MINUTES OF THE
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Sixty-seventh Session
March 16, 1993
The Senate Committee on Transportation was called to order by Chairman William R. O'Donnell, at 1:40 p.m., on Tuesday, March 16, 1993, in Room 226 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada. Exhibit A is the Meeting Agenda. Exhibit B is the Attendance Roster.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
Senator William R. O'Donnell, Chairman
Senator Lawrence E. Jacobsen, Vice Chairman
Senator Mark A. James
Senator Leonard V. Nevin
Senator Joseph M. Neal, Jr.
Senator Thomas J. Hickey
Senator Lori L. Brown
GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:
Senator Bob Coffin, Clark County, District 3
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:
Paul Mouritsen, Senior Research Analyst
Terri Jo Wittenberg, Committee Secretary
OTHERS PRESENT:
Pat Coward, Nellis Cab Company and Desert Cab Company
Ray Chenowith, Owner and President, Nellis Cab Company
William H. Montgomery, Professional & Critical Drivers Association (PCDA)
Daryl E. Capurro, Nevada Motor Transport Association
Donna Varin, Chief, Driver's License Division, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety
Carolyne W. Edwards, Clark County School District
Paul B. McGrath, Sheriff, Carson City
Judy M. Jacoboni, Mother's Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), Lyon County Chapter
Laurel A. Stadler, Mother's Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), Lyon County Chapter
Kimberly A. Bennion, California State Automobile Association (CSAA)
E.J. Silva, Concerned Citizen
William Horsley, Concerned Citizen
Bruce Pheiffer, Concerned Citizen
Patrick Sheehan, Concerned Citizen
Raymond L. Sparks, Chief, Registration Division, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety
Michael McPaul, Nevada Department of Transportation, (NDOT)
Richard J. Yeoman, Highway Safety Representative, Office of Traffic Safety, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety
Marlen Schultz, Highway Safety Coordinator, Office of
Traffic Safety, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety
Chairman O'Donnell opened the hearing on Senate Bill (S.B.) 100.
S.B. 100: Revises manner in which taxicabs are allocated in larger counties.
Pat Coward, Nellis Cab Company and Desert Cab Company, spoke in favor of S.B. 100. Mr. Coward said the bill would clarify the method of allocating taxi cabs in southern Nevada. He said this process would ensure sustained grown in an orderly, uniform manner. He said this method addressed the needs of the tourists and the local population by using the average percent increase in the number of passengers who travel into the county airport and a percent increase in the county's population to determine allocation of taxi cabs.
Mr. Coward offered an amendment (Exhibit C) for the committee's review.
Chairman O'Donnell asked why population had been selected as the criteria for the bill.
Mr. Coward said they looked at two things; the number of tourists coming into the Las Vegas area, as well as the local population.
Ray Chenowith, Owner and President, Nellis Cab Company, stated he was in favor of S.B. 100.
Chairman O'Donnell closed the hearing on S.B. 100 and opened the hearing on S.B. 101.
S.B. 101: Provides for special endorsement on driver's license that designates use of license as critical to person's employment.
William H. Montgomery, Professional & Critical Drivers Association (PCDA), testified in favor of S.B. 101. Mr. Montgomery said this bill had been introduced last session as Senate Bill 205 of the Sixty-sixth Session and had received a "do pass" from the Senate Committee on Transportation. He added, that due to the hectic end of the session, it did not come up for a vote on the senate floor.
Mr. Montgomery explained, that contrary to what some people may think, this was not a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) bill. He said it was a bill to correct an oversight in the present law. Mr. Montgomery said the professional driver is the only who can lose his license and therefore, his ability to earn a living if he is caught speeding to church, speeding in school zones, or even if he gets arrested for DUI.
He said the current law says a person will have his license suspended for 90 days and they cannot even get a work permit. He said this is paramount to taking the professional or Commercial Driver's License (CDL) for a year or more. He added, that without a license, these critical drivers cannot work.
Mr. Montgomery said other professionals, such as bankers, lawyers and doctors are still able to work if they lose their license. He said these people are able to get rides from friends and coworkers and their ability to earn a living and feed their families was not significantly impacted.
Mr. Montgomery said the professional driver has a license which has some of the toughest standards in the country. He added, if a professional is caught, while at work, with a blood alcohol level of .04 blood/alcohol level, he loses his license for 120 days instead of just 90 days. Mr. Montgomery said this bill would not exempt anybody from any tickets.
Mr. Montgomery said he had checked to see if this bill would adversely affect federal highway dollars the state receives. He said he could not get a definite yes or no and that he could not find any specific statute that said this bill would take away those funds.
Mr. Montgomery said he wanted to change the language on line 17 to read 4 years instead of 5 years. He also said that item 8 on page 1 would be very difficult to accomplish because it is hard to get something notarized now.
Senator Nevin said this bill would not affect the federal CDL.
Daryl E. Capurro, Nevada Motor Transport Association, testified in reference to S.B. 101. Mr. Capurro said he did not know if this bill would affect the CDL.
Senator Brown said Mr. Montgomery was asking the committee to give different rights to someone who is convicted of DUI. She said the discussion is about committing the crime of driving while drunk and Mr. Montgomery was telling the committee it should let him drive while at work. She added, the whole idea of revocation of licenses is to try to keep those people off the road.
Mr. Montgomery said is sounds as if Senator Brown condones treating one segment of the population differently and if someone who is a critical driver loses his license he cannot work, but if a doctor loses his license he is still able to work and earn a living.
Senator Nevin said this bill would only apply to a first offender.
Senator James asked if it would be better to let these types of cases be decided on a case-by-case basis by the courts.
Mr. Montgomery said this would probably tie up the courts quite a bit.
Senator James said you have a crime here that needs to be addressed.
Donna Varin, Chief, Driver's License Division, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and Public Safety, spoke from prepared testimony (Exhibit D) in opposition to S.B. 101.
Senator Neal asked if there were records which showed the number of suspended licenses where people received a temporary permit to go on to work.
Ms. Varin said she did not have those figures with her but the figures were available. She said her agency kept track of all of the restricted licenses they issued.
Senator Neal asked if her agency took into consideration the individual circumstances of the different people who apply for a restricted license.
Ms. Varin said when she dealt with people she always takes into consideration what are their individual circumstances. She added, that sometimes they had to draw a line and they have to enforce a minimum penalty which everyone has to serve. She said the legislature has said that the minimum penalty was going to be a hard-license revocation for one-half the period of time.
Ms. Varin also addressed the fiscal impact of S.B. 101. She said she received a letter stating the federal government said the bill would make Nevada ineligible for the federal grants related to DUI. She said this could be a loss of up to $300,000.
Senator Nevin said Ms. Varin and her agency do not "draw the line," the legislature does. He said her job was to administer the laws that are passed to her. He said he did not object to her telling the committee what the impact may be. He also asked to see a copy of letter which states Nevada would lose highway funds.
Ms. Varin said she would be happy to provide a copy of the letter.
Senator James asked how Ms. Varin addressed the concept of one person losing their license for 90 days and they have to provide alternative transportation and another person loses their license and their livelihood, along with their home and maybe goes into bankruptcy and might lose everything. He said this means one person suffers an inconvenience and the other person loses everything.
Ms. Varin said that when a person has the profession of driving then they have a greater consequence if their privilege is lost, but it means they have to respect that privilege on a higher level.
Senator Brown asked if federal money would be affected if the law were made stiffer.
Ms. Varin said she did not feel comfortable answering that question and she deferred that question to Ms. Marlen Schultz, Highway Safety Coordinator, Office of Traffic Safety, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety.
Chairman O'Donnell told Ms. Varin that the constitution of the State of Nevada allows for three, different and distinct powers; legislative, executive and judicial. He said the executive branch of government should not be in the business of making a presentation on behalf of any bill, pro or con. He said she was only to "comment to." He asked Ms. Varin to confine her comments to the impact of a bill on the Executive branch of the government.
Ms. Varin said she appreciates the chairman's remarks. She added, that in addition to being an advisory to the Senate Committee on Transportation, she respected the role that DMV plays. She said DMV had a very important role in highway safety which included the responsibility to apply all of the information and knowledge DMV has about programs that are effective. She said DMV feels the program of license revocation is effective.
Chairman O'Donnell said the objectivity from Ms. Varin's agency is what was most important. He said if the DMV loses it's objectivity and becomes swayed, pro or con, the legislature loses the ability to deal with an issue on an unbiased plane.
Carolyne W. Edwards, Clark County School District, testified in opposition to S.B. 101. Ms. Edwards said the Clark Country School District runs the largest fleet of buses in the state and she was concerned this would affect the bus drivers in the district.
Paul B. McGrath, Sheriff, Carson City, urged the committee to vote no on S.B. 101. Mr. McGrath said his department was very much against the bill.
Judy M. Jacoboni, President, Mother's Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), Lyon County Chapter spoke from prepared testimony (Exhibit E) in opposition to S.B. 101.
Laurel A. Stadler, Mother's Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), Lyon County Chapter, testified she was also opposed to S.B. 101. Ms. Stadler also stated she was representing Sandy Heverly of the Clark County MADD Chapter who was also opposed to S.B. 101.
Senator Neal said that drinking was not illegal but when a person exceeds the .10 blood/alcohol level limit and drives, it becomes illegal.
Senator Nevin said this bill would apply to a first-time offender only. He said if they get picked up a second time, "Tough! I don't care." Senator Nevin said he was concerned because there are people whose whole livelihood depends on his ability to keep his job in order to support his family. He added, this bill does not say anyone condones drinking and driving, but it does say everyone deserves a chance once, on the first offense.
Ms. Jacoboni said she wanted to answer for the many victims of DUI crimes who had lost their jobs, their livelihood, their homes and have endured and who have no special protections on their driver's license.
Senator Nevin suggested amending the bill to say "for a first-time offender only who has not been involved in an accident."
Ms. Stadler said the problem with specifying the "first-time offender" is assuming that that was the first time the person had ever driven drunk. She added, statistics show that first-time offenders have usually driven, up to hundreds of times, drunk, before they are caught the first time.
Senator Brown stated everyone seemed to be losing sight of the fact that the crime was getting behind the wheel of a car and moving it when a person is drunk. She added, the crime is not that a person does or does not hurt somebody, that is just luck. She said the crime is not the consequence, it is the act of driving while drunk. Senator Brown said that legally, a person can drink themselves to death.
Senator James said there were compelling arguments on both sides of the issue. He said he did not question the philosophy of being very strict with the crime of DUI. He said he did question the philosophy of knowingly bringing down the hand of justice much harder on one person than another.
Ms. Varin said the DUI laws are very complicated and that they separate the DUI into two categories; one is criminal and the other is administrative. She said the judicial, or criminal side, deals with the fines, the penalties and the jail time. She said the administrative side is dealt with from an agency standpoint. She added that the court does not recommend revocation that is mandatory nor do they recommend work licenses. She said these things were strictly the responsibility of the administrative department.
Mr. Montgomery said he would support a judicial review if the law was implemented as is. He said he understands the person should not lose the ticket but the person should be able to keep his license and his ability to earn a living.
Kimberly A. Bennion, California State Automobile Association (CSAA), said her organization was opposed to S.B. 101.
Chairman O'Donnell closed the hearing on S.B. 101 and opened the hearing on S.B. 262.
S.B. 262: Revises fees charged for special license plate issued to holder of license for amateur radio station.
Senator Bob Coffin, Clark County, District 3, spoke in favor of S.B. 262. Senator Coffin said that during the closing days of the last session the Senate Committee on Taxation was trying to find ways of balancing the budget. He said it was brought to light that additional fees would be needed before the end of the year in order to reduce DMV's share of the budget.
He said many changes in the existing fees were proposed in the assembly side and in some fees, such as the radio amateurs, fees were created where none existed before and then those fees were raised. Senator Coffin said that if they had given this part of the bill a little more thought they might not have done that. He said the public service provided by these amateur radio operators is invaluable. He said when these people have the identification plates on their vehicles it tells a law enforcement officer that this is a person who can help. This is one who is willingly displaying the fact that they carry a radio with them that allows them to communicate in case of emergencies.
Senator Coffin said law enforcement agencies do rely on the services of those volunteers during forest fires and other types of emergencies. He said these people are useful and save the taxpayers thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of manpower. He said that none of the people who asked for the bill feel they do not owe taxes, but they do feel this bill uproots a long established custom and that is the reason Senator Coffin asked for this bill to be created.
Chairman O'Donnell asked how many amateur radio plates are in existence now.
Senator Coffin said the NDOT indicated there were 800 to 900 of those plates in the state.
Senator Coffin also stressed those amateur radio plates were not "vanity" plates but were plates which announced a person was available for public service.
Senator Brown asked if these people would still pay a yearly renewal fee on their plates like everyone else.
Chairman O'Donnell said this would just waive the extra fee which is on top of the usual renewal fees.
Chairman O'Donnell told the committee about a time when he and his wife were out gathering firewood and they became stuck. He said he had a citizens band radio and asked for help on channel 9 and soon there were five or six four wheel drive vehicles which came to his rescue and he said he was very appreciative of that fact.
E.J. Silva, Concerned Citizen, read from prepared testimony (Exhibit F) in favor of S.B. 262.
William Horsley, Concerned Citizen, read from prepared testimony (Exhibit G) in favor of S.B. 262.
Senator Jacobsen asked if they furnished a list of the members to local fire departments.
Mr. Horsley said the list was available, but that they did not like to force themselves on these agencies. He said they find if they volunteer in mass, sometimes they are looked on as just "amateurs."
Senator Jacobsen said the reason he asked about the list was because he started the license plate program and was the one who got them their first license plates and he has not heard from them since.
Mr. Silva also read from a letter (Exhibit H) from Mr. Gary Altig who also supports S.B. 262.
Bruce Pheiffer, Concerned Citizen, read from prepared testimony (Exhibit I) in favor of S.B. 262.
Patrick Sheehan, Concerned Citizen, spoke in favor of S.B. 262. Mr. Sheehan said the Nevada hams did pay for the new die for the current license plate which was $500. He said those plates were not personal or for prestige, but were for identification purposes. He said this was very important because some search and rescue personal respond to a scene in their vehicles and if the authorities have barricaded the area, these license plates make it easy for those authorities to pass them on through.
Raymond L. Sparks, Chief, Registration Division, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, testified on S.B. 262. Mr. Sparks said he could provide the committee with information on the special license plates for the radio amateurs. He said that originally there was a decal that said "radio amateur" which was available for a fee of $3.
Mr. Sparks added that in 1989 Senator Jacobsen sponsored a bill which established a special license plate with the embossed radio amateur logo. He said at that time a $25, initial fee was established for the license plate and no renewal fee was established. He said that in 1991 a number of special license plates were addressed as far as consistency of fees and they came up with a number of categories. He said the type of plate was how they established the fees. He said the radio amateur plates were determined to be discretionary plates similar to a personalized plate or a vanity plate. He said the estimated fiscal impact of this bill would be about $13,000 to $14,000 per year.
Senator Jacobsen asked if the radio amateurs would object to using the yellow license plates since these were easier to identify from a distance.
Mr. Sparks said the yellow plates were fairly successful.
Senator Jacobsen said everybody who volunteers to give emergency service should have the same kind of identification and the yellow plates would be the best.
Mr. Sparks said the department could fund the issuance of those yellow plates.
Senator Brown asked if the renewal of these plates cost the state anything.
Mr. Sparks said there was no cost after the initial issuance of those plates.
Senator Jacobsen asked for a list of all the special plates which were issued in Nevada along with the fees for those license plates.
Mr. Sparks said there was a chart and he would be happy to furnish it to the committee.
Mr. Horsley said the amateur radio plates were recognized in other states and they could be called on in an emergency anywhere.
Michael McPaul, Assistant Director, Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), spoke on S.B. 262. Mr. McPaul said the fiscal impact to the department was relatively small and the NDOT was not opposed to S.B. 262.
Chairman O'Donnell closed the hearing on S.B. 262 and opened the hearing on S.B. 181.
S.B. 181: Exempts taxicab drivers from required use of safety belt.
Chairman O'Donnell gave some background as to how this bill came about. He said it was suggested by a constituent who was driving without a safety belt and received a ticket. He said the reason he did not have his safety belt fastened was because he was afraid of the individual who was riding in his cab and he did not want to be safety belted into the car in case he had to leave the car abruptly.
Richard J. Yeoman, Highway Safety Representative, Office of Traffic Safety, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, read from several items (Exhibit J, K and L) for the committee's review.
Mr. Yeoman also explained that it was hard to remain neutral when he was responsible for monitoring and controlling the federal funds that come in for traffic safety programs. He said it is difficult to remain neutral on issues that affect lives and the safety of individuals in the state.
Senator Nevin said if there are cab drivers out there driving around without safety belts on, there are going to be more injuries which will drive the workers' compensation factor up.
Marlen Schultz, Highway Safety Coordinator, Office of
Traffic Safety, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, said that currently about 63 percent of drivers use their safety belts. She added, in order to keep from losing incentive grant monies, the state had to reach 70 percent safety belt usage by 1993.
Ms. Schultz said that if the state can reach an excess of 70 percent safety belt usage there would be a boon in the reduction of traffic fatalities and a further reduction in injuries.
Senator Nevin said there was a bill being drafted for mandatory safety belts.
Chairman O'Donnell read a letter (Exhibit M) to the committee from the State Industrial Insurance System.
Ms. Schultz said Nevada leads the nation in some very disturbing areas, such as, 48 percent of Nevada's ejections end in traffic fatalities and 61 percent of Nevada's accidents are single car roll-overs.
Ms. Schultz added, she had recently contacted several taxicab owners and they had indicated they were very opposed to
S.B. 181, because it would drastically raise their liability insurance costs.
Ms. Jacoboni said MADD was opposed to S.B. 181.
Ms. Stadler also stated her opposition to S.B. 181.
Ms. Bennion said the CSAA was opposed to S.B. 181.
Chairman O'Donnell closed the hearing on S.B. 181.
Chairman O'Donnell then drew attention to a bill draft requiring committee introduction. He passed out copies of the bill draft request (BDR) for review and proceeded to read the BDR summary.
BDR 43-268:Impose fee upon recreational vehicles for support of state parks.
SENATOR NEVIN MOVED FOR COMMITTEE INTRODUCTION OF BDR 43-268.
SENATOR BROWN SECONDED THE MOTION.
THE MOTION CARRIED. (SENATORS HICKEY, NEAL AND JAMES WERE ABSENT FOR THE VOTE.)
* * * * *
There being no further business, Chairman O'Donnell adjourned the meeting at 4:40 p.m.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
Terri Jo Wittenberg,
Committee Secretary
APPROVED BY:
Senator William R. O'Donnell, Chairman
DATE:
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Senate Committee on Transportation
March 16, 1993
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