Credit due for bills that should improve our lives but escaped limelight

While legislators wrangle most ferociously over the bills that direct where cash lands, the lawmakers at this year’s session of the Nevada Legislature also passed some bills that didn’t involve money and benefited the public, yet received scant attention.

Sure, as I predicted, lawmakers just couldn’t bring themselves to write a definition of “gift” for fear that some of the goodies that come their way might be banned if they didn’t write it with enough loopholes.

But a few bills that didn’t get much media attention are worth noting.

Nevada Supreme Court Justice Mark Gibbons shepherded a decent proposal through the session. Assembly Bill 505 changes the filing dates for judicial races to the first two weeks in January. It doesn’t sound like a biggie, but the change should reduce the amount of money judicial candidates have to raise. Judges who don’t draw an opponent shouldn’t be out there begging for campaign dollars. The filing date has been in May, and many judges had raised bulging war chests to fend off opponents only to find they didn’t have any.

The bill was crafted in response to an embarrassing series by the Los Angeles Times last year called “Juice vs. Justice?” alleging that Nevada judges face conflicts because they have to raise money primarily from the attorneys practicing before them. We can hope that this bill will at least reduce that unseemly dialing for dollars.

I’m not a biker chick, but I was glad to see passage of Senate Bill 128, which bans trucks over 26,000 pounds from using the part of state Route 159 that passes through the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The ban might make that dangerous road safer for bicyclists, burros and other drivers.

Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, advocated the bill, saying that road has turned into a “commuter speedway.” Garbage trucks and delivery trucks can use Blue Diamond Road to serve the area, but truckers using it as a shortcut are banned. It’s a bill that could save lives and should help protect some of the peace and beauty of the area.

AARP aimed high with AB 128, trying to shine a light on doctors who accept gifts and payments (some would deem them kickbacks) from drug companies. That effort was drastically watered down.

But AARP did win passage of one common-sense bill, AB 235. While it doesn’t sound like a blockbuster, it could help people. You can ask your doctor to include the purpose of the medication on the label of the bottle. For those taking multiple prescriptions, it probably reduces the confusion. And it’s not mandatory, so if you have a prescription for something you don’t want broadcast, you don’t have to have it on the label.

Sen. Steven Horsford’s SB266, co-sponsored by Assemblyman David Parks, a fellow Las Vegas Democrat, requires AIDS and HIV tests for pregnant women and newborn children to reduce the spread of AIDS. The plan is important because an estimated 40 percent of women who give birth to babies with the AIDS virus do not know the baby was infected. Women can opt out of the testing. Long-range ramifications: Moms will know sooner whether their babies have the deadly virus, instead of waiting for symptoms. Knowledge leads to treatment and protection.

Many lawmakers introduced little-known bills that might make someone’s life better but received little media attention.

If you have a computer and time, you might want to scan the bills that are signed into law by Gov. Jim Gibbons. You might think some are silly or unnecessary. You might disagree with a new law on philosophical grounds. But before we reach the point of sneer that everyone in politics is a crook, it’s not a bad idea to look at what they’re trying to do, and then judge them by what they’ve done.

The state Legislature’s Web site — www.leg.state.nv.us/ — is easy to navigate. Click on the 2007 session and go to “bill information.” You can search through “subject index.” You can go to the bottom and look at the bills based on their effective date. You can even search out bills by the primary sponsor.

Look and see which of your legislator’s bills became law. That’s why we elect legislators, and that’s how they should be judged.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.