MINUTES OF THE

      SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

 

      Sixty-seventh Session

      May 11, 1993

 

 

 

The Senate Committee on Transportation was called to order by Chairman William R. O'Donnell, at 1:30 p.m., on Tuesday, May 11, 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:

 

Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, District 35

 

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Paul Mouritsen, Senior Research Analyst

Terri Jo Wittenberg, Committee Secretary

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

 

Paul B. McGrath, Sheriff, Carson City Sheriff's Department, Lobbyist, Nevada Sheriff's & Chief's Association

Steve Weaver, Chief of Planning & Development, Nevada Division of State Parks

Thomas G. Tait, Executive Director, Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT)

Garth F. Dull, Director, Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT)

L.D. Bennett, Concerned Citizen

Barbara Torres, Concerned Citizen

Stephanie D. Licht, Lobbyist, Nevada Woolgrowers Association

Ernie Fanning, Owner, Classic Carriage Company

Georgia Tachoires, Nevada State Horsemen's Association

Steve J. Mahoney, Director, Division of Brand Inspection, Nevada Department of Agriculture

Jaunita Cox, Concerned Citizen

Gayla Higgins, Concerned Citizen

Bob King, Concerned Citizen

Mary Jo Kivey, Concerned Citizen

Mac Potter, Reno Rodeo Association

 

Chairman O'Donnell opened the hearing on Senate Bill (S.B.) 426.

 

Senate Bill 426:  Requires identification of certain vehicles and horses used for off-highway recreation.

 

Paul B. McGrath, Sheriff, Carson City Sheriff's Department, Lobbyist, Nevada Sheriff's & Chief's Association, testified in support of S.B. 426.  Sheriff McGrath said the bill was authored by his organization, through section 17.  He continued, Nevada is experiencing a tremendous growth in the number of off-road vehicles using public lands.  He added, many of these vehicles are involved in crimes and when they are stolen there is no way of identifying these vehicles.  Sheriff McGrath said section 4 describes the type of off-road vehicle which would be covered by the bill.  He said the bill would require a certificate, to be issued to the owners of these off-road vehicles, which would be affixed to the vehicle.  Sheriff McGrath added, the Nevada Trails Coalition asked to have some language added to the bill which encompasses horses and bicycles.

 

Senator Nevin asked if a jeep, which is already registered, would be covered under this bill.

 

Sheriff McGrath said this would apply to off-road vehicles which are not registered to operate on the street.

 

Senator Hickey said other states require that all vehicles, including off-road vehicles, be registered with the department of motor vehicles.

 

Sheriff McGrath said such a law would be hard to enforce.

 

Senator Hickey asked how much money this bill would allow the state to get from the Symm's Recreational Trails Fund Act of 1991.

 

Steve Weaver, Chief of Planning & Development, Nevada Division of State Parks, spoke with regard to S.B. 426.  He said his agency supports the general concept behind the bill as a potential means for achieving eligibility status for the federal funding through the Symm's National Recreation Trails Fund Act of 1991.  Mr. Weaver continued with a prepared statement (Exhibit C).

 

Chairman O'Donnell asked how much money would go into trails in Nevada .

 

Mr. Weaver said 50 percent would go to the trails and the other half would go to local law enforcement agencies.

 

Sheriff McGrath said the money going to the law enforcement entities would be used to administer the enforcement program.

 

Mr. Weaver continued his presentation.

 

Chairman O'Donnell asked how the local law enforcement entities plan to enforce the bill if they are not going to have deputies out making sure everyone is registered.

 

Sheriff McGrath said some of the rural counties do have officers who patrol the outlying areas.

 

Senator Nevin said under Nevada law, all proceeds brought in by the Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety must remain in the highway fund.  He also said it would impossible to enforce the licensure of horses.

 

Chairman O'Donnell said the law enforcement people did not intend to go out and pursue anyone.  They just wanted to be able to identify the off-road vehicle.  Senator O'Donnell asked why an individual would not put some sort of identification on his vehicle.  He asked "why does the government have to get involved in helping people help themselves?"

 

Sheriff McGrath said the past history has shown that these individuals cannot identify their own vehicles.

 

Senator Nevin asked who would enforce this bill.  He added, he thought the park rangers would be the ones who would enforce this.

 

Sheriff McGrath said the local entities would have the authority to enforce the law.

 

Senator Nevin said he did not think the local law enforcement agencies would want to get involved in the enforcement of this bill because they are too busy doing other, more important things.

 

Senator Neal asked where the tag would be affixed to a horse.

 

Mr. Weaver replied there are a number of areas in the United States that require some sort of registration for horses and the most common form of identification are bridle tags.

 

Senator Neal said bridles are interchangeable and could be used on more than one horse.

 

Mr. Weaver said that was possible and there are probably ways around any law or regulation.

 

Senator Hickey said there were two issues here, one is enforcement and the other is the Symm's trails act.  Senator Hickey went over the figures with Mr. Weaver.

 

Mr. Weaver explained the Symm's trails act and how the state matches the funds, which he referred to earlier in his prepared testimony.

 

Senator Hickey asked the purpose for which the money would be used.

 

Mr. Weaver said the money would be used to renovate the existing trails, signing of existing trails, and the urban areas are in need of connecting trails.

 

Senator Hickey asked Mr. Weaver if he had any idea how much money the bill would generate.

 

Mr. Weaver said he had not gotten any figures as to how much money the bill would generate now, but the original bill, without the horses and bicycles, would generate about $400,000.

 

Senator Brown asked why hikers were not included in this bill.

 

Mr. Weaver said he was not involved in the decision to drop hikers and he did not know why this happened.

 

Senator Brown said she was a hiker who would be happy to "chip in."

 

Chairman O'Donnell said the real concern here was the fact that many trails have been closed, many trails are not being maintained and in Las Vegas, a hiker cannot get from one end of a trail to the other because a freeway goes through the middle of the trail. 

 

Sheriff McGrath said his organization is concerned with the off-road vehicles which are not registered and are impossible to identify.

 

Senator James said there is all kinds of personal property which is not registered and can be stolen.  He asked why there is a need for this bill.

 

Sheriff McGrath said these off-road vehicles are quite expensive.

 

Senator James asked Mr. Weaver what the other states are doing to raise the money to match the funding provided by the Symm's trails act (STA).

 

Mr. Weaver said a number of other states have required registration of horses and bicycles.  He added, another primary source of revenue is to take gas taxes which can be attributed to off-highway recreational use, and these taxes would be used to fund the state's portion of the STA.  Mr. Weaver added, the amount the state would receive from the fuel tax is the amount the state needs to raise.

 

Senator James asked Mr. Weaver if he thought this bill would raise the necessary funds.

 

Mr. Weaver said he was not sure if this would raise enough money because he did not know the number of horses or mountain bicycles in the state.

 

Chairman O'Donnell said if a person wants to fish, he or she must obtain a fishing license, but they do not license the fishing pole, they license the individual.

 

Chairman O'Donnell suspended the hearing on S.B. 426 and opened the hearing on Senate Bill 427.

 

Senate Bill 427:  Revises requirement of designation of highway as scenic route.

 

Thomas G. Tait, Executive Director, Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT), testified in regard to S.B. 427.  Mr. Tait said the bill would provide some clarification in the language on the designation of scenic routes.  He added, many roads in Nevada should be designated as a scenic route because of their historic, cultural or recreational value.  He said these roads cannot be so designated because the current language specifies that there must be a parallel route.

 

Garth F. Dull, Director, Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), suggested one other change to the bill.  He said the NDOT would like to remove section A and state that "the director may designate a highway or a portion of a highway as a scenic route if the route meets the guidelines as established by the department."  He added, the NDOT and the NCOT were in the process of coming up with criteria for establishing scenic routes.

 

Senator James asked if there were any other consequences from this legislation.

 

Mr. Tait replied there were a number of routes which had been given a scenic route designation by various groups, such as the American Automobile Association, and the state cannot put signs on these routes or designate them as a state scenic route without this bill.

 

Senator James asked if there were any other legal consequences such as, speed limit changes.

 

Mr. Tait there were no legal consequences from this bill.

 

Senator Jacobsen asked how many scenic routes the state currently has and how they were designated.

 

Mr. Dull said there is only one, U.S. 93, which was designated under the old law.

 

Senator James asked if the law would change the kind of traffic that would be allowed on one of these scenic routes.  He gave the transportation of nuclear materials as an example.

 

Mr. Dull said a scenic route designation would not affect the kind of traffic on the route.

 

Senator Hickey said the nuclear transportation roads have already been designated.

 

Chairman O'Donnell closed the hearing on S.B. 427 and asked for a motion on the bill.

 

      SENATOR BROWN MOVED TO AMEND AND DO PASS S.B. 427.

 

      SENATOR HICKEY SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

      THE MOTION CARRIED.  (SENATORS NEAL AND NEVIN VOTED NO.)

 

      * * * * *

 

Chairman O'Donnell re-opened the hearing on S.B. 426.

 

L.D. Bennett, Concerned Citizen, spoke from prepared testimony (Exhibit D) in opposition to S.B. 426.

 

Barbara Torres, Concerned Citizen, spoke from prepared testimony (Exhibit E) in opposition to S.B. 426.

 

Senator James asked if it was really fair to take the horses out of the bill.

 

 

Ms. Torres said she was urging the committee to "throw the whole bill out the window."  Ms. Torres suggested a citizens' advisory

committee be formed in order to work out a solution.  She also stated she would be happy to serve on such a committee.

 

Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, District 35, testified against S.B. 426.  Mrs. de Braga said the use of public lands affords families wholesome, free, recreation.  She said the biggest problem with the bill, besides the fact that it restricts recreation, is that it is unenforceable.

 

Stephanie D. Licht, Lobbyist, Nevada Woolgrowers Association, testified in opposition to S.B. 426.  Ms. Licht said she could understand the need of law enforcement people to be able to identify these off-road vehicles.  She added, she had a problem with horses being included in the bill.  Ms. Licht testified her industry felt the parks department would be overstepping its bounds by saying "on all public lands."  She added, the intent of the bill was good, but the way it is written would cause the sheep industry some great concern.

 

Ernie Fanning, Owner, Classic Carriage Company, testified in opposition to S.B. 426.  Mr. Fanning said the state cannot charge a person to be on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands.  He added, only the BLM can charge for the use of their lands.  Mr. Fanning said that "pitching the bill out the window was the best idea anybody's had."

 

Georgia Tachoires, Nevada State Horsemen's Association, spoke from prepared testimony (Exhibit F) in opposition to S.B. 426.

 

Steve J. Mahoney, Director, Division of Brand Inspection, Nevada Department of Agriculture, testified with regard to S.B. 426.

Mr. Mahoney said his department did not object to the section of the bill requiring the registration of off-road vehicles, but they did not like the section requiring the registration of horses.  He said his agency was quite concerned with the enforcement aspects of the bill. 

 

Chairman O'Donnell asked if his agency had been contacted during the drafting of the bill.

 

Mr. Mahoney said his agency had no knowledge of the bill and they were not asked about the fiscal impact of the bill.  He added, his agency had five people, statewide, to enforce the brand program and to prevent the theft of livestock and they would have no one to enforce this bill.

 

Senator Jacobsen asked what means, other than branding, did the department of agriculture use in identifying livestock.

 

Mr. Mahoney said the department has a livestock horse permit, either annual or lifetime.  He explained the permit identifies the animal, with an actual drawing of the animal, which includes any marks or brands on the animal.

 

Jaunita Cox, Concerned Citizen, stated, for the record, she is opposed to S.B. 426.  Ms. Cox said she would not mind paying for the use of a specific trail, but she did object to the "plain old use tax."  She explained the bill takes her right to pursue health and happiness and violates those rights.

 

Gayla Higgins, Concerned Citizen, stated, for the record, she is opposed to S.B. 426.  She said she is concerned about young people who ride their bicycles on public lands.  She said the $20 fee is quite high for a young person to pay.

 

Bob King, Concerned Citizen, stated, for the record, he is opposed to S.B. 426.  Mr. King said his family owned two motorcycles which are registered, as required by law.  He continued, this should act as a means of identifying the motorcycle in the event that it is stolen.

 

Mary Jo Kivey, Concerned Citizen, stated, for the record, she

is opposed to S.B. 426.  Ms. Kivey said she had a real problem with the possible ear-tagging of the horses and she would not ear-tag her horses.

 

Mac Potter, Reno Rodeo Association, stated, for the record, he is opposed to S.B. 426.

 

Chairman O'Donnell closed the hearing on S.B. 426.

 

 

There being no further business before the committee, Chairman O'Donnell adjourned the hearing at 3:43 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

May 11, 1993

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