MINUTES OF MEETING
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Sixty-seventh Session
June 3, 1993
The Assembly Committee on Government Affairs was called to order by Chairman Val Z. Garner at 8:07 a.m. Thursday, June 3, 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
Mr. Wendell P. Williams
COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:
None.
GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:
Assemblyman Bob Price, District 17.
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mrs. Dana Bennett, Senior Research Analyst.
OTHERS PRESENT:
Mr. Brent Hardy, Vice Chairman of Southern Nevada Water Authority; Mr. Larry Scheffler, City of Henderson; Mr. Kirby Burgess, Clark County; Ms. Irene Porter, Executive Director of Southern Nevada Homebuilders's Association; Mr. Richard Bunker, President of Nevada Resort Association; Mr. Danny Thompson, Nevada AFL/CIO; Mr. Melvin Close, representing Valley Electric Association; Mr. Kent Bloomfield, representing Overton Power District and Silver State Power Association; Mr. Keith Ashworth, Nevada Power; Mr. Terry Graves, Pioneer Chlor Alkali; Ms. Karen Galatz, Chairman of Colorado River Commission; Mr. Bob Crowell, Attorney for Colorado River Commission; Mr. Harvey Whittemore, representing the Nevada Resort Association; Ms. Pat Mulroy, General Manager of Southern Nevada Water Authority; Ms. Paula Berkley, Walker River Paiute Tribe; Mr. Curtis Millsap, Realty Officer for Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Chairman Garner asked for a motion to waive Rule 92, which was the five-day posting requirement for agendas.
ASSEMBLYMAN BENNETT MOVED TO WAIVE RULE 92.
ASSEMBLYMAN MCGAUGHEY SECONDED THE MOTION.
THE MOTION CARRIED. Assemblymen Ernaut, Williams and Freeman were not present for the vote.
ASSEMBLY BILL 692 - Revises membership of Colorado River commission.
Assemblyman Val Garner, Assembly District 14, testifying as a proponent of AB 692, indicated this was a rather serious matter and he had been involved for a number of years in observing attempts to resolve water problems not only for southern Nevada but for the entire state, and he realized the importance of the water issue to the state. Mr. Garner gave prepared testimony (Exhibit C).
Mr. Brent Hardy, Vice Chairman of Southern Nevada Water Authority, testified in favor of AB 692 (Exhibit D).
Mrs. de Braga questioned the difference between the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Las Vegas Valley Water Authority.
Mr. Hardy replied the Southern Nevada Water Authority was made up of North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City and county entities for a total of seven positions on the Authority. North Las Vegas and Henderson each had its own water company which the Authority provided services for. He indicated the Southern Nevada Water Authority was almost twice as big as North Las Vegas.
Mrs. de Braga asked if all entities would be represented on the new commission.
Mr. Hardy answered there were seven members on the Southern Nevada Water Authority and three directors would be chosen at the director's meeting who would sit on the Colorado River Commission (CRC) as indicated in AB 692.
Mr. Larry Scheffler, City of Henderson, testifying in favor of AB 692, echoed the statements made by Councilman Hardy. He indicated the city of Henderson wanted to work with the state and fully supported the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Mr. Kirby Burgess, Clark County, testified Clark County was in full support of AB 692.
Ms. Irene Porter, Executive Director of Southern Nevada Homebuilders's Association, testifying on behalf of President Mark Doppe, indicated support of AB 692.
Mr. Richard Bunker, President of Nevada Resort Association, testified in strong support of AB 692.
Mr. Danny Thompson, Nevada AFL/CIO, voiced full support of AB 692.
An unidentified gentleman from the audience indicated the city of Las Vegas was in support of AB 692.
Mr. Melvin Close, representing Valley Electric Association, testifying in opposition to AB 692, gave a lengthy background on Valley Electric and the Silver State Power Pool.
Mr. Close said AB 692 mandated that three of the seven members of the proposed revised board of the Colorado River Commission should be made up of water users, and he felt because of the power company needs and the involvement of the Colorado River Commission in power there should be specific representation on the Colorado River Commission Board. It was his opinion if there were three people on the board specifically representing water users, there should also be three people on the board representing power. He pointed out of the approximately $1.2 million involved in the operation of the CRC, 45 percent came from power users and 55 percent came from water users, so there was about a 50-50 balance on the money generated to operate the Commission. Of the revenues generated, approximately 40 percent came from sale of electricity and 60 percent from sale of water. He said power sales and generation revenue from CRC from electricity was significant, and he felt to leave power unrepresented on the board was an error.
Mr. Close felt it was very important for the power companies to be guaranteed that the power allocations from the Colorado River received from the CRC be continued.
Mrs. Augustine pointed out a technical problem on lines 4-5 of the bill, "It conflicts with lines 13 through 15 as to who those three members are. It is the intent of the Water Authority that the three members they appoint are from their Board of Directors, but on line 4 and 5 it says three members must be appointed by the Board of Directors, so it doesn't necessarily say that that in fact is true. So actually, these gentlemen could be one of the three members that are appointed by the Board of Directors of the Southern Nevada Water Authority."
Chairman Garner indicated Mr. Whittemore could more readily respond to the question after further testimony.
Mrs. Segerblom asked Mr. Close if he was directly on the Colorado River Commission.
Mr. Close indicated no, the CRC did not have any specific designated appointments for power or water.
Mr. McGaughey commented the present legislation did not require any members from power to be appointed and had not for many years, and he did not feel AB 692 was changing anything that was already there.
Mr. Close replied power had no representation on the Board and they were concerned as a group that if three members of the CRC had specific interests in water, power interests might not receive the same attention.
Further discussion ensued between Mr. McGaughey and Mr. Close.
Mr. Kent Bloomfield, representing Overton Power District and Silver State Power Association, reiterated several comments made by Mr. Close, and indicated he was not opposed to the bill, supported a strong, active and effective Commission and hoped any changes made would increase effectiveness and strength in the wider marketplace in which it dealt.
Mr. Keith Ashworth, Nevada Power, testified on AB 692 and answered questions by the committee (Exhibit E).
Mr. Terry Graves, Pioneer Chlor Alkali, testified while he was not opposed to the concept of AB 692, he felt power should be addressed in the bill. Mr. Graves said Pioneer was a facility which relied 20-30 percent on power in their operating budget, and along with the other facilities in the BMI complex there was probably close to $1 billion which relied on the CRC power contracts. After further testimony, he commented while three appointees would be from the Southern Nevada Water Authority, there had been several questions about the Governor's four other appointments and one of his concerns was that those four appointments have some qualifications put on them. He felt those appointees should have some interest and experience with power.
Ms. Karen Galatz, Chairman of Colorado River Commission, offered testimony on AB 692 and answered questions of the committee (Exhibit F).
Mr. Williams referenced line 27 of the bill and asked if the Commission had a definition for neglect of duty by a commissioner.
Mr. Bob Crowell, Attorney for Colorado River Commission, answered Mr. William's question, stating he did not know of any printed document or statement which specifically defined the duties of a commissioner, nor had he experienced in his tenure with the Commission since 1987 where a commissioner had been removed for neglect of duty or malfeasance of office.
Further discussion ensued between Mr. Crowell and Mr. Williams.
Mr. Harvey Whittemore, partner with Lionell, Sawyer and Collins, testified as counsel for the Nevada Resort Association which had expressed support of AB 692. Mr. Whittemore reviewed the appointment process as indicated by Section 1 of the bill and answered a previous question by Mrs. Augustine, "And therefore your question went to the issue of could there be a situation that the Southern Nevada Water Authority not appoint one of its members, and the answer is no, that's taken care of in Section 2 of the bill which requires that the members appointed by the Southern Nevada Water Authority must be persons who serve on the board."
Mr. Whittemore expanded on the points made by Mr. McGaughey with respect to the power issue. He also responded to Mr. William's question in regard to the appointing authority, agreeing with Mr. Crowell's representation that it was the intent of the drafters to make the appointing authorities responsible for removing their own appointees. He also noted, "With respect to Southern Nevada Water Authority appointments, they cease to become members of the CRC when their term expires. That's contained on lines 15-17."
Ms. Pat Mulroy, General Manager of Southern Nevada Water Authority, testified one concern was a lack of commonality of interest between the power purveyors. She said, "I would suggest to you that if we were sitting here before you as five separate entities, that we would not have gotten the Governor's ear and the Governor's willingness to even consider putting water interests on the CRC." Ms. Mulroy also spoke regarding the CRC in California and the WRMI process which resulted in the creation of the Southern Nevada Water Authority three years previously. She indicated the State Engineer, the Director of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Executive Director of the Colorado River Commission all participated in the WRMI process.
Mr. Whittemore made a closing comment, indicating he felt the committee had heard enough testimony with respect to the discretion associated with the Governor's appointment. He said all of the requirements the Governor must look to were contained in two separate sections of the bill. He pointed out the Governor's discretion had been expanded and if he (the Governor) believed the power interest needed to have a specific seat, he could appoint one.
Further discussion between committee members, Mr. Whittemore and Mr. Hardy ensued.
Chairman Garner indicated he would entertain a motion to do pass AB 692.
ASSEMBLYMAN MCGAUGHEY MADE A MOTION TO DO PASS A.B. 692.
ASSEMBLYMAN BENNETT SECONDED THE MOTION.
Mr. Neighbors indicated he would like to state for the record, "I have some concerns regarding this issue, although I will be voting for the bill. I can certainly understand the concerns of Clark County as far as water, although I represent the rural counties, I did live in Clark County for about 14 years and worked down there. My other concerns are three of the four counties I represent were certainly discussed here today that are power users, Esmeralda, Lincoln and Nye. And I would hope, I see Mr. Craige in the audience, that somehow a message could get back to the Governor, that of his four appointments, that one would be a rural county's appointment as it would relate to water. And certainly a power appointment member representing the power industry."
Mr. Williams referenced discussion of the four appointments by the Governor, designating one of those as a person representing power. He said it specified in the language that the Governor shall appoint the chairman of the Commission and he felt one should also be from power. Mr. Williams indicated he would like to amend the motion to include that.
Chairman Garner asserted it was necessary to take action on the motion on the floor.
THE MOTION CARRIED. Assemblymen Freeman and de Braga opposed the motion.
Chairman Garner indicated the committee would take a short break at 9:48 a.m. The committee reconvened at 10:00 a.m.
ASSEMBLY BILL 663 - Provides for preference in hiring for public works for certain state residents.
Assemblyman Bob Price, District 17, testified as a proponent of AB 663. He indicated over the years states had tried to develop legislation to give some type of advantage to the residents of their states to be able to hire residents ahead of non-residents. He indicated Section 8 basically referred to trying to give unemployed or marginally employed skilled Nevadan's a step up with regard to public works jobs. Mr. Price gave examples of how this type legislation worked in Alaska.
Mrs. Lambert referenced subsection 2 in the repealed section, "Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the working of prisoners in the state of Nevada or any other political subdivision." She indicated young people who had broken the law would sometimes be used for such things as pulling weeds on roadsides and she asked if Mr. Price felt he wanted to preclude that type of activity with AB 663.
Mr. Price replied he had missed that area, and having personally supported prison industries he thought it should be included so long as it did not interfere with private industry.
Chairman Garner indicated as there seemed to be quite a few problems with AB 663, he would put it in subcommittee. He appointed Mrs. Segerblom, Mrs. Kenny and Mr. Hettrick to the subcommittee.
ASSEMBLY BILL 653 - Requires department of transportation to convey certain real property to United States for use of Walker River Paiute Tribe.
Ms. Paula Berkley, Walker River Paiute Tribe, testified in favor of AB 653, stating it basically transferred land back to the Walker River Reservation. She said in 1936 Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) purchased the land from the Tribe for $50 in order to put a building on the reservation to build and construct the highway, after which it was used for highway maintenance. She remarked the building had been abandoned by NDOT in 1966 at which time the Walker River Tribe had asked if they could use the building. The Tribe had used and maintained the property since then. Ms. Berkley introduced a letter from Garth Dull, Director of NDOT, indicating his willingness to pass the property back to the reservation (Exhibit G).
Chairman Garner indicated there was a slight amendment from Division of State Lands and asked if the Tribe had any problems with the amendment (Exhibit H).
Ms. Berkley indicated there were none.
Further discussion ensued.
Mr. Curtis Millsap, Realty Officer for Bureau of Indian Affairs, testified on behalf of his superintendent, Mr. Robert L. Hunter. He stated they had an appraiser on staff and would be more than happy to complete an appraisal at no cost.
Chairman Garner indicated he would accept a motion to amend and do pass.
ASSEMBLYMAN BENNETT MOVED TO AMEND AND DO PASS A.B. 653.
ASSEMBLYMAN DE BRAGA SECONDED THE MOTION.
MOTION CARRIED.
Chairman Garner requested Mrs. de Braga handle AB 653 on the floor.
There being no further business to come before committee, the meeting was adjourned at 10:20 a.m.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
LINDA FEATHERINGILL
Committee Secretary
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Assembly Committee on Government Affairs
June 3, 1993
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