Though some will always seek to make the Silver State more like oppressive and actuarially bankrupt California or New Jersey, Nevada is still blessed with a part-time Legislature, limited to working its mischief a mere 120 days in odd-numbered years.<\/p>\n
As each of those biennial sessions draws to a close, a predictable scramble to pass huge omnibus spending bills ensues. In that 36 hours of chaos, bills are rewritten and rushed to the floor by lobbyists and lawmakers alike — promptly approved by delegates who can\u2019t possibly have read all the details. Asked what they have just enacted, the more honest ones will admit, \u201cWe\u2019ll just have to wait and see when it comes back from the printers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some say the answer is a full-time Legislature. That\u2019s like saying the best way to stay healthy is to live full-time in a hospital, inviting the trainees to experiment on you — with no limit on what they can bill you for their \u201cservices.\u201d<\/p>\n
The real answer is for our elected representatives to prioritize their work, busying themselves early with the more important issues earlier on.<\/p>\n
This is the context in which we must view the 160 requests for year-2009 bill drafts submitted so far by our state legislators.<\/p>\n
Yes, many are mere \u201cwish list\u201d stuff submitted to please some constituent. Many will be stillborn — usually a blessing.<\/p>\n
But far too many of the limited 120 days of the 2009 session will be spent dealing with proposals which already include:<\/p>\n
Two schemes which will tend to make health insurance less affordable, ensuring that more Nevadans go without — the first a proposal from Assemblyman James Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, mandating insurance coverage for autism screening and treatment, the other, from Assemblyman Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, requiring health benefit plans to provide coverage for acupuncture.<\/p>\n
No one is saying these treatment options can\u2019t be good things, mind you. The question is why Nevadans shouldn\u2019t be left free to shop for cheaper, \u201ca la carte\u201d health plans.<\/p>\n
(At least there\u2019s no likelihood of a drop in the incidence of autism: To help assure that, Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Henderson, wants to provide more tax-funded \u201cfree\u201d immunization shots for kids, loading them up with ever more toxic preservatives. Perfectly normal for these kids to scream all night when they get their shots and then forget how to walk; ready for your next dose?)<\/p>\n
Meantime, who could have missed the frenzied public outcry for state licensing of sheet metal workers? Well, most of us, actually. But not Assemblyman Jerry Claborn, D-Las Vegas. Can anyone spell \u201cunion protectionism\u201d?<\/p>\n
Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, wants to \u201cprohibits cyber bullying.\u201d That\u2019ll be an easy one to enforce — just hire enough cops to read all the text messages and e-mail being sent to and from every teen-age girl in Nevada, in real time … and then provide the COPS with anti-suicide counseling.<\/p>\n
Assemblyman Lynn Stewart, D-Henderson, wants to \u201cprohibit certain demonstrations at a funeral, memorial service or ceremony.\u201d This is presumably targeted at misguided groups that make soldiers\u2019 funerals their locale of choice to picket against the tolerance of homosexuals in the armed forces. This choice of tactics is repulsive, but it\u2019s not clear the First Amendment allows the restriction even of \u201crepulsive\u201d speech on public sidewalks.<\/p>\n
Meantime, if we needed any more evidence that today\u2019s Safety Nazis honor their agreements and compromises about as well as their German namesakes (\u201cOf COURSE we\u2019ll be content with the Sudentenland!\u201d), try to remember how brief a time it\u2019s been since they agreed to accept a compromise under which mandatory seat-belt use was declared a \u201csecondary\u201d offense — not independent grounds for a traffic stop.<\/p>\n
Yep, comes now the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security, seeking to \u201cmake failure to wear a safety belt in a motor vehicle a primary offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
How about Poland, guys? Will you be content with Poland?<\/p>\n
Well, no. Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas seeks to prohibit minors from using cellular telephones and similar devices while operating motor vehicles. Only minors. Really. Never gonna extend that to adults. Scout\u2019s honor.<\/p>\n
Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, wants to require certain training in the correct installation of child restraint seats. And the Assembly Committee on Transportation wants to restricts the use of mobile billboards. Really.<\/p>\n
Mingling and confusing the undertakings of Washington and Carson City — they\u2019re supposed to be independent of one another, you\u2019ll recall, as a safeguard against \u201cconsolidated\u201d government — Sen. Bob Coffin , D-Las Vegas, seeks to \u201cenact provisions relating to the Department of Motor Vehicles and registration under the Federal Selective Service Act.\u201d I can hardly wait.<\/p>\n
Seeking to make government more powerful, meddlesome and expensive as usual, state Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, seeks to \u201cmake service on county commissions in certain larger counties full-time employment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referring to the euphemism which does nothing to relax zoning codes and thus allow construction of less expensive housing, instead simply requiring home-builders to sell some of their houses to select buyers below cost and pass along the cost to the rest of us, Assemblyman Joseph Hogan, D-Las Vegas, seeks to \u201cmake various changes concerning affordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, and Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Henderson, want the Legislature to meet every year. What a team.<\/p>\n
And winning the award for the worst idea to date, Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, wants to assure that the amount of tax money expended per pupil in Nevada \u201cmeets or exceeds the national average\u201d … regardless, presumably, of whether the results exceed the national average. (If every state decided to spend more than the national average, would all the children end up \u201cabove average\u201d? Paging Garrison Keillor.)<\/p>\n
On the bright side, Sen. Care does deserve credit for proposing to \u201crequire broad construction\u201d by the courts \u201cof the initiative and referendum single-subject rule in favor of proponents of ballot questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Assemblyfolk Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks and Lynn Stewart, R-Henderson — along with Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas — want to authorize the donation of medication by cancer patients.<\/p>\n
The only silly thing there is that they should need state authorization to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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