MINUTES OF THE

SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

Sixty-seventh Session

June 10, 1993

The Senate Committee on Transportation was called to order by Chairman William R. O'Donnell, at 1:45 p.m., on Thursday, June 10, 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 Suzanne Lowden, Clark County District No. 3

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

Paul Mouritsen, Senior Research Analyst

Terri Jo Wittenberg, Committee Secretary

OTHERS PRESENT:

Randy Day, Commissioner, Commission on Veterans Affairs

Paul Stieger, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Post 8605

Donna Wadey, Assistant Chief, Registration/Title Bureau, Registration Division, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety

Chairman O'Donnell opened the hearing with a work session on Senate Bill (S.B.) 491.

Senate Bill 491: Exempts certain motor carriers from rate regulation by public service commission of Nevada when carrying certain agricultural or mining products.

Senator James made the following disclosure before the vote was taken on S.B. 491:

I represent a trucking company that is involved, they have a certificate of public convenience and necessity and I've talked with them and I found out that they, about 20 percent of their business is intrastate. And of that 20 percent, none is involved with the hauling of agricultural products and only 2 percent is involving mining products and so I talked to the Legislative Counsel who informed me that that's an incidental type of an impact which would not create a conflict. It's probably questionable whether I have to disclose, but I'm disclosing and I intend to vote on this measure.

Senator Hickey distributed a memorandum dealing with hazardous materials (Exhibit C) to the committee. He discussed this memorandum. He added, if this bill is passed, the real effect will be the lowering of transportation costs at the expense of public safety.

Chairman O'Donnell said could not disagree with Senator Hickey any more and that tariffs have nothing to do with safety in terms of what is required to be on the road.

Chairman O'Donnell asked for a motion on the bill.

SENATOR HICKEY MOVED TO INDEFINITELY POSTPONE S.B. 491.

SENATOR NEVIN SECONDED THE MOTION.

THE MOTION FAILED. (SENATORS JACOBSEN, BROWN, NEAL, JAMES AND O'DONNELL VOTED NO.)

* * * * *

Chairman O'Donnell asked for another motion of S.B. 491.

SENATOR NEAL MOVED TO DO PASS S.B. 491.

SENATOR JAMES SECONDED THE MOTION.

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

* * * * *

Chairman O'Donnell closed the work session on S.B. 491 and continued the work session with S.B. 498.

Senate Bill 498: Requires issuance of notice of correction for certain violations concerning heavy-duty motor vehicles.

Chairman O'Donnell assigned this bill to Senator Nevin for subcommittee undertaking.

Chairman O'Donnell closed the work session on S.B. 498 and opened the hearing on S.B. 497.

Senate Bill 497: Provides for issuance of special plates in support of veterans' home.

Senator Suzanne Lowden, Clark County District No. 3, testified in support of S.B. 497. Senator Lowden said this bill would permit, not just veterans, but everyone who would be supportive of veterans, to have a special license plate and the monies received would go into a special fund to fund a veterans' home. She added, the veterans feel that if they could demonstrate to the legislature that if they could have a couple of years to get some money "under their belt" that they could then come forward and say "this is what we have raised for ourselves and could you match that."

Randy Day, Commissioner, Commission on Veterans Affairs, spoke in support of S.B. 497. Mr. Day said the number one priority of the veterans in the state is to get a veterans' home established in Nevada. He added, these veterans understand the current financial situation and they feel the only way they could pull this off would be to have a bill such as S.B. 497.

Senator Lowden added, there is a marketing plan in place to alert Nevadan's that these license plates would be available for purchase and where the money will go.

Chairman O'Donnel asked how many veterans there are in Nevada.

Mr. Day replied, according to the Veterans Administration, there are approximately 182,000 and he estimates there are more like 200,000 veterans in the state.

Senator Brown asked if California gets many people purchasing the license plates who are not veterans.

Mr. Day said California just started selling these special license plates and it is too soon to know who is purchasing them.

Senator Lowden said the original plan was to limit the license plates to veterans only, but they feel that is very limiting when the real goal is to get as much money as possible for this home.

Senator Nevin said this bill would affect the people who have other license plates such as, purple heart plates and Pearl Harbor Survivor license plates. He asked if these people would be giving up their current license plates in order to purchase the new plates.

Senator Lowden said that would be up to the individuals involved and they could get the new plate if they so desired.

Mr. Day said all of the other veterans-related license plates throughout the state represent 684 holders.

Senator Neal asked how large the facility is anticipated to be.

Mr. Day said much of the veterans home is being geared after the State of Idaho's home which is a 66 bed facility.

Chairman O'Donnell said if anybody is allowed to go out and get a veterans' plate most people would have an interest in obtaining the plate, but if it is limited to just veterans and their families then most of thee veterans would be interested in getting a plate.

Mr. Day said the proponents of the bill in California decided they would rather have the benefits derived from the license plate and have it available to everyone who wishes to support the veterans than to limit the license plate to veterans and their families. He added, they felt they would be "spiting

themselves" if they limited the license plate to veterans only. He said the monies that can be derived far outweigh the "bragging rights" of limiting the license plate to a certain few.

Senator Lowden said she would not have a problem with limiting the license plate to veterans and their families.

Chairman O'Donnell said they could consider that and see how the sales go. He asked how she felt abut doing this for a 2-year period and seeing how the sales go.

Mr. Day said he would have no problem with that.

Senator James said people who are going to want these license plates are going to be veterans or have some other reason they want to have these plates such as they are related to a veteran or they have some sort of special relationship with a veteran. He said he thinks the mechanism will police itself as to who is going to want to buy this license plate.

Paul Stieger, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Post 8605, testified in support of S.B. 497. Mr. Stieger said he has been a member of the VFW for 48 years and he has permission from his post to "enthusiastically" address this bill.

Donna Wadey, Assistant Chief, Registration/Title Bureau, Registration Division, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, testified in regard to S.B. 497. Ms. Wadey said the license plates die would cost the agency between $800 and $1000 and the agency should be able to absorb that cost with their current budget.

There being no further business before the committee, Chairman O'Donnell adjourned the meeting 2:35 p.m.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

Terri Jo Wittenberg,

Committee Secretary

APPROVED BY:

Senator William R. O'Donnell, Chairman

DATE:

Senate Committee on Transportation

June 10, 1993

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