List of bills for session released

CARSON CITY — From the monumental to mundane, lawmakers have a lot on their minds for the 2009 session, a list of bills released on Tuesday would suggest.

The bill requests include an effort to improve patient safety at surgical centers following the link identified earlier this year between treatment at a Southern Nevada endoscopy center and a hepatitis C outbreak.

Lawmakers want to look at alternatives to paying for needed road expansion.

They want a comprehensive study of state and local tax revenues and the allocation of those revenues between the different government entities.

They also want to outlaw "cyber bullying," prohibit teens from using cell phones while driving and regulate fitness instructors.

So far, 160 measures have been requested for drafting for the upcoming session. The list will be updated on a weekly basis.

The list can often be vague, since there is a single descriptive line for each measure proposed for drafting.

But it does give a hint of what lawmakers want to address when they get together seven months from now.

Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, has requested a bill to examine whether surgical centers should be required to submit to professional outside accreditation as hospitals do now.

Such accreditation is optional in state law now, and Gansert said relying on national groups for such a review could help ensure surgical centers follow good health practices on an ongoing basis so the Legislature would not have to constantly revisit the issue.

"I’m leaning towards mandatory accreditation versus optional if it can be done at a reasonable cost," she said.

Nevada’s surgical centers made the headlines earlier this year when health authorities announced that patients at clinics affiliated with the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada could have been exposed to hepatitis strains or the HIV virus through unsafe practices such as the reuse of syringes and medication vials.

Gansert’s bill is just one of many expected in reaction to the crisis.

Sens. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, and Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, are requesting a bill to look at a new way to pay for major road improvement projects.

Amodei said the idea is to authorize the Nevada Department of Transportation to create general improvement districts so that development projects that contributed to freeway or highway gridlock can be required to pay for needed improvements.

Right now, a major housing or commercial developer is not required to contribute to highway capacity improvements made necessary by a project, he said. The idea is to allow a property tax assessment, even after a project is completed, to generate funds to provide a new travel lane or interchange, Amodei said.

The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, has asked for the study of state and local tax revenues. Other lawmakers, including Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, have also called for such a review given the recent performance of the state’s main revenues: gaming and sales taxes.

Lawmakers are also interested in examining the way they do their business.

Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, has proposed a constitutional amendment to allow the Legislature to meet annually for 60 days, instead of the current system of 120-days in odd numbered years.

Others have suggested sessions of 120 days in odd numbered years and 60-day sessions in other years so budgets can be adopted one year at a time.

Beers said asking the Economic Forum to predict tax revenues more than two-years into the future is unreasonable. Despite its best efforts, the forum in the past five sessions has significantly under-projected revenues twice, over-projected twice and come close once.

"From that I’ve concluded it’s nearly impossible to forecast revenues 26 months in advance," he said.

Adopting state budgets annually would make the spending plans more reliable, Beers said.

His proposal would pay lawmaker for the first 30 days of each annual session, so there would be no additional cost. Lawmakers are paid now for the first 60 days of a session.

Some of the other measures sought by lawmakers include:

• A bill that would require people to show a photo ID to vote.

• A bill that would make failure to wear a safety belt a "primary" offense, allowing stops by law enforcement. Current law makes the failure to wear the belt a secondary offense, meaning a motorist cannot be stopped solely for this infraction.

• A bill requiring health benefit plans to provide coverage for acupuncture.

• An amendment to the state constitution to provide for a statewide lottery.