a facility of the department of prisons.
(d) To the spouse of the superintendent of the Caliente youth center.
(e) To relatives of blind officers and employees of the bureau of services to the blind and visually impaired of the rehabilitation division of the department of employment, training and rehabilitation when those relatives are employed as automobile drivers for those officers and employees.
3. Nothing in this section:
(a) Prevents any officer in this state, employed under a flat salary, from employing any suitable person to assist in any such employment, when the payment for the service is met out of the personal money of the officer.
(b) Disqualifies any widow with a dependent as an employee of any officer or board in this state, or any of its counties, townships, municipalities or school districts.
4. A person employed contrary to the provisions of this section must not be compensated for the employment.
5. Any person violating any provisions of this section is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
Sec. 5 NRS 361.157 is hereby amended to read as follows:
361.157 1. When any real estate or portion of real estate which for any reason is exempt from taxation is leased, loaned or otherwise made available to and used by a natural person, association, partnership or corporation in connection with a business conducted for profit or as a residence, or both, the leasehold interest, possessory interest, beneficial interest or beneficial use of any such lessee or user of the property is subject to taxation to the extent the:
(a) Portion of the property leased or used; and
(b) Percentage of time during the fiscal year that the property is leased by the lessee or used by the user,
can be segregated and identified. The taxable value of the interest or use must be determined in the manner provided in subsection 3 of NRS 361.227.
2. Subsection 1 does not apply to:
(a) Property located upon or within the limits of a public airport, park, market or fairground or any property owned by a public airport;
(b) Federal property for which payments are made in lieu of taxes in amounts equivalent to taxes which might otherwise be lawfully assessed;
(c) Property of any state-supported educational institution;
(d) Property leased or otherwise made available to and used by a natural person, private association, private corporation, municipal corporation, quasi-municipal corporation or a political subdivision under the provisions of the Taylor Grazing Act or by the United States Forest Service or the Bureau of Reclamation of the United States Department of the Interior;
(e) Property of any Indian or of any Indian tribe, band or community which is held in trust by the United States or subject to a restriction against alienation by the United States;
(f) Vending stand locations and facilities operated by blind persons under the auspices of the bureau of services to the blind and visually impaired of the rehabilitation division of the department of employment, training and rehabilitation, regardless of whether the property is owned by the federal, state or a local government;
(g) Leases held by a natural person, corporation, association, municipal corporation, quasi-municipal corporation or political subdivision for development of geothermal resources, but only for resources which have not been put into commercial production;
(h) The use of exempt property that is leased, loaned or made available to a public officer or employee, incident to or in the course of public employment;
(i) A parsonage owned by a recognized religious society or corporation when used exclusively as a parsonage;
(j) Property owned by a charitable or religious organization all or a portion of which is made available to and is used as a residence by a natural person in connection with carrying out the activities of the organization;
(k) Property owned by a governmental entity and used to provide shelter at a reduced rate to elderly persons or persons with low incomes;
(l) The occasional rental of meeting rooms or similar facilities for periods of less than 30 consecutive days; or
(m) The use of exempt property to provide day care for children if the day care is provided by a nonprofit organization.
3. Taxes must be assessed to lessees or users of exempt real estate and collected in the same manner as taxes assessed to owners of other real estate, except that taxes due under this section do not become a lien against the property. When due, the taxes constitute a debt due from the lessee or user to the county for which the taxes were assessed and, if unpaid, are recoverable by the county in the proper court of the county.
Sec. 6 NRS 361.159 is hereby amended to read as follows:
361.159 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3, when personal property, or a portion of personal property, which for any reason is exempt from taxation is leased, loaned or otherwise made available to and used by a natural person, association or corporation in connection with a business conducted for profit, the leasehold interest, possessory interest, beneficial interest or beneficial use of any such lessee or user of the property is subject to taxation to the extent the:
(a) Portion of the property leased or used; and
(b) Percentage of time during the fiscal year that the property is leased to the lessee or used by the user,
can be segregated and identified. The taxable value of the interest or use must be determined in the manner provided in subsection 3 of NRS 361.227.
2. Taxes must be assessed to lessees or users of exempt personal property and collected in the same manner as taxes assessed to owners of other personal property, except that taxes due under this section do not become a lien against the personal property. When due, the taxes constitute a debt due from the lessee or user to the county for which the taxes were assessed and if unpaid are recoverable by the county in the proper court of the county.
3. The provisions of this section do not apply to personal property:
(a) Used in vending stands operated by blind persons under the auspices of the bureau of services to the blind and visually impaired of the rehabilitation division of the department of employment, training and rehabilitation.
(b) Owned by a public airport.
Sec. 7 This act becomes effective upon passage and approval.
Sec. 8 The legislative counsel shall:
1. In preparing the reprint and supplements to the Nevada Revised Statutes, with respect to any section that is not amended by this act or is further amended by another act, appropriately change any reference to "the bureau of services to the blind" to "the bureau of services to the blind and visually impaired."
2. In preparing supplements to the Nevada Administrative Code, appropriately change any reference to "the bureau of services to the blind" to "the bureau of services to the blind and visually impaired."