MINUTES OF THE meeting
of the
ASSEMBLY Committee on Commerce and Labor
Seventy-Second Session
April 21, 2003
The Committee on Commerce and Laborwas called to order at 2:52 p.m., on Monday, April 21, 2003. Chairman David Goldwater presided in Room 4100 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada, and, via simultaneous videoconference, in Room 4401 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, Las Vegas, 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.
Note: These minutes are compiled in the modified verbatim style. Bracketed material indicates language used to clarify and further describe testimony. Actions of the Committee are presented in the traditional legislative style.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mr. David Goldwater, Chairman
Ms. Barbara Buckley, Vice Chairwoman
Mr. Morse Arberry Jr.
Mr. Bob Beers
Mr. David Brown
Mrs. Dawn Gibbons
Ms. Chris Giunchigliani
Mr. Josh Griffin
Mr. Lynn Hettrick
Mr. Ron Knecht
Ms. Sheila Leslie
Mr. John Oceguera
Mr. David Parks
Mr. Richard Perkins
COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:
None
GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:
None
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:
Vance Hughey, Committee Policy Analyst
Diane Thornton, Senior Research Analyst
Wil Keane, Committee Counsel
Corey Fox, Committee Secretary
OTHERS PRESENT:
Bob Erickson, Research Director, Legislative Counsel Bureau
Tom Stoneburner, Director, Alliance for Workers Rights
Chairman Goldwater:
Please note that the Committee on Commerce has come to order. A quorum is present and all members are here. Bob, please tell me and inform us why it is essential that we pass Senate Bill 7.
Senate Bill 7 (1st Reprint): Repeals various obsolete provisions relating to telegraphs. (BDR 58-587)
Bob Erickson, Research Director, Legislative Counsel Bureau:
[Introduced himself] Mr. Chairman and members, I was requested by Senator Valerie Wiener to present Senate Bill 7. I have collaborated with her and several other members, over the years, in identifying old sections of the Nevada Revised Statutes that might be subject for repeal because they are antiquated. Senate Bill 7 is one of those topics. It is telegraphs. There was a bill that Senator Weiner brought forward in 1999, Senate Bill 27 [of the Seventieth Legislative Session], and that bill went through. She later spotted a few other sections of the law that related to telegraphs that were incorporated into Senate Bill 7. Right before the hearing on that measure, or right before it was to be voted on by the Senate, a businessman from Southern Nevada reported that there were some provisions that might still be pertinent to his business operation. As such, Senator Weiner did some more research on this with this business. As a result, you have the first reprint of Senate Bill 7, which went from a 66-section bill down to a 7-section bill. I think these are the sections that everyone has agreed on, so far, that are antiquated and can be done away with. Senator [Wiener] notes here that any references to telegraph have been changed to the more appropriate references as a telegram. I have her complete testimony that I’ll provide to the secretary (Exhibit C), but I’m available to answer any questions you might have on this measure.
Chairman Goldwater:
Bob, thank you. Is there anybody here that wants to testify on Senate Bill 7? We will close the hearing on Senate Bill 7. I look forward to reading Ms. Weiner’s testimony. Bob, thank you for taking time out of your day. We will open the hearing on Senate Bill 8, “Increases the penalty for certain punishable conduct by employer leading to death of an employee.” It looks like increasing fines. Is anybody here from the Subcommittee on Industrial Explosions? Yes, sir. We look forward to hearing from you.
Senate Bill 8 (1st Reprint): Increases penalty for certain punishable conduct by employer leading to death of employee. (BDR 53-298)
Tom Stoneburner, Director, Alliance for Workers Rights:
[Introduced himself] Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and members of the Committee. I’m here in support of S.B. 8. I feel that the increased fines for the willful causing of circumstances that lead to the death of employees is long overdue, and the increase in the fines was appropriate in this case. The Senate Subcommittee on Industrial Explosions, I think, did a good job on that. I’m very concerned when we read the rest of the bill. Let’s take a look at this. “Any employer who willfully,” and I repeat that, “willfully,” violates requirements that lead to the death of an employee will, on the first offense, be subject to the fines that we just talked about, and imprisonment in the county jail for up to six months, about the same as a petty larceny. Let me repeat that word “willfully.” Any employer who “willfully,” on the second, and all of the subsequent offenses that lead to the death of other employees on subsequent occasions, now can be punished by up to a year in jail, again, about the same as a larceny. Willfully causes the death, or in other words, is responsible for the burned, battered, blasted, and broken bodies of members of our community, our loved ones: our wives, children, husbands. Again, I applaud that the monetary fines have been increased. Certainly a $50,000 fine for causing the death of your employee, about the same price as an SUV [sport utility vehicle], I suppose is better than the previous fine on that, which was $20,000. But, what we wanted to do with this legislation was cause the safety of our employees in our state, again, our loved ones, to get to the top of the boardroom’s agenda. This was what this was all about. I am really disappointed that somehow or another in working its way through the State Legislature, through the Senate and down to here [Assembly], the word “felony” has been dropped out of this bill. As we can see, the actual criminal penalties wind up being the same as stealing a candy bar out of the store. [Indicated he would answer any questions the Committee might have.]
Chairman Goldwater:
When was felony ever in this bill?
Tom Stoneburner:
When we discussed [the bill] in the subcommittee, in the original drafts of this. I don’t know where [felony] came out of there. I think the bill was one of the ones that started out as a couple of different bills and was combined into S.B. 8. If I’m mistaken on that, as far as the course of the bill and the subsequent changes in it, I’ll apologize for that, I’m not a lobbyist.
Chairman Goldwater:
Oh, that’s OK sir, no problem. I think Mr. Keane can clarify that. Wil, why don’t you clarify?
Wil Keane, Legal Division, Legislative Counsel Bureau:
I happened to have sat in at one of the Committee meetings for the Subcommittee on Industrial Explosions, this last interim. I believe the request that was presented, and I can’t remember who presented it at the time, was for a felony offense to be added in here. At the time, the subcommittee that met during the interim decided not to go with that recommendation. That’s what I remember. So, in the drafting of this bill, that was not part of the original request.
Chairman Goldwater:
We appreciate your testimony. Are there questions for this witness? I see none. Is there anybody else here who would like to testify on Senate Bill 8? Seeing none, I’ll close the hearing on Senate Bill 8.
Senate Bill 283: Revises requirements for issuance of limited license to practice dentistry or dental hygiene. (BDR 54-1095)
Chairman Goldwater:
[Opened the hearing on S.B. 283. No one was there to testify, so he closed the hearing on S.B. 283.] This meeting on Commerce and Labor is adjourned. [The meeting adjourned at 3:13 p.m.]
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
Corey Fox
Committee Secretary
APPROVED BY:
Assemblyman David Goldwater, Chairman
DATE: