Legislative Briefly

Taser control bill introduced

A group of nine Assembly Democrats introduced legislation to control the use of tasers by police. AB273 would allow tasing someone only as an alternative to deadly force and when there is probable cause to believe the person has committed felonies or poses a threat of serious bodily harm.

It also mandates training for officers, regulations by agencies using them and that they keep a database of each use of a taser by an officer. AB273 also requires that any taser issued to a peace officer have a camera installed in it.

The bill was referred to the Government Affairs Committee for review.

Gansert's bill would change tax law

Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, has introduced a bill that would change tax law so that banks are taxed the same way as all other businesses.

AB275 would repeal the excise tax on the number of branch offices a bank has in Nevada and reduce the business tax rate banks pay to the same level paid by all other businesses.

Under existing law, banks pay 2 percent of payroll as a business tax while all other businesses pay just 0.63 percent. The excise tax is $1,750 for every branch over one in each county.

The financial portion of the business tax is expected to bring in about $18 million a year this next biennium. The change would cut that approximately to $6 million. The branch tax generates about $3 million a year.

The bill was referred to the Taxation Committee for study.

Bill would force DNA evidence to be preserved

Criminal justice agencies would have to preserve any biological evidence in a felony case until the person's sentence expired under a plan introduced in the Assembly Tuesday. AB279 also expands the rights of people convicted of murder or sex offenses to have DNA testing done on any biological evidence in their case.

The bill was referred to the Corrections, Parole and Probation Committee for study.