MINUTES OF THE meeting

of the

ASSEMBLY Committee on Commerce and Labor

 

Seventy-First Session

May 18, 2001

 

 

The Committee on Commerce and Labor was called to order at 1:27 p.m., on Friday, May 18, 2001.  Chairman Joseph Dini, Jr. presided in Room 4100 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada.  Exhibit A is the Agenda.  Exhibit B is the Guest List.  All exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Mr.                     Joseph Dini, Jr., Chairman

Mr.                     Morse Arberry Jr.

Mr.                     Bob Beers

Mrs.                     Dawn Gibbons

Ms.                     Chris Giunchigliani

Mr.                     David Goldwater

Mr.                     Lynn Hettrick

Mr.                     David Humke

Ms.                     Sheila Leslie

Mr.                     John Oceguera

Mr.                     David Parks

Mr.                     Richard D. Perkins

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:

 

Ms.                     Barbara Buckley, Vice Chairman

Mr.                     Dennis Nolan

 

GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:

 

Senator Michael A. Schneider

 

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Vance Hughey, Committee Policy Analyst

Crystal McGee, Committee Policy Analyst

Rebekah Langhoff, Committee Secretary

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

 

Fred Hillerby, Legislative Representative, Appraisal Institute, Nevada Association of Health Plans, Reno, Nevada

Jack Kim, Legislative Representative, Nevada Association of Health Plans, Las Vegas, Nevada

Bill Bradley, Legislative Representative, Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, Reno, Nevada

Neena Laxalt, Legislative Representative, Nevada Podiatric Medical Association, Reno, Nevada

Dr. John Ellerton, Representative, Nevada State Medical Association, Medical Staff of University Medical Center, Las Vegas, Nevada

 

The meeting was called to order and a quorum was present.  Chairman Dini opened the hearing on S.B. 307.

 

Senate Bill 307:  Requires real estate division of department of business and industry to hire professional consultants to ensure compliance with certain provisions of federal law regarding appraisers of real estate and increases certain fees of real estate division. (BDR 54-1062)

 

Senator Michael A. Schneider, representing Senate District 8, primary sponsor of the bill, told the committee S.B. 307 was brought to him by the Commission of Appraisers of Real Estate because of the potential violation of federal law for not having an investigator conduct reviews to ensure compliance with Title XI of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989.  Senator Schneider stated the bill would bring the appraisers into compliance with federal law and the appraisers agreed to increase their fees in order to pay for the requirements of the bill.  He indicated the Senate Committee on Finance approved the bill.

 

Chairman Dini confirmed that the appraisers had agreed to the increase in fees.

 

Fred Hillerby, Legislative Representative, Appraisal Institute, stated the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council found that the Appraisal Institute received complaints concerning appraisals that were over a year old that had not been resolved in violation of the council’s standards.  Mr. Hillerby noted if the appraisers were found to be out of compliance, a Nevada appraiser could not appraise federally insured loans.  Accordingly, it was decided that it was necessary to expand the ability of the Real Estate Division to hire consultants to perform the necessary reviews of complaints.  Mr. Hillerby concluded by urging the committee’s support of S.B. 307.

 

There were no other witnesses that wished to testify and Chairman Dini closed the hearing on S.B. 307, noting the bill should be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

ASSEMBLYMAN GOLDWATER MOVED DO PASS AND REREFER S.B. 307 TO THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS.

 

ASSEMBLYMAN HETTRICK SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE PRESENT.  SPEAKER PERKINS, MR. ARBERRY, MR. HUMKE AND MS. LESLIE WERE NOT PRESENT FOR THE VOTE.

 

Chairman Dini opened the hearing on S.B. 320, noting the committee was already very familiar with the involved issues.

 

Senate Bill 320:  Requires managed care organizations to establish system for independent review of final adverse determinations concerning allocations of health care resources and services. (BDR 57-676)

 

Fred Hillerby, Legislative Representative, Nevada Association of Health Plans, indicated Senator O’Connell, the sponsor of the bill, could not be present to testify.  Mr. Hillerby stated A.B. 422, sponsored by Assemblywoman Buckley, was very similar and was already considered and passed by the committee.  He noted the primary difference between the two bills was S.B. 320 required the insurance companies that used external reviews to provide standards to guarantee that the independence of an external review organization.  Mr. Hillerby felt the intent of both bills was the same, but S.B. 320 was more expeditious. 

 

Jack Kim, Legislative Representative, Nevada Association of Health Plans, indicated he was available to answer questions from the committee.

 

Bill Bradley, Legislative Representative, Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, testified in opposition to S.B. 320, noting his belief that A.B. 422 was more consumer-friendly in the areas of the selection of the review organization, the definition of “medical necessity,” and the standard of review.

 

Chairman Dini closed the hearing on S.B 320 and directed the committee’s attention to the scheduled work session.  The committee was provided with a work session document and Chairman Dini opened discussion on S.B. 99 (Exhibit C).

 

Senate Bill 99:  Makes various changes to provisions relating to prompt payment of claims to providers of health care. (BDR 57-132)

 

Crystal McGee, Committee Policy Analyst, advised the committee S.B. 99 made various changes to provisions relating to the prompt payment of claims to providers of health care.  The bill was referred to subcommittee and five basic recommendations were prepared and included in the subcommittee report (Exhibit C, pages 4-11). 

 

Mr. Hettrick felt the subcommittee did a good job striking a balance for all parties, and commented that the understanding as to Attachment C (Exhibit C, page 10) was that Legislative Counsel Bureau Legal Division would look at the language and craft the language to ensure it did what was intended. 

 

ASSEMBLYMAN HETTRICK MOVED AMEND AND DO PASS S.B. 99.

 

ASSEMBLYMAN PARKS SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE PRESENT.  SPEAKER PERKINS AND MR. ARBERRY WERE NOT PRESENT FOR THE VOTE.

 

Chairman Dini opened discussion on S.B. 405.

 

Senate Bill 405:  Makes various changes relating to practice of podiatry. (BDR 54-38)

 

Neena Laxalt, Legislative Representative, Nevada Podiatric Medical Association, provided a proposed amendment to S.B. 405 prepared by Dr. John Ellerton (Exhibit D).  She noted the amendment took the authority to amputate toes out of the hands of the Board of Podiatry and put the procedure directly under the hospital facility.

 

Dr. John Ellerton, representing the Nevada State Medical Association and the medical staff of University Medical Center, noted the medical society had agreed to the amendments to S.B. 405 and felt the amendments satisfied many of their concerns.  He stated the amendment he proposed was probably not necessary now that other language had been inserted leaving credentialing of podiatrists to hospital medical staff.

 

ASSEMBLYMAN HETTRICK MOVED AMEND AND DO PASS S.B. 405.

 

ASSEMBLYWOMAN GIUNCHIGLIANI SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE PRESENT.  SPEAKER PERKINS AND MR. PARKS WERE NOT PRESENT FOR THE VOTE.

 

Chairman Dini opened S.B. 418 for discussion.

 

Senate Bill 418:  Makes various changes to provisions governing sale of real property. (BDR 54-159)

 

Vance Hughey, Committee Policy Analyst, provided background information on S.B. 418, noting the bill addressed certain provisions regarding real estate salesmen, broker-salesmen and brokers.  A subcommittee was appointed to review proposed amendments to the bill and the subcommittee report was attached to Exhibit C as pages 14-18.  Nine proposed amendments were identified and discussed as follows:

 

• Replace the provision on page 2, lines 14 and 15, which stated, “a source reasonably believed by the licensee to be reliable” with the phrase “an inspector certified pursuant to Chapter 645D of NRS or another appropriate licensed or certified expert.”

 

• Delete subsection 4 of Section 1 on page 2, lines 32-34.

 

• Delete subparagraph (a) of subsection 2 of Section 3 on page 2, lines 43-45.

 

• Restructure subsection 2 of Section 3 to read, “The failure of the seller to make the disclosures required by NRS 113.130 and 113.135 if the information that would have been disclosed pursuant to NRS 113.130 and 113.135 is a public record which is readily available to the client.”

 

• Add a new subsection 3 to Section 3 of the bill that states, “Nothing in subsection 2 relieves a licensee from duties imposed on the licensee under subparagraph (a) of subsection 1 of NRS 645.252.”

 

• On page 5, delete lines 18-20, and insert at line 18 the word “himself.”

 

• In Section 8, on page 5, make Section 5 of the bill effective on July 1, 2002.

 

• Amend the fees in NRS 645.830 by reducing the fee for each original real estate broker’s, broker-salesman’s, or corporate broker’s license to $85.  Also, reduce the fee for each original real estate salesman’s license to $65.

 

• Amend NRS 645.830 by adding to the fee schedule a provision for a $20 fee for real estate education, research, and recovery to be paid a the time an original application for a license fee was filed.  Also, amend the current wording of the provision for the fee for real estate education, research and recovery by deleting the phrase “is filed at the time a license.”

 

ASSEMBLYWOMAN GIUNCHIGLIANI MOVED AMEND AND DO PASS S.B. 418.

 

ASSEMBLYMAN GOLDWATER SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE PRESENT.  MR. PARKS WAS NOT PRESENT FOR THE VOTE.

 

There being no further business to come before the committee, the meeting was adjourned at 1:51 p.m.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

Rebekah Langhoff

Committee Secretary

 

APPROVED BY:

 

 

                       

Assemblyman Joe Dini, Jr., Chairman

 

 

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