State agencies have submitted a list of 150 different statutory changes to the Legislative Counsel's office.
The list of bill draft requests was whittled down from a more extensive list of agency requests. And administration officials say many of the changes and cuts from those original requests were to eliminate what was described as "some very clever" attempts to sneak fee increases into legislation.
The governor's pokesman Ben Kieckhefer said there were a number of requests that contained fee increases.
"The governor has said all along any fee increase must be supported by the industry itself and have a very clear nexus so we filtered those fee increases out of the BDRs," he said.
He said the subject of fees is on the SAGE Commission agenda and will be examined thoroughly. He said the concern would be whether fees set too low in some cases result in a drain on the general fund. But he added that, as a policy decision, it may be appropriate for the general fund to cover some costs.
"I think the people of the state of Nevada want to know their restaurants are being inspected," he said as an example.
Kieckhefer said the vast majority of the proposed bills are "clean-up legislation" designed to make existing laws function better, get rid of conflicts and repair statutes that, because of errors, don't do what they are supposed to.
He said several of the governor's initiatives aren't on the list yet, including his plan to ask that the state's spending cap be tightened down to reduce future spending growth.
The bills being sent forward for drafting range from allowing the department of corrections to periodically drug test employees to allowing special education funds to be used for early intervention before a child begins school.
The federal government has changed its rules to say up to 15 percent of special education funds can be used for early intervention.
Public Safety is asking lawmakers to expand subpoena authority so that they can get more than just a name and address from public utilities. They want to get other personal data including social security numbers and birth dates, arguing that will reduce potential mistakes in identifying people. But they also want telephone records to track who suspects are talking to and utility usage records that could reveal high electric or water consumption that could indicate, for example, that some one is growing marijuana.
Corrections also has legislation on the list to fix a few problems with the legislation which expanded good time credits to get more inmates out of prison earlier.
Specifically, they want non-violent property or drug offenders to be able to participate in the expanded credits. The bill passed in 2007 inadvertently tightened the rules on those inmates by banning all Category B felons from getting the added credits.
The Department of Business and Industry wants legislation to put teeth into the business registration requirements. There is currently no real penalty for failure to register.
"By obtaining full compliance with the business registration statutes, consumers of the state of Nevada and nationwide will enjoy far greater protection," the justification for the law states.
The Dairy Commission has a similar problem because new dairy and raw milk standards approved in 2002 didn't include a penalty for violations. A recent violation, according to the written proposal, has shown the need for a penalty to help enforce health and safety regulations involving dairy products.
The Public Works board has requested permission to look at any administrative actions taken against a contractor in deciding which contractors can bid on state projects. Existing law doesn't clearly permit public works to look at administrative fines, consent decrees and alleged violations in deciding if a contractor is qualified to do public works projects.
Child and Family Services wants the law to allow more thorough screening of people seeking jobs in child care facilities to better protect children from applicants with criminal histories.
The exact language and effect of the legislative proposals won't be available until they are drafted and introduced in either the Senate or Assembly next February.
- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.