MINUTES OF MEETING
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Sixty-seventh Session
April 15, 1993
The Assembly Committee on Government Affairs was called to order by Chairman Val Z. Garner at 8:23 a.m. Thursday, April 15, 1993, in Room 330 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada. Exhibit A is the Meeting Agenda. Exhibit B is the Attendance Roster.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mr. Val Z. Garner, Chairman
Mr. Rick C. Bennett, Vice Chairman
Mrs. Kathy M. Augustine
Mr. Douglas A. Bache
Mrs. Marcia de Braga
Mr. Pete Ernaut
Mrs. Vivian L. Freeman
Mr. Lynn Hettrick
Mrs. Erin Kenny
Mrs. Joan A. Lambert
Mr. James W. McGaughey
Mr. Roy Neighbors
Mrs. Gene W. Segerblom
COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:
Mr. Wendell P. Williams - Excused
GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:
Assemblyman Chris Giunchigliani, District No. 9.
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:
Dana Bennett, Sr. Research Analyst
OTHERS PRESENT:
Mr. Roger Means, Washoe County School District; Mr. Henry Etchemende, Nevada Association of School Boards; Mr. Doug Dickerson, City of Las Vegas; Mr. Bob Hadfield, Nevada Association of Counties; Ms. Barbara McKenzie, City of Reno; Mr. James Barber, Clark County Chief of Procurement; Mr. Galen Denio, Public Service Commission; Mr. Pat Coward, Nevada Propane Dealers Association; Mr. Stan Warren, Sierra Pacific Power Company.
ASSEMBLY BILL 413 - Exempts school districts from certain fees for governmental services.
Mr. Roger Means, Washoe County School District, testified AB 413 was a bill asked for by Washoe County School District, indicating as local government budgets became tighter and tighter, local governments began charging fees for services that historically had been provided free. He gave the example of the Reno Fire Department providing inspections for Washoe County School District at no charge, but in 1991 began charging the district $160 per inspection, which cost the district approximately $10,000 per year out of the building operating budget. Mr. Means pointed out the district had no way to increase revenues to offset the fees. He stated AB 413 was a simple bill which would exempt the state, political subdivisions and school districts from governmental fees.
Mr. Hettrick questioned if Mr. Means was aware of any governmental fees other than the fire department AB 413 would exempt the school district from. Mr. Means replied the school district was also assessed a fee for operation of septic tanks by the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection, but indicated the district received no services for that fee. He said the district was also assessed a fee by Washoe County Health Department for inspection and testing of the domestic wells on some school sites.
Mr. Hettrick asked if the health department also tested the cafeteria facilities. Mr. Means replied he did not know but could get the information.
Mr. Henry Etchemende, Nevada Association of School Boards, spoke in favor of AB 413. He felt there was some interpretation that school districts might not be considered political subdivisions of the State of Nevada so AB 413 would add "school districts" as being exempt.
Assemblyman Chris Giunchigliani, Assembly District No. 9, indicated she had a bill draft request which would move the inspection from the Public Works Board to the local level and would include the fees. She did not feel the district should be exempted from the fees charged as they were fairly reasonable. Ms. Giunchigliani indicated she would not support exempting the school districts from the fees at the present time.
Mr. Doug Dickerson, City of Las Vegas, testified in opposition to AB 413 (Exhibit C). He cited NRS 386.010 and NRS 244.3676 as stating school districts were considered political subdivisions of the state. He referenced Nevada Revised Statutes as indicated in Exhibit C and asked the committee to wait on AB 413 until Ms. Giunchigliani's bill could be heard to find out who would ultimately be responsible for the inspections.
Mr. Bob Hadfield, Nevada Association of Counties, testified he concurred with the comments made by Mr. Dickerson and Ms. Giunchigliani.
Ms. Barbara McKenzie, City of Reno, agreed with Mr. Dickerson's that they be given an opportunity to review Ms. Giunchigliani's bill before a decision was made on AB 413.
There being no further testimony, Vice Chairman Bennett closed the hearing on AB 413.
ASSEMBLY BILL 415 - Raises threshold for requiring advertisement of competitive bids for purchases by local government.
Mr. James Barber, Clark County Chief of Procurement, testified in favor of AB 415 (Exhibit D).
Mrs. Augustine commented she had a similar bill draft request pending which dealt not only with local government but would include state government, and felt AB 415 might be held until her BDR came out.
Mr. Barber asked if Mrs. Augustine's bill would deal with the same threshold levels. Mrs. Augustine stated she did not think there were any thresholds included, but it would allow for smaller purchases to be handled outside of a contract.
Mr. Neighbors asked Mr. Barber what he thought of AB 9. Mr. Barber wanted to know if he should give his personal position or the position of the local government study commission. Mr. Neighbors asked for both.
Mr. Barber stated the commission had taken the position of being neutral on AB 9, but he personally had some difficulties with it, as had some other members of purchasing organizations throughout the state, in that he felt it was a piece of legislation which would only work "in a perfect world" where the purchasing people were always informed and included in the loop by the budget people to know up front what the total purchasing requirement for a given commodity would be. He said, "Unfortunately, in the real world, that doesn't happen, where we get requirements where oftentimes we don't know about them until the requisition arrives. And then it's, well now what do we do, we've already bought $8,000 worth of this item, and now they are asking for $4,000 more later on in the fiscal year, but it's a critical need, so I'm put between a rock and a hard place on compliance."
Mr. Ernaut questioned what the total ratio of bids under $25,000 would be as opposed to over $25,000. Mr. Barber replied he did not have statistics for those ratios but indicated he would provide them.
Further discussion ensued.
There being no further testimony, Vice Chairman Bennett closed the hearing on AB 415.
ASSEMBLY BILL 416 - Expands authority of public service commission of Nevada to regulate safety of storage facilities and pipelines for certain gases and petroleum products and increases civil penalty for violation of certain regulations governing safety standards for pipelines used to transport gas.
Mr. Galen Denio, Public Service Commission, testified in favor of AB 416 as amended by Exhibit E.
Mr. Pat Coward, Nevada Propane Dealers Association, indicated full support of the proposed amendment and what the amended bill would do.
Mr. Stan Warren, Sierra Pacific Power Company (SPPCo), stated SPPCo handled the WestPac Utility which provided natural gas and they had no objections to the amendments as written.
There being no further questions, Vice Chairman Bennett closed the hearing on AB 416.
There was a short recess at 8:50 a.m. and the committee reconvened at 9:01 a.m.
Chairman Garner entertained a motion to amend and do pass AB 416.
ASSEMBLYMAN ERNAUT MOVED TO AMEND AND DO PASS A.B. 416.
ASSEMBLYMAN HETTRICK SECONDED THE MOTION.
THE MOTION CARRIED. Assemblyman Williams was not present for the vote.
Chairman Garner asked Mrs. Kenny to handle the bill.
ASSEMBLY BILL 138 - Revises provisions regarding speed limits in school crossing ones.
Chairman Garner entertained a motion to do pass as amended AB 138.
ASSEMBLYMAN BACHE MOVED TO DO PASS AS AMENDED A.B. 138.
ASSEMBLYMAN BENNETT SECONDED THE MOTION.
THE MOTION CARRIED. Assemblyman Williams was not present for the vote.
Chairman Garner assigned the bill to Mr. Bache.
ASSEMBLY BILL 376 - Makes various changes to statutory provisions governing public employment of persons with disabilities and prohibits expressly discrimination against certain persons.
Chairman Garner indicated everyone on committee should have a copy of the amendment to AB 376 (Exhibit F) and there seemed to be no disagreement among the parties involved. He stated the amendment would create Section 11 with a change under subsection 3.
Mrs. Lambert stated she did not have a problem with the amendment itself but felt it did not belong in AB 376, which dealt with disabilities. She remarked she would have to oppose the amendment being put onto this bill. Mrs. Lambert indicated the bill had not been posted with the amendment and no one was given the opportunity to oppose it.
Chairman Garner felt there had been opportunity for people to respond to the amendment when it was proposed, and the chief sponsor of the bill did not object to the amendment. He pointed out it had been discussed in committee, but said he also had some of the same concerns as Mrs. Lambert that the amendment should not be part of the Disabilities Act and there might be a better bill the amendment could be added to.
Mrs. Lambert stated her main objection was the committee did not know if anyone would object to the amendment as it had not been posted.
Mrs. Augustine agreed the existing bill needed to be amended to replace "handicapped" with "disability," but felt adding a whole new section onto the bill was unnecessary and the amendment should either be added to another chapter or the hearing reopened.
Mr. McGaughey also agreed the amendment dealt with a subject other than AB 376 and would rather deal with the bill without the amendment. He felt it would be relatively easy to have a new bill draft prepared through committee introduction which would deal with the amendment.
Mr. Hettrick reiterated Mr. McGaughey's statements regarding a new bill draft to deal with the amendment.
Chairman Garner asked for a motion to do pass AB 376 without the amendment.
ASSEMBLYMAN MCGAUGHEY MOVED TO DO PASS A.B. 376.
ASSEMBLYMAN HETTRICK SECONDED THE MOTION.
THE MOTION CARRIED. Assemblyman Williams was not present for the vote.
Chairman Garner assigned the bill to Mrs. Segerblom.
There being no further business to come before committee, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 a.m.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
LINDA FEATHERINGILL
Committee Secretary
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Assembly Committee on Government Affairs
April 15, 1993
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