THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH DAY
Carson City, (Monday), May 24, 1999
Senate called to order at 11:36 a.m.
President Hunt presiding.
Roll called.
All present.
Prayer by the Chaplain, Father Jerry Handley.
Our Father, Your son stated that whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters we do unto Him.
We pray Your hand be clear in deliberations of this Senate, with what You have created being carefully addressed.
When we ourselves feel the least among us, grant us courage and hope.
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.
MESSAGES FROM THE ASSEMBLY
Assembly Chamber, Carson City, May 22, 1999
To the Honorable the Senate:
I have the honor to inform your honorable body that the Assembly on this day concurred in the Senate Amendment No. 819 to Assembly Bill No. 3; Senate Amendment No. 929 to Assembly Bill No. 37; Senate Amendments Nos. 784, 1032 to Assembly Bill No. 94; Senate Amendment No. 812 to Assembly Bill No. 112; Senate Amendment No. 924 to Assembly Bill No. 134; Senate Amendment No. 779 to Assembly Bill No. 258; Senate Amendment No. 885 to Assembly Bill No. 271; Senate Amendment No. 1004 to Assembly Bill No. 283; Senate Amendment No. 969 to Assembly Bill No. 297; Senate Amendment No. 803 to Assembly Bill No. 311; Senate Amendment No. 948 to Assembly Bill No. 432; Senate Amendment No. 925 to Assembly Bill No. 451; Senate Amendment No. 949 to Assembly Bill No. 452; Senate Amendment No. 996 to Assembly Bill No. 492; Senate Amendment No. 888 to Assembly Bill No. 503; Senate Amendment No. 1050 to Assembly Bill No. 515; Senate Amendments Nos. 926, 1047 to Assembly Bill No. 536; Senate Amendment No. 823 to Assembly Bill No. 573; Senate Amendment No. 875 to Assembly Bill No. 636; Senate Amendment No. 887 to Assembly Bill No. 677.
Also, I have the honor to inform your honorable body that the Assembly on this day respectfully refused to concur in the Senate Amendment No. 733 to Assembly Bill No. 59; Senate Amendment No. 754 to Assembly Bill No. 76; Senate Amendments Nos. 874, 1021 to Assembly Bill No. 109; Senate Amendment No. 1010 to Assembly Bill No. 238; Senate Amendment No. 994 to Assembly Bill No. 272; Senate Amendment No. 902 to Assembly Bill No. 289; Senate Amendment No. 846 to Assembly Bill No. 376; Senate Amendment No. 854 to Assembly Bill No. 615.
Also, I have the honor to inform your honorable body that the Assembly on this day respectfully refused to recede from its action on Senate Bill No. 16, Assembly Amendment No. 776 and requests a conference, and appointed Assemblymen Segerblom, Giunchigliani and Beers as a first Conference Committee to meet with a like committee of the Senate.
Also, I have the honor to inform your honorable body that the Assembly on this day respectfully refused to recede from its action on Senate Bill No. 369, Assembly Amendment No. 738 and requests a conference, and appointed Assemblymen Bache, Tiffany and Parnell as a first Conference Committee to meet with a like committee of the Senate.
Also, I have the honor to inform your honorable body that the Assembly on this day respectfully refused to recede from its action on Senate Bill No. 381, Assembly Amendment No. 904 and requests a conference, and appointed Assemblymen Ohrenschall, McClain and Carpenter as a first Conference Committee to meet with a like committee of the Senate.
Susan Furlong Reil
Assistant Chief Clerk of the Assembly
INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING AND REFERENCE
By Senator Titus (Emergency Request of Titus):
Senate Bill No. 549—AN ACT relating to health care; prohibiting certain actions from being taken against employees of certain medical facilities for disclosing certain information about the facilities; providing for a civil action and damages if a person engages in such prohibited actions; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Senator Titus moved that the bill be referred to the Committee on Human Resources and Facilities.
Motion carried.
SECOND READING AND AMENDMENT
Senate Bill No. 399.
Bill read second time.
The following amendment was proposed by the Committee on:
Amendment No. 643.
Amend section 1, page 1, line 2, by deleting “7,” and inserting “5,”.
Amend sec. 2, page 1, line 3, by deleting “7,” and inserting “5,”.
Amend sec. 3, page 1, line 6, by deleting “seven” and inserting “six”.
Amend sec. 3, page 1, line 11, by deleting “Four” and inserting “Three”.
Amend sec. 3, page 1, by deleting lines 14 through 16 and inserting:
“(1) The director of the department of prisons or a person designated by him;
(2) The medical director of the department of prisons or a person designated by him;
(3) The director of the department of administration or a person designated by him;”.
Amend sec. 3, page 2, line 2, by deleting “prisons.” and inserting: “prisons or a person designated by him.”.
Amend the bill as a whole by deleting sections 5 through 8 and adding new sections designated sections 5 and 6, following sec. 4, to read as follows:
“Sec. 5. The committee:
1. May review and comment on any program of the correctional institutions and conservation camps in this state;
2. Shall view the operations of the institutions and facilities of the department of prisons and such other correctional institutions and conservation camps as the committee deems necessary;
3. May hold hearings in connection with its review;
4. May direct the legislative counsel bureau to assist in its research, review and comment;
5. May recommend to the legislature as a result of its review any appropriate state legislation; and
6. May apply for any available grants and accept any gifts, grants or donations to aid the committee in carrying out its duties.
Sec. 6. This act becomes effective on July 1, 1999.”.
Senator Raggio moved the adoption of the amendment.
Remarks by Senator Raggio.
Amendment adopted.
Bill ordered reprinted, engrossed and to third reading.
Assembly Bill No. 321.
Bill read second time and ordered to third reading.
Assembly Bill No. 525.
Bill read second time and ordered to third reading.
GENERAL FILE AND THIRD READING
Senate Bill No. 184.
Bill read third time.
Remarks by Senator Raggio.
Roll call on Senate Bill No. 184:
Yeas—21.
Nays—None.
Senate Bill No. 184 having received a constitutional majority, Madam President declared it passed, as amended.
Bill ordered transmitted to the Assembly.
Senate Bill No. 443.
Bill read third time.
Remarks by Senators Raggio, Titus and Coffin.
Senator Schneider requested that the following remarks be entered in the Journal.
Senator Raggio:
Thank you, Madam President. Senate Bill No. 443 appropriates $150,000 to the Legislative Commission which will be used to study the funding of higher education. In 1985, a similar study was authorized and out of that study and deliberations came the existing formula for funding the university and community college system. The makeup of this committee is very similar to that which was authorized by the Legislature in 1985. It is a committee of 12 voting members: three members of the Senate, three members of the Assembly, three members of the Board of Regents and three members appointed by the Governor.
The only difference from the committee that was authorized in 1985 is that the Governor then only had one appointment while this would give him three appointments for a total of 12. The nonvoting members of the committee are also appointed by the Governor. They include a representative from the state budget division and three employees of the university and community college system. The Legislative Counsel Bureau, under the bill, provides the necessary professional staff and a secretary for the committee. The chairman is appointed by the Legislative Commission.
It is certainly understood over a number of sessions that there has been a continuing concern about whether or not the present formula for funding the university and community college system is appropriate. The last formula, as I indicated, was developed about 14 years ago and with the difference in growth in the state, it is certainly timely to look at all the reasons for the formula as it is now in existence and to determine whether or not any changes are appropriate.
We had some discussion of it in committee. There were some suggestions that perhaps we should change the membership or be more specific. Let me indicate that this is something that is supported by the majority of the members of the Legislature. It is a commitment that I made to a number of people particularly members of the foundation at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, during the interim that we would appropriately fund a study. I support this concept as long as it is totally objective, not sectional, not partisan which was the way the one in 1995 operated and the formula, for the most part, has served us well.
I also pointed out because somebody said, if the formula was so good, why were there inequities? I think that needs to be stated because we do need to understand that the reason that there were so-called inequities or deficiencies in the funding were not because the Legislature deviated from the formula in funding university and community college systems. The differences occurred because the different institutions over the years have utilized money that was provided or authorized under the formula in varying ways and distorted the support sections of the formula. Even the recent equity funding study that was conducted by the regents indicated that the instructional part of the funding for the university system was equitable. Those are the kinds of issues that are probably going to need to be looked at. It is important and the amount of money that is being provided, will not only provide for the participants on the committee, but will allow a substantial amount to be contracted out to some type of entity that can provide the input, the information, the data and the comparisons which need to be made with the way in which other states fund their university and community college systems.
I would urge your support. I think it will be extremely helpful. The committee will hold public hearings under the bill to allow the general public, governmental agencies and any organizations that are interested in higher education an opportunity to present relevant information. In addition, as I said, the committee will contract with education and financial consultants to assist with completing the study. This will require the committee to report its finding and recommendations before the start of the next legislative session. The bill becomes effective on July 1, 1999, and will expire on January 1, 2001, before the beginning of the next legislative session.
Senator Titus:
While I support a committee to examine funding for the University and Community College System of Nevada, I must agree with the Majority Leader that if the results of the study are to be seen as credible and legitimate, the committee must be as broad-based, as geographically balanced and as non-partisan as possible. There are no guarantees of that in the language of this bill, but I am confident that I can count on those making the appointments to ensure that such will be the case.
Senator Coffin:
Thank you, Madam President. I won’t belabor this because the arguments that I had made on this matter were all made in committee. My “no” vote will be predicated on the makeup of the committee.
Senator Raggio:
I appreciate the Minority Leader’s support and want to indicate that for the appointments made by the Senate, that will be the situation. I hope that is true and should be true because that is the way it occurred in the past. All of the appointing authorities; the Assembly, the Board of Regents and the Governor will make every effort to see that this is a balanced, objective study. It is useless if it is not and would be of no value. I think we all believe strongly in the status and success of higher education in this State, to do otherwise would be very inappropriate.
Roll call on Senate Bill No. 443:
Yeas—20.
Nays—Coffin.
Senate Bill No. 443 having received a constitutional majority, Madam President declared it passed.
Bill ordered transmitted to the Assembly.
Senate Bill No. 504.
Bill read third time.
Roll call on Senate Bill No. 504:
Yeas—21.
Nays—None.
Senate Bill No. 504 having received a constitutional majority, Madam President declared it passed, as amended.
Bill ordered transmitted to the Assembly.
Senate Bill No. 545.
Bill read third time.
Roll call on Senate Bill No. 545:
Yeas—21.
Nays—None.
Senate Bill No. 545 having received a constitutional majority, Madam President declared it passed.
Bill ordered transmitted to the Assembly.
Assembly Bill No. 103.
Bill read third time.
Roll call on Assembly Bill No. 103:
Yeas—19.
Nays—Care, Titus—2.
Assembly Bill No. 103 having received a two-thirds majority, Madam President declared it passed.
Bill ordered transmitted to the Assembly.
Assembly Bill No. 346.
Bill read third time.
Roll call on Assembly Bill No. 346:
Yeas—21.
Nays—None.
Assembly Bill No. 346 having received a constitutional majority, Madam President declared it passed.
Bill ordered transmitted to the Assembly.
Assembly Joint Resolution No. 26.
Resolution read third time.
Roll call on Assembly Joint Resolution No. 26:
Yeas—20.
Nays—Carlton.
Assembly Joint Resolution No. 26 having received a constitutional majority, Madam President declared it passed.
Resolution ordered transmitted to the Assembly.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Signing of Bills and Resolutions
There being no objections, the President and Secretary signed Senate Bills Nos. 9, 126, 144, 215, 292, 394, 532, 546, 547; Assembly Bills Nos. 3, 37, 47, 60, 94, 112, 134, 151, 181, 258, 271, 283, 288, 297, 311, 341, 343, 344, 370, 432, 451, 452, 492, 493, 503, 515, 536, 555, 573, 636, 656, 657, 658, 661, 674, 677; Assembly Joint Resolution No. 25; Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 70.
GUESTS EXTENDED PRIVILEGE OF SENATE FLOOR
On request of Senator McGinness, the privilege of the floor of the Senate Chamber for this day was extended to Mark Shellinger.
On request of Senator Raggio, the privilege of the floor of the Senate Chamber for this day was extended to Brett Scolari and Molly Malone.
On request of President Hunt, the privilege of the floor of the Senate Chamber for this day was extended to Carolynne Young, Dr. Walter Gerald Robison, DDS; Jackie Sullivan and Shane Sullivan.
Senator Raggio moved that the Senate adjourn until Tuesday, May 25, 1999 at 11 a.m.
Motion carried.
Senate adjourned at 12:10 p.m.
Approved: Lorraine T. Hunt
President of the Senate
Attest: Janice L. Thomas