MINUTES OF THE meeting

of the

ASSEMBLY Committee on Transportation

 

Seventy-Second Session

February 25, 2003

 

 

The Committee on Transportationwas called to order at 1:35 p.m., on Tuesday, February 25, 2003.  Chairman Vonne Chowning presided in Room 3143 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada.  Exhibit A is the Agenda.  Exhibit B is the Guest List.  All exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

 

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Mrs. Vonne Chowning, Chairwoman

Mr. Kelvin Atkinson

Mr. John C. Carpenter

Mr. Jerry D. Claborn

Mr. Tom Collins

Mr. Pete Goicoechea

Mr. Don Gustavson

Mr. Ron Knecht

Mr. Mark Manendo

Mr. John Oceguera

Mr. Rod Sherer

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:

 

Ms. Genie Ohrenschall, Vice Chairman (excused)

 

GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:

 

Assemblyman John Marvel, District No. 32

 

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Marji Paslov Thomas, Committee Policy Analyst

Kim Morgan, Committee Counsel

Bill Fowler, Committee Secretary

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

 

Ross W. Grover, Potentate Kerak Shrine

Martha Barnes, Administrator of the Central Services and Records Division, Department of Motor Vehicles

 

Chairwoman Chowning called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. and indicated that Assemblywoman Ohrenschall was excused; all other members were present and there was a quorum present.  Chairwoman Chowning then opened the hearing on A.B. 44.  

 

 

Assembly Bill 44:  Provides for issuance of special license plates for Kerak Shrine, Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of North America, located in Reno, Nevada, or its successor. (BDR 43-666)

 

Assemblyman John Marvel, Dist. No. 32, introduced the bill and acknowledged that Assemblyman Claborn and he were probably the only Shriners in the Legislature.  Mr. Marvel explained Speaker Emeritus Joe Dini had requested introduction of the bill and noted Mr. Dini’s son, Jay, was the Potentate for Kerak Temple in Reno, the northern Nevada shrine.  He explained that Shriners had been involved in assisting children afflicted with polio by providing orthopedic hospitals since 1922.  Since the advent of the Salk vaccine, Mr. Marvel noted, the number of crippled children requiring treatment was greatly reduced.  He said the Shriners had since turned their efforts to providing burn centers.  He said the closest burn center for northern Nevadans was Sacramento.  Mr. Marvel said since the time of its inception, the Shriners had spent over $4.5 billion and noted that the services were all provided at no cost to the patient.  He stated that the Shriners organization was the most noteworthy group to which he had ever belonged.  He said there was a misperception that the Shriners were just a “party” group, and added there was a very serious side to the Shrinedom.  Mr. Marvel affirmed that to the Shriners, kids come first.  He then recognized in the audience Ross Grover, Jr., Past Potentate from Reno.  He advised that Assemblyman Claborn had an amendment to A.B. 44.  The bill itself, Mr. Marvel stated, was self-explanatory.   

 

Chairwoman Chowning thanked Mr. Marvel and explained the process for this special license was no different than any other special license plate.  She said those qualifying for the plate would pay an additional $25 above and beyond all other applicable fees and taxes.  She added the renewal fee for specialty license plates was $10. 

 

Mr. Marvel interjected that 1,000 applicants were required before the Department of Motor Vehicles would begin the process of producing the plates. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning noted the public might not realize that, with the minimum of 1,000 requests, the plate would raise $25,000 towards the needs of children.

 

Mr. Marvel inquired whether the license plate had already been designed.   Chairwoman Chowning responded that a proposed design (Exhibit C) had been distributed.  Mr. Marvel responded this was the first time he had seen it. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning said she believed the color scheme would be different.  She said when she spoke with Speaker Emeritus Dini and Jay Dini, they had advised her that the proposed design would be available for the meeting.   

 

Assemblyman Jerry Claborn thanked the Committee for allowing him to speak in support of A.B. 44.  He advised, for the record, that he anticipated an amendment to the bill.  Mr. Claborn stressed the sole purpose of Shriners was to provide medical assistance to children.  He then spoke from prepared testimony (Exhibit D) regarding allocations in the Shriner budget.  Mr. Claborn concluded by stating he hoped they all would support the bill.

 

Assemblyman Knecht stated that he was familiar with the work of the Shriners, that he saluted and applauded their work, and he extended congratulations to those introducing A.B. 44.

 

Ross W. Grover, Potentate, Kerak Shrine, discussed the origins of the Shriners’ program in 1922.  Since its humble beginnings, he said it had gone to all orthopedic hospitals and burn institutes and, to date, had put through their centers over 600,000 orthopedic and burn patients.  He said Shriners used the best doctors available, and had trained over 5,000 doctors.  Doctors came to observe the procedures even at their own expense, he explained, because the procedures were unique.  He noted that Shriners had patients with all types of injuries and abnormalities.  He added that one must be a Master Mason to belong to the Shriners.  Referencing Masonry, he commented that George Washington was a Master Mason and he surmised that most of the signers of our nation’s original documents were Masons.  He added that George Washington was Master of his Lodge at the same time of his presidency.  Since then, he noted, there had been a total of 16 U.S. presidents who had been Master Masons. 

 

Mr. Grover discussed his proposed design for the license plate (Exhibit C), referenced earlier.  He said the design was a modification of various other designs and visually explained it further.  He noted there were a number of Shriner license plates in the nation. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning advised that the design would be coordinated with the Department of Motor Vehicles and with the Nevada Highway Patrol.

 

Mr. Grover acknowledged he understood the procedure.

 

Assemblyman Marvel added, regarding the design, that the Committee’s input would also be considered. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning concurred.  She then asked about the proposed amendment to A.B. 44. 

 

Assemblyman Claborn announced that he had an amendment prepared but suggested they review the amendment in their Committee work session.  He said he had just recently been made aware of the Shriner bill, and the amendment would make it effective for all of Nevada. 

 

Assemblywoman Chowning clarified that the concept of the amendment was to ensure that the proceeds go to the Shriners statewide for their work.

 

Assemblyman Claborn agreed and stated that the money generated from passage of the bill would go into a children’s transportation fund to transport children from hospital to hospital. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning inquired whether transportation would include transporting children to the only burn center in the state located in Las Vegas.

 

Assemblyman Marvel advised that he believed Sacramento was the closest burn center for northern Nevadans and that there was a hospital for crippled children in Salt Lake City. 

 

Mr. Grover explained that the state of Nevada was divided into the Zelda Shrine in southern Nevada and Kerak Shrine in the north.  The hospitals were also divided.  For Reno and its general vicinity, the patients generally would go to Sacramento.  He said for the eastern part of Nevada, including Winnemucca and Elko, patients would go to the burn center in Salt Lake City.  Kerak Shrine owned two vans that they used to transport children to Sacramento.  He recalled a few years back they had a serious burn patient who nearly depleted their transportation fund because, at that time, all of their patients had to be transported to Galveston, Texas.  They had to use a plane, a nurse, and a pilot, and it cost approximately $15,000.  He observed that was not cost-effective in handling the number of patients they had.  He contrasted that difficulty with the current ease of transporting children to Sacramento. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning asked whether the money they generated to help children could only be used to transport children to Shrine hospitals. 

 

Mr. Grover indicated that was correct.    

 

Chairwoman Chowning questioned whether Shriners utilized University Medical Center (UMC) in southern Nevada.  She received clarification that the children went to separate hospitals that were specifically Shrine operated. 

 

Assemblyman Claborn stated that the Las Vegas Shriners generally sent their children to Frontier Hospital in Los Angeles. 

 

Mr. Grover concluded by encouraging people to buy their tickets to the Shriner Circus.

 

With no further questions for the Shriners, Chairwoman Chowning thanked them and called for further testimony from the DMV.   

 

Martha Barnes, Administrator of the Central Services and Records Division, Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), stated the Department had submitted a fiscal note in the amount of $15,707 and appropriation was not requested due to the revolving account previously established to cover expenses associated with the production of a new specialty plate.  She wanted to note page 2 of A.B. 44, line 10, Section 3, required that an application for issuance or renewal of specialty license plates had to be given to DMV in order for the specialty license plates to be renewed.  She noted that that requirement eliminated alternate methods for renewal including the Internet, emissions stations, and the use of telephone or mail. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning asked whether, for someone to renew a specialty plate, they had to physically go into a DMV Office.

 

Ms. Barnes responded in the affirmative. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning asked whether that was for all specialty plates.

 

Ms. Barnes said that particular language was only applicable to one other plate currently, and that was the professional firefighter plate. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning asked why there was a discrepancy in the requirements for specialty plates.

 

Ms. Barnes deferred to the sponsor to respond.

 

Assemblyman Gustavson surmised that in order to apply for a Shriners specialty plate, one had to be a member of the Shriners. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning said she could understand why initially one would have to go personally to the DMV office in order to validate a Shriners membership, but she did not understand why one would have to go through the same process in order to renew a plate.  She said she understood that the professional firefighters’ plate was going to be changed as well, possibly through regulation.  She suggested that if this bill was going to be amended, that perhaps language regarding the renewal process could also be included, noting that personally appearing at a DMV office was a hardship for many.  She asked if that would be a problem for the DMV.

 

Ms. Barnes responded that it was not a problem and added the renewal requirement had been a concern of the DMV, which was why she referenced that section.   

 

Chairwoman Chowning thanked Ms. Barnes for drawing their attention to the renewal problem and suggested that on page 2, line 10, the Committee should delete the words “or renewal.”  She concluded that they would address that language during their work session. 

 

Assemblyman Collins commented on his positive personal experiences with the Shriners organization but asked the sponsors of the bill whether the intent of the bill was for only Shriner members to have the plates or if the purpose was to promote fund raising for the Shriners.  He said that also would be addressed in Section 3 of the bill.

 

Chairwoman Chowning asked Ms. Barnes whether she mentioned the $15,000 fiscal note merely for background information, because there was in place a special appropriation that covered all of the specialty license plates.

 

Ms. Barnes affirmed that was correct.

 

Assemblyman Marvel, responding to Assemblyman Collins’ question, suggested that he contact Speaker Emeritus Dini regarding the intent of the bill.

 

Chairwoman Chowning said Assemblyman Collins’ question was valid.  She said they needed to determine whether the intent of the bill was specifically for recognition of Shriners with no fund-raising component, in which case, membership in the Shriners would be required; or whether truly the intent of the bill was to raise funds for the treatment of children, in which case the language needed to be expanded to allow anyone to purchase the plate.  She concluded the bill needed further work. 

 

Assemblyman Marvel stated that they needed to contact Mr. Dini.

 

Chairwoman Chowning appointed Mr. Marvel to check with Mr. Dini on the intent.

 

Assemblyman Gustavson agreed that they needed clarification on the intent and noted that on page 1, line 5, A.B. 44 indicated “affiliation with the … Shrine.”

 

Assemblyman Marvel expressed his opinion that the original intent of the bill was for the membership of the Shriners only.

 

Chairwoman Chowning reiterated that it needed to be confirmed before the work session, because that would then limit the number of plates to be sold.  She said she did not know how many Shriners were in the state.

 

Assemblyman Atkinson agreed it would be important to know the number of Shriners because that would affect the monies generated from the bill.

 

Assemblyman Marvel said he was not sure of the number of Shriners affiliated with the Kerak Shrine.

 

Assemblyman Claborn offered that the Las Vegas Shriners had 1,266 current members in the Zelda Shrine.  He said the number he was issued was 1,621 which indicated their membership had fallen over the years. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning thanked the sponsors and Ms. Barnes.  With no further questions, she said that, because an amendment to the bill would be reviewed at a work session, she would close the hearing on A.B. 44.

 

Chairwoman Chowning advised the Committee members they had BDR 35-342 from the Nevada League of Cities and Municipalities.

 

BDR 35-342:  Makes various changes concerning certain applications submitted to Department of Transportation by governmental entities for easements or licenses or permits for encroachments on certain highway rights-of-way.  (A.B. 197)

 

ASSEMBLYMAN COLLINS MOVED FOR A COMMITTEE INTRODUCTION OF BDR 35-342.

 

ASSEMBLYMAN MANENDO SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.  (Mrs. Ohrenschall was absent for the vote.)

 

Chairwoman asked for any other items that needed to come before the Committee.  There were none and she adjourned the meeting at 2:03 p.m.

 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

 

                                                           

Sharee Gebhardt

Transcribing Secretary

 

 

APPROVED BY:

 

 

 

                                                                                         

Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, Chairman

 

 

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