2005JuneNewsletter

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We surprised even ourselves with the tremendous success we had at the Legislature this session! There were more election and anti-petition bills than I can remember in any session. AJR 5, which would have increased the percentages for initiative petitions from a 10% requirement to 15% for statute changes and 20% for Constitutional Amendments making initiatives by the people almost impossible, was left at 10% thanks to Senators Cegvaske and Beers. We lobbied for months on one terrible anti-petition bill after another, and in the end the changes were either not critical or for the better. During one hectic work session in the Senate “Elections” Committee we just sat and praised God as miracle after miracle took place! Thanks for your prayers!

One portion of SB 224, another election bill, which passed would allow people to register to vote at the same time they are signing a petition. We lobbied very hard on this portion, which was proposed by Assemblyman Guinchigliani. Nevadans for Sound Government lost several thousand signatures on our “Axe the Tax” petitions because some counties did not count petition signatures if they registered to vote on the same day.

Special thanks goes to Lynn Chapman, State Vice-President of Eagle Forum for her tireless work at the Legislature. She was there representing us even when I couldn’t be there. Also, deserving our appreciation are David Schumann lobbyist for the Independent American Party, and John Wagner lobbyist for the Nevada Republican Assembly and the Berke Consortium.

We were victorious in stopping the #1 priority of Planned Parenthood to take away the Right of Conscience from pharmacists. SB163 amended in the Assembly would have forced them to fill prescriptions, such as, the day after “abortion” pill, RU486 an abortion drug, and possibly euthanasia inducing lethal prescription doses or face huge fines and lose their license. We pulled out all the stops working in cooperation with Pat Glenn and Melissa Clement from Nevada Right to Life, Bob Payant of Nevada Catholic Conference, Lucille Lusk from Nevada Concerned Citizens. We were very successful killing the bill in the Senate with far more support than we anticipated. This is the second session we killed this dangerous bill. It just proves once again that those who profess to believe in “choice” only believe in “choice” for themselves.

One of the most important bills, SJR5 (TABOR) Taxpayers Bill of Rights sponsored by Senator Bob Beers lost in Committee. However, Beers is planning to pursue TABOR as an initiative petition and put it on the ballot. TABOR not only limits tax increases including property taxes to growth and inflation figures, but it also limits government spending in the same way. TABOR has been very successful in Colorado for 12 years—giving $3 billion in rebates to the taxpayers! GO Bob!

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Nevada Eagle Forum Legislative Report, June 2005

*AB43: Rights for Foster Children –This bill established a dangerous precedent of rights for children and undermined rights and authority of parents. Died in conference committee.

*AB87 the minimum wage bill failed. This would have hurt those who are minimally employable the most.

*AB202 (combined AB132) was to create a safe and respectful learning environment in school. In the final version the bill included the language that ”All persons in public schools are entitled to maintain their own beliefs and to respectfully disagree without resorting to violence harassment or intimidation.” This was essential to protect Christian children when they may disagree with sexual diversity (homosexuality) or other beliefs that would violate their own beliefs. Passed.

*AB143/SB326 gives needed protection to citizens whose private property is being taken by eminent domain by government. SB326 includes protections for property owners from land grabs from government for open space. Both passed.

*AB198 & SB404 All Day Kindergarten for 118 at-risk schools in Nevada. These two bills cost taxpayers an additional $100 million and extend the failure of the government schools into all day kindergarten. Until government schools teach phonics and go back to the basics--failure and costs will continue to increase. Passed

*AB334 Required protection by the state and local government, and businesses for your social security number and other personal information. This is important considering identity theft. Unfortunately, because of federal law, every state government agency “requires” your social security for any of 134 professional licenses. Also, the schools get a child’s SS# from parents “voluntarily”, so protection of SS number is practically impossible. Passed.

*AB455 moved the Primary election to August from September, twelve weeks before the general. Dangerous portions of the bill prohibiting people from running for office if they did not fill out financial disclosure and campaign finance reports, which we consider to be in violation of free speech, were amended out of the bill. Passed.

*AB499 repealed the unconstitutional “speech police” portions of the Ethics Commission. We worked for the repeal of this free speech violation for several sessions. Passed.

*AB489 Capped property tax increases for owner-occupied single-family residences at 3% and most other properties at 8%. Although we have always supported tax limits, this bill violates the State Constitution, which requires all property to be taxed uniformly. It was a way to divide and concur by dividing homeowners from business owners. Hopefully, Assemblyman Sharron Angle will promote a ballot initiative like Prop 13 in California and Senator Bob Beers will pursue a ballot initiative to limit all taxes and limit spending –see SJR5 below.

*AB518 Stealth mandatory kindergarten. This bill allows local school districts to implement mandatory kindergarten through minimum attendance policies for First Grade and Kindergarten. Passed.

*AB530 a very bad bill, changes the definition of “willful” making public officials subject to punitive measures for mistakes or small infractions by the so-called Ethics Commission. They would be guilty until proven innocent, have no right to face their accuser and have no right of trial by jury. Did not Pass.

*AB538 began as a bill to give the unethical “Ethics Commission” especially the Executive Director more power. Because of abuses by the Executive Director which came out during the session the bill was turned on its head and now requires the Ethics Commission to comply with the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct, and requires that the Commission afford “due process” to everyone who comes before them. In addition, the Executive Director cannot any longer investigate “ethics” violations. The Nevada Investigation Division is given that responsibility. The Ex. Director and the Commission can no longer instigate investigations on their own, but must receive a complaint. The unaccountable power of the Ex. Director has been severely limited. We have worked to protect candidates and others from the unconstitutional abuses of power of the Ethics Commission for over 8 years, including no right to trial by jury and no due process. This is a great victory for Constitutional Rights! Passed.

*AB546 originally would have greatly increased the penalties for failure to file campaign disclosure from $5,000 to $10,000. This type of measure just discourages people from participating in the process. Did not pass.

*AB555 passed but references to homeopathy were removed. Originally it interfered with “medical free choice”.

*AB572 vehicle registration rebate proposed by Gov. Guinn. This bill proves that our opposition last session to Governor Guinn’s exorbitant tax increase was correct. The money was not needed! $300,000,000 will be refunded to those with registered vehicles. They will get between $75 and $275. People older than 65 who don’t drive but have a State ID will get $75. Passed.

*AJR4 Urges Federal Government to recognize unsuitability of Yucca Mountain. This issue could be resolved by the State of Nevada if Nevada asserted State sovereignty over its own land like the Eastern States. Passed.

*AJR5 requires signatures to be gathered in our 3 congressional districts (which we supported), instead of 13 of 17 counties, which was struck down by the courts. Originally, it also increased the number of signatures required from 10% to 15% for statute changes and to 20% for Constitutional Amendment, which would have made it practically impossible to succeed on an initiative petition. However, after valiant efforts this portion was amended out. Passed.

*AJR11 from last session, proposes to amend the Constitution to provide that most of the members of the Board of Regents will be appointed by the Governor instead of elected by the people. Unfortunately, it passed. Now it will be on the 2006 general election ballot for the people to vote on.

*AJR13, which also passed last session, is a Constitutional Amendment providing that in addition to the Governor that the Legislature can call for a special session under very strict conditions. We favored this bill as helping to restore the balance of power between the Governor and the Legislature. It passed and will now be on the 2006 general election ballot for the people to vote on.

*SB2 required that Nevada expenditures on schools meet or exceed the national average. The states that spend the most, often have the worst education like Washington DC and California. Utah spends the least and leads the nation in education excellent. Try teaching phonics! It’s cheap and it works!!! Did not pass.

*SB4 Millennium Scholarships $35 million one time cost from “budget surplus” which is really over-taxation money. No social security card is required to access the scholarship so illegal aliens can get scholarships. Passed.

*SB125 increases the residency requirements for candidates to at least 6 months before they file for office. Did not pass.

*SB129 requires Legislator who is a government employee to take an unpaid leave of absence during the Legislature. This bill partially resolved the inherent conflict of interest when government employees are elected to the Legislature and then vote on bills and budgets, which directly affect them. Did not pass.

*SB222 allows a potential ballot question to be challenged in advance allowing everyone who opposes it to take you to court and challenge the petition. These provisions were amended into SB224. SB222 did not pass.

*SB224 Combined many different election bills. It includes a good provision to allow people to register to vote and sign a petition on the same day. It also includes requirements for petitions to cover only one subject, which is to be clearly indicated in the title and include an “accurate” description of up to 200 words. It significantly increases the reporting requirements for ballot committees. It also provides provisions for challenge of description, etc. Passed.

*SB228 would have taken away the opportunity for proponents and opponents of ballot questions to write the explanations and gave the job to the political parties. Did not pass.

*SB223 and SB241 provided for School Choice and Vouchers. Besides school choice and vouchers these bills provided for the teaching phonics and prohibited the forced use of Ritalin. The Teachers Union and Educrats opposed these measures. These were sponsored by Senators Washington and Cegvaske. Did not Pass.

*SB240 “Health Savings Accounts” will help to reform the entire health care system. Sponsored by Senator Washington, HSAs will bring freedom: tax-free accounts, rollover year-to-year, empowering individuals (instead of HMOs) to make health choices, and allowing contributions by employers and employees. Through HSAs individuals will make their basic health care decisions and have catastrophic insurance for major health problems, which means lower premiums. Killed by the Assembly.

*SB329 changed voting for “none of the above” to “no preference”. Did not Pass.

*SB347 Protects people against identity theft. This bill by Senator Wiener, increases the penalties for identity theft and requires businesses to notify you if there has been a breach of their system putting your personal information at risk. A portion of the bill, which required people to put their fingerprint on their driver licenses was amended out of the bill. Passed.

*SB350 Prohibits government agencies from outsourcing government work to foreigners. Outsourcing takes American jobs and sends them overseas. Our tax dollars should not be spent to hire non-Americans in foreign countries to steal our jobs. Unfortunately, this bill did not pass.

*SB386 another election bill required petitioners to secure permission at least 24 hours in advance of petitioning on public property. It also made it an E-felony if someone did not turn in a voter registration form within 7 days. It limited a person’s opportunity to register to vote and then sign a petition. Unreal! This bill did NOT pass.

*SB402 Insured that parents who are subject to abuse and neglect charges are told what their Constitutional rights are. With more and more abuses by government this is a necessary protection. Did not pass.

*SB461 Omnibus education bill provides for the teaching of phonics Think of that!!! No wonder kids can’t read. It also provided for merit pay for teachers (maybe they would get paid what their worth), and prohibited school from requiring children to take Ritalin and other psychotropic drugs, and provided school choice. Did not pass.

*SJR5 “TAxpayers Bill Of Rights” TABOR limits both government taxation including property taxes and spending. Under TABOR, if any government agency's revenue exceeds the prior year's revenue by more than population growth and inflation, the excess is refunded back to taxpayers. Some $3 billion has been refunded to Colorado’s taxpayers over 12 years. This bill introduced by Senator Bob Beers and supported by Senator Cegavske was opposed by Republican Senators Raggio and Rhoads and Democrats Coffin, Mathews, and Titus. It failed to pass. However, we are hoping Senator Beers turns it into an initiative petition so the people can vote on it.

Additional information on other bills Nevada Eagle Forum followed are in the April 2005 Newsletter