The Senate Committee on Judiciary was called to order by Chairman Mark A. James, at 8:30 a.m., on Thursday, April 15, 1999, in Room 2149 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada. Exhibit A is the Agenda. Exhibit B is the Attendance Roster. All exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

Senator Mark A. James, Chairman

Senator Jon C. Porter, Vice Chairman

Senator Mike McGinness

Senator Maurice Washington

Senator Dina Titus

Senator Terry Care

COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:

Senator Valerie Wiener (Excused)

GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:

John C. Carpenter, Elko County Assembly District No. 33

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

Silvia Motta, Committee Secretary

OTHERS PRESENT:

Chairman James opened the hearing on Assembly Bill (A.B.) 53.

Assemblyman John C. Carpenter, Elko County Assembly District No. 33, introduced A.B. 53 as a proposal to increase the penalties for unlawfully causing death, substantial bodily harm or injury to a person on school property. He spoke of recent tragic events; multiple murders that have been committed by juveniles on school grounds, like those that occurred in the states of Oregon and California. He acknowledged Nevada having adequate procedures to handle delinquent juveniles when classified as adults. Nonetheless, he recommended expediting the process by handling such cases directly in district court. He stated A.B. 53 would have a deterrent effect when handling such crimes, if it were adopted.

Brad Wilkinson, Committee Counsel, Legal Division, Legislative Counsel Bureau, clarified that the proposal would be subject to crimes committed by a student that would be excluded from the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts.

Senator Care pointed out the lack of reference in the bill to outside school activities, as those not necessarily conducted on the school premises, but are sponsored by a private or public school. He then inquired as to when the classification process would take place on a delinquent juvenile case; and how the case would be handled once the juvenile is classified as an adult.

John C. Morrow, Lobbyist, Chief Administrative Deputy, Washoe County Public Defender, replied a juvenile would automatically be processed as an adult in a murder case, attempted murder or sexual assault. The certification process may also occur when a child is a repeat offender with gradual deteriorating conduct; at which point the juvenile’s name is added into the adult system; followed by a hearing before a juvenile court judge. Later the case is transferred to the district court, becoming an adult prosecution case. Chairman James noticed the "activity" language only appeared in the first-degree murder section of the bill; however, it was not added to the enhancement or the juvenile jurisdiction sections.

Mr. Morrow introduced an amendment for the bill, Exhibit C, which includes the proposed language for the qualifier to be added in the "aggravated" circumstance. Then he referred to section 1 of A.B. 53 saying the measure includes the concept of a person with a weapon or device that could or did cause death to more than one person, or substantial bodily harm. He then said that in those circumstances the individual would be processed under the first-degree murder law, Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 200.030.

Chairman James asked the bill’s sponsor if he had any objection to a "multiple-person endangerment qualifier" amendment being added to A.B. 53. Assemblyman Carpenter indicated no objection. He claimed he was not aware of the oversight and strongly concurred with the recommendation.

Chairman James made reference to section 3, subsection 1, paragraph (a) of the bill, suggesting that the death of a child due to child abuse should be considered as first-degree murder. However, with first-degree murder, proof of premeditation is required. He offered, according to sources from the Nevada Supreme Court, there are some murder cases currently held with the attempt to prove first-degree murder on child abuse. The legislative intent was reviewed by the Nevada Supreme Court staff, and it was discovered that it clearly states "felony murder." Nevertheless, felony murder is a death that may occur during the commission of a felony, and is a first-degree murder under the felony murder law. Chairman James illustrated the Senate Committee on Judiciary was not made aware of such problems in time to file a bill. He asked Assemblyman Carpenter to consider moving the child abuse language to section 3, subsection 1, paragraph (b) of A.B. 53, to reflect as part of the felony murder rule. Other changes Chairman James suggested include: "committed in the perpetration" or attempted perpetration of a sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery, invasion of a home, child abuse, sexual abuse of a child and sexual molestation of a child under the age of 14.

Gemma Greene, Lobbyist, Deputy District Attorney, Washoe County District Attorney’s Office, and Nevada District Attorneys’ Association, talked about the enhancement in section 1 of A.B. 53. She noted the death penalty is not listed in section 1, and suggested it be included rather as a potential penalty.

There being no further testimony, Chairman James closed the hearing on A.B. 53 and opened the hearing on A.B. 390.

Glen Whorton, Chief, Classification/Planning, Department of Prisons, said the bill was offered by the Department of Prisons to clear up some technical issues. He established that the proposal indicated the Department of Prisons has the responsibility to calculate the prisoners’ served time credits, to provide the proper documentation for the parole board, and assist in the selection of inmates eligible for parole. Although the parole board does not have access to all the information on credits, both agencies have been projecting the inmates’ eligibility. He said the Department of Prisons would be the only agency with the capability to incorporate such information into the appropriate form.

Pat Hines, Concerned Citizen, testified in representation of Nevada Citizens United for Rehabilitation for Errants (NCURE), a national organization. She drew attention to sections 4 and 5 of the bill, declaring that the language appeared to contradict. In section 4, subsection 4, line 22 of A.B. 390, "The board may deliberate in private after a public meeting held to consider a prisoner for parole;" then on line 6, subsection 2, "All meetings must be open to the public." She voiced concern of whether the parole board’s deliberation meetings would be in accordance with the open-meeting laws. She referred to page 7, section 5, subsection 6 of the bill; "must be conducted by at least three members of the board, and action may be taken only with concurrence of at least four members." Ms. Hines suggested, on behalf of her organization (NCURE), that all current commissioners should be present for the meeting and any action taken.

Having served on a 1997 interim study subcommittee, Senator Washington justified the parole board had requested private meetings to deliberate, due to confidential issues in the prisoner’s files that may not be public record.

No further testimony was offered. Chairman James closed the hearing on A.B. 390 and opened the hearing on A.B. 391.

Mr. Whorton emphasized the proposal’s intent was for credit charts to be stricken from the measure, which are the time served credits earned by inmates for good behavior. He stated the descriptions of the time charts are somewhat contradicting in terms of how an inmate’s credits are managed. He also pointed out that the chart on page 2 of the bill was incorrect. He explained the statutory good credits earned by the prisoners are based on their conduct in prison; however, in the event that a prisoner escapes or is on parole status, no credits would be accrued. He emphasized that if a prisoner were implicated in a misconduct occurrence, such conduct would seriously affect the possibility for parole. In addition, there are multiple types of credits; namely, flat time credits, statutory, work time, vocational and educational, which are all maintained within the Department of Prison’s computer system. The computer system calculates the projected time, making such information available to inmates, if requested.

Questions were raised of the total number of inmates recorded in the prison system and the current number of prisoners on parole. Mr. Whorton replied that as of April 14, 1999, the records showed a total of 9,231 inmates in the system, together with male and female prisoners, the women’s private facility in Southern Nevada, and the prison camps throughout the state of Nevada. He said the only ones not included in the total are those inmates located in residential confinement.

Carlos Concha, Chief, Parole and Probation, Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, established that as of April 1, 1999, there were 4,097 individuals on parole, and approximately 197 under residential confinement throughout the state.

Senator Washington questioned how many parolees would be designated to each parole officer in the State of Nevada. Mr. Concha replied according to the most current records, the district covering the areas of Carson City, Fallon, Yerington and Minden, average approximately 72 parolees per officer; Washoe County has 86 parolees per officer and Las Vegas 72 per officer. In the Elko district area, such as, Elko, Winnemucca, Tonopah and Pahrump they have approximately 64 parolees per officer. Mr. Concha informed the committee that funds had been received by the Nevada parole and probation division for an automated system, with expectations the program is to be operable by July 2000.

Chairman James entertained a motion to do pass A.B. 391.

SENATOR WASHINGTON MOVED TO DO PASS A.B. 391.

SENATOR CARE SECONDED THE MOTION.

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A motion was requested by Chairman James to do pass A.B. 390.

SENATOR WASHINGTON MOVED TO DO PASS A.B. 390.

SENATOR PORTER SECONDED THE MOTION.

Senator Care expressed his opinion regarding Ms. Hines’ comments of inconsistencies in the bill. He noted she proposed that all hearings be open to the public and that testimony should be heard before the parole board. He compared the parole board’s private deliberations to the proceedings of a court judge who would retire to his chambers when making his findings.

Returning to A.B. 53, Chairman James briefly stated a summary of the amendments proposed by the Assembly committee. He also spoke of other issues and amendments; i.e., if a crime is committed on school grounds, during a school event outside of the school property, or on a school bus. He proceeded, the bill will provide for an enhancement to be added to include the first degree murder offense and the aggravated assault to the death penalty. In addition, the bill would also provide for automatic classification from the juvenile system into the adult system if a murder or attempted murder were committed.

Chairman James accepted a motion to amend and do pass A.B. 53.

SENATOR PORTER MOVED TO AMEND AND DO PASS A.B. 53.

SENATOR CARE SECONDED THE MOTION.

* * * * *

There being no further testimony, Chairman James adjourned the meeting at 10:00 a.m.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

Silvia Motta,

Committee Secretary

APPROVED BY:

Senator Mark A. James, Chairman

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