Dozens of bills move to governor
CARSON CITY — Meeting until midnight Friday and returning on Saturday, Nevada lawmakers took final action on dozens of bills, including a hard-fought bill to limit the terms of high-interest loans.
Many of those bills now move to Gov. Jim Gibbons for his signature, while others still need to have amendments approved by either the state Senate or Assembly. Bills that the two houses have passed with conflicting amendments will move into conference committees in the Legislature’s final full week, starting Monday.
The state Senate voted 20-1 to give final approval to AB478, which Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said was needed to close a loophole in the state’s 2005 payday loan law.
Several small payday loan companies opposed the law, insisting they were "installment lenders" who should be regulated differently. Buckley said those companies were "motivated by greed," and evaded the law by changing their contracts when the 2005 law took effect. Those changes allowed them to charge interest rates ranging up to 900 percent for over a year.
Under AB478, any company charging more than 40 percent interest on a loan must limit the term of the loan to 35 days. If a borrower can’t pay the loan back after that time, the interest rate must drop to the prime rate plus 10 percent, or 18.25 percent in the current market.
The Assembly voted 35-4 to pass AB510, a bill that increases the credits offered to offenders who exhibit good behavior while imprisoned, and complete educational or drug treatment programs. Prison officials estimate that if passed, the bill could lower the state’s 2009 projected prison population by about 1,500 inmates.
Supporters of the bill say there will be no sudden release of convicts, and each case will be carefully reviewed by the state’s parole board.
If no change is made in sentencing or credits, the state’s prison population is expected to be more than 14,000 in 2009, and to rise above 20,000 in the coming decade. The state would need to pay for $1.94 billion in new prisons to house that many prisoners.
Other bills that could lead to significant changes in the state’s criminal justice system include AB508, amended and approved Friday in the state Senate. That bill would begin a review of Nevada’s sentencing structure. Once the Assembly concurs in the amendments, the measure will move on to the governor.