MINUTES OF THE meeting
of the
ASSEMBLY Committee on Government Affairs
Seventy-First Session
April 30, 2001
The Committee on Government Affairswas called to order at 9:11 a.m., on Monday, April 30, 2001. Chairman Douglas Bache presided in Room 3143 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. Douglas Bache, Chairman
Mr. John J. Lee, Vice Chairman
Ms. Merle Berman
Mr. David Brown
Mrs. Vivian Freeman
Mrs. Dawn Gibbons
Mr. David Humke
Mr. Harry Mortenson
Mr. Roy Neighbors
Mr. Bob Price
Mrs. Debbie Smith
Ms. Kathy Von Tobel
Mr. Wendell Williams
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
Ms. Bonnie Parnell
GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:
Assemblyman David Parks, Assembly District No. 41
Senator Terry Care, Senate District No. 7
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:
Eileen O’Grady, Committee Counsel
Dave Ziegler, Committee Policy Analyst
Glenda Jacques, Committee Secretary
OTHERS PRESENT:
Kathy Augustine, State Controller
Brenda Laird, Chief Accountant, State Controller’s Office
Mark Winebarger, Chief Deputy Controller, State Controller’s Office
Senate Bill 202: Makes various changes concerning state financial administration. (BDR 18-170)
Kathy Augustine, State Controller, introduced S.B. 202 as a housekeeping bill (Exhibit C). Section 1 deleted the requirement to produce the preliminary financial comprehensive report. Section 2 and 3 codified payroll check direct deposit.
Brenda Laird, Chief Accountant, State Controller’s Office, clarified language changes to Sections 4 through 7 and 12 through 42 updated accounting standards to comply with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). The changes were to language only and did not change the purpose or function of any accounts involved. Sections 8, 11 and 12 mandated the State Controller to comply with generally accepted accounting principles as interpreted by GASB.
Mark Winebarger, Chief Deputy Controller, State Controller’s Office, said Sections 9, 10 and 43 addressed stale checks and the statute limitation increased from one year to six years.
Ms. Augustine stated Section 43 repealed NRS 227.215 and NRS 353.145. The original modification was supposed to save money, but had turned out to be too costly to implement. The Board of Examiners was not responsible for approving re-issuance of stale checks.
Ms. Augustine introduced two proposed amendments (Exhibit D) to correct language mistakes.
Chairman Bache closed the hearing on S.B. 202 and opened the hearing on S.B. 329.
Senate Bill 329: Prohibits certain public bodies from taking action by vote without affirmative vote of majority of entire public body. (BDR 19-640)
Assemblyman David Parks, Assembly District No. 41, stated S.B. 329 allowed a true majority vote to prevail and was not intended to prohibit or unnecessarily delay a public body from taking official action. When a board minority could pass legislation it promoted skepticism and negativity towards elected officials.
Ms. Berman questioned if there was a special incident that explained the origin of the bill.
Mr. Parks replied there were several instances he was aware of in Clark County. One incident was the ordinance for “big box” stores. The seven-member board had four in attendance, making a quorum. One abstained from the vote, one voted no, and two voted yes to pass the ordinance. Two people were able to speak for a seven-member board.
Mr. Mortenson questioned what would happen if commissioners had to decline from voting because of conflict of interests.
Senator Terry Care, Senate District No. 7, stated S.B. 208 of the Sixty-Ninth Session created a gaming corridor, rural gaming board and the Las Vegas urban growth zone. The bill said petition would be needed to place a nonrestricted resort in one of those areas. The existing statute required a three-fourths vote for passage. Of the seven county commissioners three abstained and four voted with a three-to-one passage. The required “three-fourths” majority was met. The action was reversed by a citizen review panel and has gone to litigation. Actions could be postponed until a sufficient quorum was present. Some elected officials should read NRS 261 that defined genuine “conflicts of interests.” Sometimes an elected official would refuse to show up because he or she did not want to vote on a controversial bill. Their absence could force the board to not take action because a quorum was not present. That type of public service was a breech of public trust and might need to be addressed at subsequent sessions.
Mr. Price believed the bill required other public bodies to act as the Legislature does. Senator Care agreed and commented both sides of the Legislature had rules outlining majority votes.
Ms. Berman questioned if the bill addressed situations like the recent Clark County debt commission library vote where no one showed up.
Senator Care replied that type of situation was not directly discussed when the bill was drafted. Indirectly, elected officials realized they needed to support each other’s bills to get theirs passed.
Mrs. Gibbons felt the bill was critical to Washoe County and thanked the supporters for bringing the legislation forward.
Senator Care explained the original bill had addressed appointed and elected official boards. The appointed boards were deleted because of logistics in rural counties. The elected boards affected were outlined in Exhibit E.
Mr. Neighbors questioned if appointees to elected boards had to comply with the bill. Senator Care responded in the affirmative.
Mrs. Gibbons felt it was unfortunate appointed boards were not included and questioned whether they should be added. Senator Care felt the addition of them would not allow the bill to pass. There were some peculiar problems with appointed boards that made logistics difficult.
Chairman Bache felt that, although appointed boards were not included, a message had been sent to them through the original bill’s language.
Ms. Smith did not see school boards on the list and questioned if they were included.
Senator Care explained it was not the intent to exclude school boards and they should be included. He and Mr. Parks felt there might need to be an amendment to address the issue.
Chairman Bache asked Mr. Zeigler to make a note and check to see if an amendment was needed to add school boards to the list.
Ms. Berman hoped the bill could be made more stringent next session.
Chairman Bache closed the hearing on S.B. 329 and introduced a Bill Draft Request (BDR) that resulted from the county pay bill.
ASSEMBLYMAN PRICE MADE A MOTION TO INTRODUCE BDR C‑1526.
ASSEMBLYWOMAN VON TOBEL SECONDED THE MOTION.
THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE PRESENT.
Chairman Bache noted he would do a joint referral with the Constitutional Amendments Committee of the Assembly. Mr. Price could address the BDR a week from Tuesday in his committee. The Chairman asked for volunteers for a subcommittee on S.B. 349 in Las Vegas on May 5, 2001. Ms. Berman and Mr. Neighbors volunteered.
Seeing no further business, Chairman Bache adjourned the meeting at 9:47 a.m.
Glenda Jacques
Committee Secretary
APPROVED BY:
Assemblyman Douglas Bache, Chairman
DATE: