2005 Nevada Legislature convenes Midweek hearings to focus on Lake Tahoe environmental issues

CARSON CITY - The 2005 Nevada Legislature opens today, facing major issues ranging from property tax caps to a nearly $6 billion state spending plan that must be resolved by June 6 - the last day of a session that by law can run only 120 days.

If the work's not done by then, legislators face the prospect of a repeat of 2003 when two back-to-back special sessions were needed to end a battle over a record $833 million tax package that was still raging when the regular session ended.

While some legislators are nervous about renewed partisanship this year, their top staffer is optimistic because of the extensive preparations for the 2005 session that have required some employees to work overtime since last fall.

"The Legislature is ready to go," said Lorne Malkiewich, chief of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, noting that extra staffing is in place, more than 40 bills will be ready for review starting Monday and several committees will start debating big issues in the first week of the session.

The LCB has about 280 year-round employees who serve the lawmakers - who meet every other year in regular session. Temporary clerks, security guards, runners, janitors and others hired by the LCB, the Assembly and Senate will double that total for the next several months.

The 42 Assembly members and 21 state senators already have Gov. Kenny Guinn's proposed budget for the next two fiscal years, and in the two weeks preceding the session's start the lawmakers got a head start by holding committee hearings to go over the main elements of the record spending plan.

After some start-of-session formalities on Monday, the first of hundreds of bills and resolutions will be introduced - starting with a $10 million appropriation to cover part of the session costs through June 6.

Other expected first-day measures include plans to prohibit executions of minors convicted of capital crimes; fund full-day kindergartens; allow video or "photo cop" devices to help catch red-light runners; and help prosecutors trying to enforce Nevada's open-meeting laws.

On Tuesday, a joint Assembly-Senate panel will review Nevada's property tax system - a review that many hope will end with a tax cap to help Nevadans facing soaring property taxes. Homeowner complaints over the taxes prompted discussion of a cap to help avoid a citizens' initiative like California's Proposition 13.

Another committee meeting Tuesday will discuss the state's prison system which, according to state budget officials, could face severe overcrowding if lawmakers decide this year to approve plans for up to 1,700 more police officers and many new judges in southern Nevada.

On Wednesday, legislators will start discussion of public education. More than half of Guinn's proposed budget is for the state's K-12 schools and its community colleges and universities.

Also Wednesday, Assembly Ways and Means members will start their review of the budget proposed by state Controller Kathy Augustine - who was impeached late last year by the Assembly and convicted by the Senate on a charge of illegally using state facilities and equipment to benefit her 2002 re-election campaign. She also admitted to violating state ethics laws and was fined $15,000.

Also on the Ways and Means agenda is the budget plan from state treasurer Brian Krolicki. That includes costs of running the Millennium Scholarship program - which Krolicki is trying to keep afloat in the face of declining funds from a nationwide settlement with tobacco companies several years ago.

Other midweek hearings will focus on Lake Tahoe and the environmental improvement program that's attempting to preserve the mountain lake's famed clarity.

On Thursday, legislators are scheduled to discuss programs that help the state's youth and families; the state's fight against a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain; election law reforms; agencies overseeing utilities and tax issues; and the state Ethics Commission.

The lawmakers will wrap up their first week of the 2005 session with discussions Friday of Nevada's court system; regulation of the multi-billion-dollar casino industry in Nevada; and more discussion of Augustine's and Krolicki's offices.