MINUTES OF THE

      SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

 

      Sixty-seventh Session

      April 1, 1993

 

 

 

The Senate Committee on Transportation was called to order by Chairman William R. O'Donnell, at 1:40 p.m., on Thursday, April 1, 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

 

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Paul Mouritsen, Senior Research Analyst

Terri Jo Wittenberg, Committee Secretary

Fred Welden, Chief Deputy Research Director, Research Division

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

 

Wayne R. Perock, Chief of Field Operations, Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Division of State Parks

Raymond L. Sparks, Chief, Registration Division, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety

Howard E. Barrett, Lobbyist, Nevada Taxpayers Association

Daryl E. Capurro, Lobbyist, Nevada Franchised Auto Dealers Association

 

Chairman O'Donnell opened the hearing on Senate Bill (S.B.) 304.

 

S.B. 304:   Imposes additional fee on registration of recreational vehicle and creates account for roads in state highway fund.

 

Wayne R. Perock, Chief of Field Operations, Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Division of State Parks, offered a letter (Exhibit C) for the committee's information.

 

 

Fred Welden, Chief Deputy Research Director, Research Division, gave some background information on where S.B. 304 came from.  Mr. Welden said he staffed the legislative interim study of state parks and the recommendation for the bill came from that study.  He added, that the legislative commission appointed an interim committee to looks at the issues involved in state parks and to come up with recommendations.  He said they held three hearing and they came up with a total of 24 recommendations, and one of which is embodied in S.B. 304.

 

Mr. Welden said, that as a staff member of the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB), he could not speak in favor of or opposition to a bill and he was there to simply explain the bill.

 

Mr. Welden said S.B. 304 would place a $20, per year, fee on recreational vehicles.  He explained the money would go in a special account to be used for the construction, repair and maintenance of roads and parking within state parks.  He added, there were about 41,000 recreational vehicles in Nevada and at $20 per year, the bill would generate a little over $800,000 per year.  He said other states did have similar fees imposed on recreational vehicles.

 

Senator Nevin asked what was the description of a recreational vehicle.  He asked if a snow mobile would be classed as a recreational vehicle under the bill.

 

Mr. Welden said recreational vehicles are already described in the law and that snow mobiles would not be covered under this bill.

 

Mr. Perock said the definition would be that it would be a type of vehicle a person could sleep in overnight.  He said this would include motor homes, camper trailers and chassis-mount campers.

 

Senator Nevin asked if it would include boats.

 

Mr. Perock said boats would not be included since the bill targets road vehicles and not water craft.

 

Raymond L. Sparks, Chief, Registration Division, Nevada

Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, explained the classifications of the vehicles which would be included in the general classification of recreational vehicle.  He said these would include, travel trailers, tent trailers, motor homes, mini motor homes, van conversions, house cars and chassis mounts.

 

 

Chairman O'Donell asked if this bill was related to the Sims Act.

 

Mr. Perock said the vehicle talked about in the Sims Act are off-road type vehicles such as motor cycles, dune buggies and quad runners.

 

Mr. Welden said the Sims Act is a "trails" bill.

 

Senator Nevin asked if a person has a pickup with a camper shell on, would it be a recreational vehicle.

 

Mr. Sparks said there is no way to track that type of information and so they would not be included under the recreational vehicle description.

 

Senator Hickey said the senior citizens segment of the population of Nevada are not charged anything to use the state parks.  He asked Mr. Perock how many of those seniors use the park system.

 

Mr. Perock said the senior citizens represent approximately 8 percent of the total visitation to the park system and the total visitation had been about 2.6 million visitors per year.

 

Senator Hickey asked if those senior citizens were allowed to stay in the parks as long as they liked or if there was a limit to the stay.

 

Mr. Perock said, depending on the park site, the limit could be 7 days within a 30 day period or it might be 14 days. 

 

Senator Hickey said the lack of enforcement was also a problem in the state parks and that it would get worse with the current budget cuts.

 

Senator Brown asked if the interim study considered not waiving the park fees for these senior citizens.  She added, the people who had called her to complain about the bill, did so because they said they do not use the parks and feel they should not pay to maintain the roads in the parks.

 

Mr. Welden said there is a bill which allows the parks department to set special fees for seniors rather than completely waiving the fees.  He said that bill had not been acted on yet.

 

 

Senator Nevin said during the interim hearing the senior citizens said they preferred not to pay a fee, but they would not object to having to pay a fee of some sort.  He said he was also concerned with the fact that the $20 fee would miss a lot of people who are coming from out-of-state and using our park system.

 

Mr. Welden said the free pass for senior citizens was only for Nevada residents and was not for out-of-state senior citizens.

 

Chairman O'Donnell asked if the money collected would be just for the roads or if  it would be used for other general purposes within the park system.

 

Mr. Welden said the money would be used just for the roads and parking lot areas.

 

Senator Nevin said this bill makes people pay a fee for something they may not use.

 

Senator James said he agreed with a fee system rather than charging recreational vehicle owners.  He said he favored a user fee.

 

Chairman O'Donnell suggested using an electronic coin-operated gate to gain access to the parks.  He said this would allow compliance and would not require any manpower at the entrance of the parks.

 

Mr. Perock said he had looked into this in the past and he found there were problems with this, such as change for the user and vandalism to the machinery.  He did suggest another area to explore would be the use of credit cards.

 

Mr. Perock added, one complaint the park system gets is from non-senior citizens who complain that the park is full or all of the premium camping sites are taken up by the senior citizens who have more leisure time and who do not pay to use the sites.

 

Senator Brown asked if the park system could charge a fee for the annual permits that were being issued, free of charge, to senior citizens.

 

Mr. Perock said the annual permits are issued to senior citizens for free and the rest of the population pays $50 for the permit.

Mr. Perock added, by current statute, the park system cannot charge a resident over 60 years old a fee for the annual permit.

 

Senator Nevin said asked about the projected revenue on the $20 fee.

 

Mr. Sparks said he projected the revenue to be about $1 million per year.

 

Howard E. Barrett, Lobbyist, Nevada Taxpayers Association, stated his organization was opposed to S.B. 304.  Mr. Barrett said the bill was not a "fee bill," but that he saw it as a "tax bill."  He said this would be a tax on recreational vehicle owners, whether they use the state parks or not.

 

Mr. Barrett went on to say that the fairest way to raise this needed revenue would be to charge individual users of the state parks, regardless of how they use it, the type of vehicle and the age of the people using the state park.  He said everybody should be charged the same kind of fee.

 

Chairman O'Donnell asked if a donation box would be appropriate to help solve the revenue need.

 

Mr. Perock said the state park system does use donations but that the income generated from the donations would not come close to meeting the financial needs to repair the roads. 

Mr. Perock also said, due to the size of some of the recreational vehicles, the roads in the parks have to have some special treatments.  He said the base of the roads have to be heavier, the turning areas have to be greater and the parking spaces have to be larger.

 

Senator Brown said that not all fees and taxes are applicable and sometimes a person has to pay for something they may not necessarily use.

 

Senator Nevin asked what a KOA or a Good Sam recreational vehicle park would charge per night.

 

Mr. Barrett said a good campground, such as one near Monterey, California, would be $20 per night.

 

Daryl E. Capurro, Nevada Franchised Auto Dealers Association, testified in opposition to S.B. 304.  He said that no one should get to use the state parks for free and everyone who uses the parks should pay the same user fees.

 

Chairman O'Donnell asked Senator Hickey to take S.B. 304 under consideration in subcommittee.

 

Chairman O'Donnell closed the hearing on S.B. 304.

 

The committee discussed an amendment to S.B. 100 to make sure the amendment was what the committee had intended.

 

S.B. 100:   Revises manner in which taxicabs are allocated in larger counties.

 

The committee agreed that the amendment was indeed what they had originally intended.

 

There being no further business before the committee, Chairman O'Donnell adjourned the meeting at 2:30 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

April 1, 1993

Page 1