THE TWENTY-FIFTH DAY
Carson City(Thursday), February 25, 1999
Senate called to order at 11:10 a.m.
President Hunt presiding.
Roll called.
All present except Senators Rawson and Townsend, who were excused.
Prayer by the Chaplain, Dr. Ken Haskins.
Eternal Father, You are not a god of confusion, but rather You are the Prince of Peace. You have ordained government in order that Your children might lead peaceful and productive lives. Bless these Senators, these servants of Yours, as they labor to fashion laws which will promote an environment where peace and prosperity may flourish.
Amen.
Pledge of allegiance to the Flag.
Senator Raggio moved that further reading of the Journal be dispensed with, and the President and Secretary be authorized to make the necessary corrections and additions.
Motion carried.
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
Madam President:
Your Committee on Government Affairs, to which were referred Senate Bills Nos. 14, 139, has had the same under consideration, and begs leave to report the same back with the recommendation: Amend, and do pass as amended.
Also, your Committee on Government Affairs, to which was referred Senate Bill No. 4, has had the same under consideration, and begs leave to report the same back with the recommendation: Do pass, and re-refer to the Committee on Finance.
Ann O’Connell, Chairman
Madam President:
Your Committee on Human Resources and Facilities, to which was referred Senate Bill No. 104, has had the same under consideration, and begs leave to report the same back with the recommendation: Do pass, and re-refer to the Committee on Finance.
Also, your Committee on Human Resources and Facilities, to which were referred Senate Bills Nos. 97, 117, has had the same under consideration, and begs leave to report the same back with the recommendation: Do pass, and place on Consent Calendar.
Raymond D. Rawson, Chairman
Madam President:
Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred Senate Bill No. 149, has had the same under consideration, and begs leave to report the same back with the recommendation: Amend, and do pass as amended.
Mark A. James, Chairman
Madam President:
Your Committee on Natural Resources, to which were referred Senate Bills Nos. 105, 106, has had the same under consideration, and begs leave to report the same back with the recommendation: Do pass.
Also, your Committee on Natural Resources, to which was referred Senate Bill No. 166, has had the same under consideration, and begs leave to report the same back with the recommendation: Do pass, and place on Consent Calendar.
Dean A. Rhoads, Chairman
Madam President:
Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred Senate Bill No. 81, has had the same under consideration, and begs leave to report the same back with the recommendation: Amend, and do pass as amended.
William R. O’Donnell, Chairman
MESSAGES FROM THE ASSEMBLY
Assembly Chamber, Carson City, February 24, 1999
To the Honorable the Senate:
I have the honor to inform your honorable body that the Assembly on this day passed, as amended, Assembly Bills Nos. 80, 127.
Susan Furlong Reil
Assistant Chief Clerk of the Assembly
MOTIONS, RESOLUTIONS AND NOTICES
Senator O’Connell moved that Senate Bill No. 4 be re-referred to the Committee on Finance.
Remarks by Senator O’Connell.
Motion carried.
By Senator Jacobsen (by request):
Senate Joint Resolution No. 12—Encouraging Congress to support the establishment of a working partnership between federal land management agencies and local governments on issues relating to the grazing of livestock on public lands.
Senator Jacobsen moved that the resolution be referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.
Motion carried.
Senator Raggio moved that Senate Bill No. 104 be re-referred to the Committee on Finance.
Motion carried.
Senator Raggio moved that the following person be accepted as an accredited press representative, and that she be assigned space at the press table and allowed the use of appropriate broadcasting facilities: Shayne Del Cohn; WE THE PEOPLE (SNCAT).
Motion carried.
INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING AND REFERENCE
By Senators Rhoads and Jacobsen:
Senate Bill No. 251—AN ACT making an appropriation to the Department of Education for vocational student organizations; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Senator Rhoads moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Motion carried.
By Senator Schneider:
Senate Bill No. 252—AN ACT relating to state parks; requiring the administrator of the division of state parks of the state department of conservation and natural resources to charge and collect a fee from each person who rides a motorcycle or bicycle into a state park; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Senator Schneider moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Government Affairs.
Motion carried.
By Senator Schneider:
Senate Bill No. 253—AN ACT relating to wages; providing that certain deductions may be withheld from the wages or compensation of an employee with the specific written consent of that employee under certain circumstances; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Senator Schneider moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Labor.
Motion carried.
By Senator Jacobsen (by request):
Senate Bill No. 254—AN ACT making an appropriation for the improvement and expansion of the China Spring Youth Camp; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Senator Jacobsen moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Motion carried.
By Senators Raggio, Townsend, Jacobsen, Washington, Mathews; Assemblymen Gibbons, Anderson, Brower, Gustavson, Evans, Humke, Angle, Freeman and Leslie:
Senate Bill No. 255—AN ACT relating to local governmental financial administration; revising the provisions governing the imposition and use of a portion of the taxes on the rental of transient lodging and sales and use taxes in certain counties; ratifying certain actions of the Board of County Commissioners of Washoe County concerning the imposition of a portion of the sales and use taxes; clarifying the construction of certain commitments made by the City of Reno; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Senator Raggio moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Government Affairs.
Motion carried.
By Senator Shaffer:
Senate Bill No. 256—AN ACT relating to traffic laws; clarifying provisions governing loads on vehicles; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Senator Shaffer moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Transportation.
Motion carried.
By Senator O’Connell (by request):
Senate Bill No. 257—AN ACT relating to mobile home parks; requiring the administrator of the manufactured housing division of the department of business and industry to give written notice to the landlord and the manager of a mobile home park before the administrator or his representative may inspect the premises or certain records of the mobile home park; expanding the grounds under which a landlord may terminate a rental agreement with a tenant of a mobile home lot in a mobile home park; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Senator O’Connell moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Labor.
Motion carried.
By Senators Washington, O’Connell, Rawson, Townsend, McGinness, O’Donnell, Rhoads; Assemblymen Brower, Hettrick, Cegavske, Humke, Nolan, Angle, Carpenter, Gustavson, Tiffany and Von Tobel:
Senate Bill No. 258—AN ACT relating to education; revising the provisions governing charter schools; creating the commission for charter schools; making appropriations; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Senator Washington moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Motion carried.
By Senator Porter:
Senate Bill No. 259—AN ACT relating to taxation; revising the requirements for certain businesses to qualify for a partial abatement of certain taxes imposed on the personal property of the business or for an exemption from the payment of certain taxes imposed for the privilege of conducting business in this state; reducing the fees required to be paid by a foreign corporation for filing certain documents; revising the provisions concerning legislative appropriations to the commission on economic development for awarding grants to develop certain programs for occupational education; providing an exemption from the imposition of the business tax for certain businesses that create or produce motion pictures; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Senator Porter moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Taxation.
Motion carried.
Assembly Bill No. 80.
Senator James moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
Motion carried.
Assembly Bill No. 127.
Senator O’Connell moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Government Affairs.
Motion carried.
SECOND READING AND AMENDMENT
Senate Bill No. 50.
Bill read second time.
The following amendment was proposed by the Committee on Human Resources and Facilities:
Amendment No. 32.
Amend sec. 2, page 3, by deleting line 27 and inserting: “of subsection 1, any member who:”.
Amend sec. 2, page 3, line 35, by deleting “additional”.
Amend sec. 2, page 3, line 38, after “purchase.” by inserting: “Any service credit purchased pursuant to this subsection must be included as a part of, and is not in addition to, service purchased pursuant to subsection 2.”.
Amend the title of the bill, by deleting the fourth and fifth lines and inserting: “credit; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.”.
Senator Washington moved the adoption of the amendment.
Remarks by Senator Washington.
Amendment adopted.
Bill ordered reprinted, engrossed and to third reading.
Senate Bill No. 51.
Bill read second time.
The following amendment was proposed by the Committee on Human Resources and Facilities:
Amendment No. 31.
Amend section 1, page 1, by deleting lines 7 through 10 and inserting: “school district in this state, the present employer shall,”.
Amend section 1, page 2, line 4, by deleting “shall” and inserting “may”.
Amend section 1, page 2, line 5, by deleting “only”.
Amend section 1, page 2, line 9, by deleting “section.” and inserting “subsection.”.
Amend the title of the bill, by deleting the first and second lines and inserting:
“AN ACT relating to educational personnel; authorizing school districts, in determining the salaries of certain teachers, to give credit to those teachers for”.
Amend the summary of the bill, first line, by deleting “Requires” and inserting “Authorizes”.
Senator Washington moved the adoption of the amendment.
Remarks by Senator Washington.
Amendment adopted.
Bill ordered reprinted, engrossed and to third reading.
Senate Bill No. 129.
Bill read second time and ordered to third reading.
Senate Joint Resolution No. 11.
Resolution read second time and ordered to third reading.
GENERAL FILE AND THIRD READING
Senate Bill No. 16.
Bill read third time.
Remarks by Senator James.
Roll call on Senate Bill No. 16:
Yeas—19.
Nays—None.
Excused—Rawson, Townsend—2.
Senate Bill No. 16 having received a constitutional majority, Madam President declared it passed.
Bill ordered transmitted to the Assembly.
MOTIONS, RESOLUTIONS AND NOTICES
Senator Raggio moved that Senate Bill No. 160 be taken from the General File and placed on the General File for the next legislative day.
Remarks by Senator Raggio.
Motion carried.
GENERAL FILE AND THIRD READING
Senate Bill No. 173.
Bill read third time.
Remarks by Senators Neal, James and Care.
Senator Neal requested that the following remarks be entered in the Journal.
Senator Neal:
Thank you, Madam President. I had problems with this measure when it first came before this house. I believe those problems have not been resolved by this bill before us today. I thought I would receive a better explanation from the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee as to what Senate Bill No. 173 contains and which would permit me to vote in favor of it. The fact that he states that “members who appeared here representing the defense bar found this to be acceptable”—I still have some reservations that this law can and will be misused. What we are attempting to achieve, with this particular bill, is to permit the defense to present a list of all of its witnesses to the prosecutor they intend to call for a trial. I thought maybe we would have reference to the Binegar v. Eighth Judicial District Court case of 1996 which declared that the language in the law, which required “all known respective witnesses that the defense intended to call,” was declared unconstitutional by the court. What we now have, in place of all of this, I notice on page 2, line 1, that states “any witness that the defendant intends to call,” that information must be given to the prosecuting attorney. Further, on page 2, line 40, that even after the trial starts they have “a continuing duty.” When I read that language together, it seems to suggest that we are trying to create some type of loophole to get around the above case. It appears that we are trying to get around that unconstitutional language and at the same time have it look to be legal and constitutional.
Moreover, I have a problem with a person who has been charged with a criminal offense or gross misdemeanor, as this bill talks about, who happens to find themselves in court. He did not get there by just presenting himself; he was charged. Under our system of justice, when a person is charged they are not supposed to give evidence against themselves. Nor, are they supposed to be forced to help the prosecuting attorney to prosecute them. This is what this bill seems to be heading towards. I can foresee instances whereby names of witnesses would be given to the prosecuting attorney. He would then turn that list of names over to the police for the purpose of investigating these people and perform a background check, in other words, to intimidate them. That is why I think the court logically concluded that you could not have a situation where all the names the defense attorney intends to call would be given over to the prosecuting attorney. There could be abuse of the system.
Now, it was not the Defense Bar that was pushing for this. It is the prosecuting attorneys that are pushing for this. If I were being prosecuted by the state, the state could bring to bear all of its resources to convict me. Unless I obtained the services of a public defender, I could not even compete with the information they would have to convict me. To damage the right of a defendant by aiding the prosecuting attorney to prosecute by allowing the individual to assist in prosecuting himself, I happen to think this is wrong. It is the wrong policy for this state to initiate regardless what your bent is. You might find yourselves standing before a prosecuting attorney which has all the powers of the state at his disposal to prosecute you. If we open this particular door, then we might as well put our criminal justice system on a computer where you push buttons and weigh the evidence. If the result comes out guilty or not guilty then you either send them off or free them. I think this is wrong. I think it is heading down the wrong direction. This is not the first time that I have taken a position against this. I will continue to take a position against this because it does not do anything to enhance the criminal justice system. It goes only to the point of allowing those prosecutors, who already have the resources of the state at their disposal, to prosecute individuals, and now we will require information that the defendant has given to the prosecutors.
Senator James:
Thank you, Madam President. We had the debate about whether we should expand criminal discovery before. In response to the previous speaker, this is not a debate about expanding criminal discovery. For those of you who are following this closely, if you look at line 5 of page 1 of the bill, the italicized language is the new language “if the defendant will be tried for one or more offenses that are punishable as a gross misdemeanor or a felony.” The reason that language is in there is because the wording following contains the existing discovery requirements. That is what you are already required to give. There is nothing unconstitutional about it, and we have been through that discussion before. The language on lines 5 and 6 is saying that the way the existing discovery requirements are currently written they only apply to gross misdemeanor or felony cases. If you read line 15, it states “if the defendant will not be tried for any offenses that are punishable as a gross misdemeanor or felony” you have new discovery requirements. The new discovery requirements only apply to misdemeanor cases. If you read those, they are the same discovery requirements, with the exception of the language shown on page 2, line 2, which says the ones “have not otherwise been provided to the prosecuting attorney pursuant to NRS 174.245.” You have to give the same things, unless in a misdemeanor case, they have already gotten them through the normal process of police reports, etc. In a felony case, you must present a list and state who your witnesses are going to be, as it always was done. That is not being changed, but in a misdemeanor case, it states that if it is already in the records you do not have to present a separate list. That is all this bill does.
The arguments presented by the previous speaker were great as to whether we should expand criminal discovery and make it incumbent upon the defendants to give information concerning witnesses in a criminal trial, but has already been decided. We are not doing that here today. As to the “continuing duty” on line 40 that the Senator cited, which says “each party has a continuing duty to file and serve upon the opposing party any change in the last known address, or, if applicable, last known place of employment, of any witness that the party intends to call—that is no different than any duty you had before. That is why the Defense Bar did not disagree with this measure. We have been doing this in federal cases for years and now want to do it at the state level. We are simplifying the process in these less serious misdemeanor cases.
Senator Care:
Thank you, Madam President. The case that the Senator from Clark County made reference to is called Binegar v. Eighth Judicial District. The cite is 112 NV.544, 915, P. 2nd 889. It was a 1996 case. It addressed language in a former statute. At any rate, the holding in the case simply says that you can not mandate disclosure of prospective witnesses as opposed to witnesses you know you are going to call. I believe that obviously the legislation we have before us is consistent with the holding in that case.
Roll call on Senate Bill No. 173:
Yeas—18.
Nays—Neal.
Excused—Rawson, Townsend—2.
Senate Bill No. 173 having received a constitutional majority, Madam President declared it passed, as amended.
Bill ordered transmitted to the Assembly.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Signing of Bills and Resolutions
There being no objections, the President and Secretary signed Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 12, Assembly Joint Resolution No. 8.
GUESTS EXTENDED PRIVILEGE OF SENATE FLOOR
On request of Senator Mathews, the privilege of the floor of the Senate Chamber for this day was extended to the following students from the Mamie Towles Elementary School: Shawn Balfour, Gary Bosworth, David Gann, Anna Gardikiotis, Ria Gardikiotis, Remy Glock, Nichole Hartley, Anthony Hassett, Lilian Hayth, Stephanie Herrera, Alex Kauderer, Shelly Lac, Amie Lacey, Christopher Lopez, Isabel Marin, Maricela Martinez, Kimberlee Parker, Aaron Rea, David Rodriguez, Mark Talavera, Aaron Wade, Megan Weinhold, Joshua Wilson, Sihan Chen, A.J. Allerman, Justine Arands, Audra Bender, Lauren Bergam, Zack Boucher, Christina Carter, KiEun Chang, Monique Haines, Sean Kay, Joy Kelley, Brandon McCain, Justin Ramelli, Danielle Bay, Travis Reynolds, May Bueda, Jarad Sanchez, Kealan Southwick, Nicholas Steele, Alberto Villanueva, Ryan Williams, Robert Vancey, Mike Gandng, Sushil Sandhu, Samantha Yang, Katie Bates, Eric Chaump, Derek Dahl, Trevor Damon, Natalie Earl, Gloria Emmas, Jeremy Hagan, Shelbie Hammersmith, Jenna Hubert, James Hunt, Chris Karlas, Helen Kim, Krystal Musson, Elizabeth Pierson, Jamie Ray, Freddy Sanchez, Reca Shokouhi, Chantelle Sousa, Amanda Steele, Jesse Tovar, Scott Walsh, Amy Buins and Annette Bolt; teacher Jean Irwin; chaperones: Miss K. Comstock, Mrs. J. Irwin and Mrs. J. Leiker.
On request of Senator McGinness, the privilege of the floor of the Senate Chamber for this day was extended to Randy Spencer and Mark Swails.
Senator Raggio moved that the Senate adjourn until Friday, February 26, 1999 at 10:30 a.m.
Motion carried.
Senate adjourned at 11:58 a.m.
Approved: Lorraine T. Hunt
President of the Senate
Attest: Janice L. Thomas