The Committee on Transportation was called to order at 1:44 p.m., on Tuesday, May 25, 1999. Chairwoman Vonne Chowning presided in Room 3143 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada. Exhibit A is the Agenda. All Exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

Mrs. Vonne Chowning, Chairwoman

Ms. Genie Ohrenschall, Vice Chairwoman

Mr. Douglas Bache

Mr. John Carpenter

Mrs. Barbara Cegavske

Mr. Jerry Claborn

Mr. Tom Collins

Mr. Don Gustavson

Mrs. Kathy McClain

Mr. David Parks

Ms. Bonnie Parnell

Mr. Kelly Thomas

COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:

Mr. Dennis Nolan (Excused)

GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:

Assemblyman Richard Perkins, District 23

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

Mrs. Chowning opened the hearing on A.B. 695.

Assemblyman Richard Perkins, Representative, Assembly District 23, testified in support of A.B. 695. He explained the part of the bill, which contained in substance was section 3, subsection 1, which stated,

"The special legislative license plate assigned to Mr. Joseph E. Dini, Jr., and showing on its face ‘State Assemblyman 1,’ is hereby granted as a lifetime endowment to Mr. Dini, regardless of whether he continues to serve in the Assembly of this state. This endowment is made in recognition of his unprecedented length of service as Speaker of the Assembly."

Mr. Perkins continued section 3, subsection 2, described when the license plate was retired and Speaker Dini was no longer in service in the Assembly, the numbers 2 through 43 would be used for Assembly license plates. "State Assemblyman 1" would become permanently retired from the inventory of active legislative license plates. He felt retiring the plate was a modest token of appreciation from the legislators for Speaker Dini’s 31 years of service in the Assembly.

Assemblyman Claborn wondered if it would be more appropriate to create a "State Assemblyman 1A" license plate so any new Speaker of the Assembly would be able to use "State Assemblyman 1." Mr. Perkins informed the committee the Speaker of the Assembly did not always have "State Assemblyman 1" for their license plate. The legislative plates were designated by seniority. If Speaker Dini were to retire, the plate would roll to Assemblyman Price, who was number two in seniority, if he was to remain in service after Speaker Dini retired. He felt it would be a greater gesture from the entire legislative body to retire the license plates completely, similar to the process of retiring sports jerseys for ex-players.

Assemblyman Thomas inquired if the intention behind the bill was to infinitely retire the plate from service since it only stated "lifetime" in the language of the bill. Mr. Perkins stated it was the intention to retire the license plate completely from the inventory list once Speaker Dini retired.

ASSEMBLYWOMAN CEGAVSKE MOVED TO DO PASS A.B. 695.

ASSEMBLYWOMAN OHRENSCHALL SECONDED THE MOTION.

Mr. Parks mentioned as an aside, section 1, subsection 1, indicated the legislative license plates were to be determined according to the alphabetical order of last names if legislators were elected in the same year. He commented for the previous two sessions the license plate issued to Assemblyman Lee had preceded the license plate issued to Assemblywoman Koivisto. If either of the two individuals was to return to the Assembly the problem should be corrected.

Mrs. Chowning noted since the license plate was to be issued as a lifetime endowment, Speaker Dini would be able to continue to use the plate on his vehicle after he retired from the Assembly of this state. Any other legislator was not allowed to use their plates if they were no longer serving as a member of the legislative body. Mr. Perkins indicated there was a provision in section 2(c) that would allow only Speaker Dini to retain the license plate and continue to use it after retirement.

Mrs. Chowning revealed she was glad the exemption was included in the bill since the penalty for using the plates while not in service was a misdemeanor. She also expressed to the committee the retiring of the plate was not solely due to Mr. Dini’s service as Speaker of the Assembly. He had also served 31 years as an Assemblyman, which was an unprecedented length of service, which could never be duplicated, with the implementation of term limits by the voters of the state.

THE MOTION PASSED WITH ASSEMBLYMAN NOLAN ABSENT (EXCUSED).

Mrs. Chowning adjourned the meeting at 1:54 p.m.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

Jennifer Batchelder,

Committee Secretary

APPROVED BY:

Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, Chairwoman

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