Senate leadership remains the same

With no new faces in the Nevada Senate this coming session, it's hardly a surprise that leadership of the two parties won't change either.

Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, will serve as Senate majority leader for the seventh time. Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, will be minority leader, her fifth session in that post.

Assistant majority leader once again will be Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, with Sen. Maurice Washington of Sparks returning as majority whip and Carson City's Sen. Mark Amodei as his assistant. Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, will again serve as president pro-tempore of the Senate, presiding when the lieutenant governor is not available.

Titus confirmed Thursday that she will remain leader of the Democrats. And she said, with the same members returning, "don't expect a lot of drastic changes."

But she said there will be a change or two announced next week. She declined to give specifics, saying the delegation is still working out details. The major change expected is that Sen. Mike Schneider of Las Vegas, who made an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Titus as party leader, will not return as assistant minority leader.

Because for the first time in recent history there are no new faces in the Senate, the Republicans once again have a 12-9 majority. Raggio said no final decisions were made on committee assignments at a Wednesday caucus. Committee chairmen are expected to remain much the same as in the 1999 session.

While most of the seats in the Senate represent Clark County, a majority of the Republicans are from northern and rural Nevada.

Raggio has been majority leader every session since 1987 except 1991, the last time the Democrats held a majority in the Senate. During that session, he was minority leader.