MINUTES OF THE meeting
of the
ASSEMBLY Committee on Elections, Procedures, and Ethics
Seventy-First Session
February 8, 2001
The Committee on Elections, Procedures, and Ethics was called to order at 3:45 p.m., on Thursday, February 8, 2001. Chairwoman Chris Giunchigliani presided in Room 3138 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:
Ms. Chris Giunchigliani, Chairwoman
Mr. Bob Price, Vice Chairman
Mr. Bernie Anderson
Mr. Douglas Bache
Mr. Bob Beers
Mr. Greg Brower
Ms. Barbara Buckley
Mr. Joseph Dini, Jr.
Ms. Vivian Freeman
Mr. Lynn Hettrick
Mr. Richard D. Perkins
Ms. Kathy Von Tobel
COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:
None
GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:
None
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:
Scott G. Wasserman, Committee Counsel
Michael Stewart, Committee Policy Analyst
Ann M. VanNostrand, Committee Secretary
OTHERS PRESENT:
Patty Moody, Assembly Attaché
Marge Griffin, Personal Secretary to Assemblywoman Giunchigliani
Dan Musgrove, City of Las Vegas
Colleen Wilson-Pappa, Clark County
Susan Morandi, Deputy Secretary of State for Elections
Thomas Welsh, Citizen
Janice Dobbs, Women of the Moose
Kathleen Magly, City of Sparks
Neeva Laxalt, City of Sparks
Mike Rodolico, Director, Hawk Community Health Center
Santana Garcia, SNWA/LVVWD
Maureen Brower, Director of Government Relations, Wadhams & Akridge
Bob Seale, former Nevada State Treasurer
Sara Towles, Intern for Assemblyman Hettrick and the Republican Caucus
Brooke L. Kizer, Intern for Assemblyman Price
Gurprette Takher, Intern for Assemblywoman Freeman
Chairwoman Giunchigliani opened the meeting with the introduction of the committee secretary Ann VanNostrand, and Marge Griffin, committee manager and personal secretary to the chairman. She also welcomed Patty Moody, Assembly Attaché, and Sara Towles, intern for Assemblyman Hettrick. She continued, welcoming the first-time members to the Elections, Procedures, and Ethics Committee. Chairwoman Giunchigliani felt it would be an interesting year. The returning committee members were more than complimentary of Speaker Emeritus Dini’s decision to segregate issues dealing with constitutional amendments from elections, procedures and ethics, appointing Assemblyman Bob Price last session as the chair of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani recognized Assemblywoman Freeman who introduced her intern Gurprette Takher from Western Nevada Community College (WNCC), Carson City. Assemblyman Price then introduced his intern Brooke L. Kizer, also from WNCC.
Since only one bill had been referred, discussion was not held at the first meeting. Chairwoman Giunchigliani explained she preferred to wait until two or more bills were referred to call a meeting. She then informed the committee there would be no meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 13, 2001 or Thursday, February 15, 2001. Plans were for a joint meeting to be held on February 20, 2001, in Room 4100, with the Senate Committee on Government Affairs, chaired by Senator Ann O’Connell. The subject of the meeting would be a redistricting update for the entire committee since not all committee members were assigned to the interim committee. The chair planned to have various machines available for demonstration purposes. She felt the committee would want to view the various technologies. Clark County had used the Direct Record Entry (DRE), but planned to upgrade to the touch-screen and strongly recommended displaying the touch-screen system, a visual basic product, along the same lines as an Automated Teller Machine (ATM). With vendor agreement, the machines would be left in the building for several days to afford legislators and the public the opportunity to demonstrate and voice their approval or disapproval.
At the meeting on February 20, 2001, new and improved computerized voting systems would be the focus. The Secretary of State, Dean Heller, and Susan Morandi, Assistant to the Secretary of State, provided the presentation. The subjects discussed were new technology issues learned at a recent California seminar. There were also demonstrations related to the subject of chads, i.e., comparing a normal chad to a pregnant chad.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani introduced Scott Wasserman, Chief Deputy Legislative Counsel, who helped staff the redistricting interim committee, and Michael Stewart, Committee Policy Analyst. Mr. Stewart was then asked to review the Committee Brief (Exhibit C) as prepared by his office.
Mr. Stewart voiced his pleasure at being the policy analyst for the Committee on Elections, Procedures, and Ethics. He indicated the brief highlighted the jurisdiction of the committee, recent elections, committee issues, election statistics, and legislative proposals to come before the committee during the 2001 Legislative Session.
The committee’s jurisdiction was Title 17 (State Legislative Department), which dealt with the state legislative commissions on uniform state laws and revision of statutes. The largest function of the committee dealt with Title 24 (Elections), which related to elections, mechanical voting issues, city elections, campaign practices, initiative and referendums, presidential elections, congressional elections, ethics, and recall.
During the 1999 Legislative Session, the committee reviewed 26 assembly and 3 senate bills. Of the 29 measures, 16 were ultimately passed by both houses and signed into law. The committee reviewed 32 resolutions; 27 assembly and five senate bills, of which 18 eventually passed.
The legislature paid particular attention to many of Nevada’s laws clarifying matters regarding candidate filing petitions and voter registration. Many of the bills streamlined and strengthened Nevada’s election process. Mr. Stewart explained that most of the bills addressed were in response to concerns raised during a previous election cycle.
In the exhibit, Mr. Stewart summarized election issue bills from the Seventieth Legislative Session, singling out the following:
The latter two were the most comprehensive of the six mentioned. He went on to state that there were several campaign practice pieces of legislation; however, the 1999 session was not quite as busy as the 1997 session, when the committee dealt with S.B. 215of the Sixty-ninth Session, which made various changes relating to elections. The 1999 Legislative Session did deal with two measures directly related to campaign practices, those being A.B. 130 of the Seventieth Session, making various changes concerning campaigns,and A.B. 615 of the Seventieth Session, making various changes to provisions relating to elections. Mr. Stewart pointed out that S.B. 215 of the Sixty-ninth Session provided a great deal of revamping of campaign practice laws as a result of Question 10 on the 1994 and 1996 ballots, which limited contribution caps to $5,000 for the primary and the general elections.
In ethics and government during the 1999 session, there was a great deal of discussion regarding ethics in government. Legislators became increasingly interested in what appeared to be a large number of ethics violations that had been reported to the Commission on Ethics, which resulted in heavy scrutinization during the 1999 Legislative Session. As a result, S.B. 478 of the Seventieth Session, which dealt with various changes concerning ethics in government, was passed. The changes made dealt with severe penalties and the hiring of an Executive Director. A.B. 130 of the Seventieth Session addressed the issue whether the Ethics Commission could constitutionally determine what was a negative campaign message. A.B. 611 of the Seventieth Session revised provisions governing financial disclosure statements to certain public and judicial officers, and discussed the statement of financial disclosure and various requirements.
The committee also dealt with legislative affairs and operations, and as in past sessions, voted to approve many resolutions regarding rules, lobbyist activities, hiring of attaches, and the creation of numerous studies conducted during the past interim. Other measures of interest were outlined in the report. Several pertained to the allowances provided to legislators, lobbyist reports, and functions of the Legislative Counsel Bureau. Mr. Stewart pointed to page 11 and a review of the 120-day session rule, which began in 1999. The total number of bills heard in 1999 was 1263; in 1997 it was 1167. Total enacted in 1999 was 646; in 1997 it was 690. It was also the first time the legislature was able to jointly sponsor bills and resolutions. Research revealed there was a higher percentage of a passage rate with the jointly sponsored bills.
Of interest was the voter turnout report, showing 70.15 percent in 2000, which was much greater than the 1998 turnout of 49.01 percent. The 1996 turnout was 60 percent and in 1994 almost 62 percent. The highest voter turnout for the 2000 elections was in Eureka County where they had a 95.36 percent voter turnout. There was a low voter turnout in Clark County of 66.85, though that was higher than other areas population-wise throughout the state.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani asked if the calculations were done using the adjustment in the law passed during 1999 by not adding the inactive (individuals registered and who remain registered, but did not vote) into the total.
Mr. Stewart was not sure about the inactive being included, as it was not defined in the report from the Secretary of State’s Office, from which Mr. Stewart obtained his data. Susan Morandi, Deputy Secretary of State for Elections, indicated the figures were calculated from only the active voters.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani shared that the voter turnout totals appeared misleading when the inactives were totaled, the reason for the law being changed during the 1999 Legislative Session. A few statewide initiatives were circulated, two being successful. One was the constitutional amendment, which declared that only marriage between a male and female person would be recognized in Nevada. The second would establish a business tax that supported secondary and primary education.
Contacts for key election officials for the state, counties, and cities, as well as a listing of significant legislative proposals were provided. Assemblywoman Freeman pointed to the bottom of page 17 of the Committee Brief for the Committee on Elections, Procedures, and Ethics,indicating she had changed the title for BDR 986 and it now referred to petitions, not handbooks.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani indicated there would be a correction on two of the BDRs she had requested. First was BDR 24-849 regarding access to balloting by disabled voters; and second, the summary below BDR 24-873 also used that summary but should reflect various elections and ethics changes.
Mr. Stewart stated there were only three other BDRs that pertained to elections and ethics. One was requested by Governor Guinn, one from the Senate Committee on Government Affairs, and one from the air quality programs; the latter determined “whistleblower” protection legislation. Mr. Stewart indicated the latter would possibly be referred to the Government Affairs Committee. Emphasis will be on redistricting legislation.
Mr. Stewart went on to point out what tabs A through I of the Committee Brief represented and the information included in the separate sections.
Mr. Stewart continued it appeared Congress would be taking a larger role in addressing elections issues since the 2000 presidential election. He indicated he would provide the committee with information obtained through the “Elections and Administration Reports,” a publication received by the Research Library. Mr. Stewart then afforded the committee members the opportunity to be put on the mailing list for the above-mentioned report.
In conclusion, Mr. Stewart pointed out the first deadline for the committee to submit BDRs was February 26, 2001.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani complimented Mr. Stewart on his presentation. On the request of a constituent, Chairwoman Giunchigliani asked if prisoners incarcerated for a gross misdemeanor were afforded the opportunity to access voting by mail and had there ever been any requests for such. She indicated the question was triggered by federal intervention in that area. She also asked if local election officials planned for that request. Mr. Stewart stated he would look into that area. Chairwoman Giunchigliani then asked Assemblyman Anderson if he was aware of any such discussions in the Committee on Judiciary.
Assemblyman Anderson indicated there was discussion in the Committee on Constitutional Amendments during the 1999 Legislative Session regarding a bill to restore a felon’s right to vote. He felt second-time DUI offenders clearly fell under the gross misdemeanor category, as did domestic violence second-time offenders, but he did not know if they requested ballots.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani welcomed and introduced former state treasurer, Bob Seale, who was in the audience.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani requested the committee read over and approve the Committee Standing Rules (Exhibit D).
A discussion ensued when Assemblyman Beers requested the definition of a “Minority Report.”
Chairwoman Giunchigliani explained that if the committee formed a subcommittee to obtain information, upon reporting back to the full committee with a subcommittee vote of three for and two against, it could be reported to the Chair, the results then becoming a part of the minutes.
Speaker Emeritus Dini interjected that with a do pass of a bill out of the committee as a whole, the majority and minority reports could be presented on the floor of the Assembly.
ASSEMBLYMAN ANDERSON MOVED TO ADOPT THE STANDING RULES SUBMITTED BY THE CHAIR.
ASSEMBLYMAN BACHE SECONDED THE MOTION.
THE MOTION CARRIED. SPEAKER PERKINS WAS ABSENT FOR THE VOTE.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani referenced A.B. 169 of the Seventieth Session, a bill that revised provisions governing the form for application to register to vote, asking Susan Morandi of the Secretary of State’s Office to find out the status of the bill per Assemblywoman Tiffany’s request.
Assemblyman Hettrick voiced interest in the comments about the election procedures machines. He was invited and planned to attend Council of State Government National Committee on Election Reform. He requested input from the committee so he could share at the convention. Assemblyman Hettrick stated he had also met with county clerks and mentioned his planned convention participation. The clerks from Washoe, Clark, Douglas and Carson City counties were more than willing to provide input for the Committee on National Election Reform. The meeting was scheduled for April 5 through 8, 2001, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani indicated she had met with some of the county clerks the week prior, sharing that six to seven of the state’s rural districts continued to use the punch card, indicating Clark County had used the same for the mail-in ballots. She shared they all felt the punch card disenfranchised many people because of the smallness of the print and method of marking it. She suggested a grant fund to assist counties that had no financing to reach a technology standard. Those counties that were already at standard would then have assistance to upgrade and eliminate punch cards or older machines. If federal dollars were offered, those funds would be placed into the pool and would offset the state money. She hoped that by 2004 all counties would be upgraded. Two or three of the counties preferred to upgrade to the top level; they considered it a waste of taxpayer funds to expend serious dollars on one voting process when the best would not cost that much more.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani indicated Nevada had been very lucky in using the punch cards with their recounts, but would hate to get into an argument over a “pregnant chad” or “hanging chad.” She went on to point out that Nevada’s regulations on voting were clearly defined, but felt those rules should be also included in the state statutes, disallowing arbitrary changes of regulation policy.
Assemblywoman Von Tobel requested the definition of the word “chad.”
Assemblyman Price stated the “chad” was actually referred to as a “chip” in our state regulations.
Chairwoman Giunchigliani adjourned the meeting at 4:25 p.m.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
Ann M. VanNostrand
Committee Secretary
APPROVED BY:
Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, Chairwoman
DATE: