Annual legislative sessions proposed

A proposal introduced in the Assembly on Thursday would change Nevada's Constitution to provide for annual legislative sessions.

Nevada is one of the few states where lawmakers meet every other year.

Prime Sponsor Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, said Nevada has outgrown the biennial Legislature.

"You can see by the current budget crisis we can't address state problems every other year," he said. "Other states our size all have annual sessions. It's a relic of the past."

Segerblom was joined on Assembly Joint Resolution 6 by 22 members of the Assembly including Speaker Barbara Buckley and Majority Leader John Oceguera, both D-Las Vegas, and six senators including Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas.

AJR6 would keep the existing 120 day legislative session in odd-numbered years but add a 60-day session in the even years. Segerblom said it would primarily deal with the budget but wouldn't be restricted to that subject.

The amendment would also provide that lawmakers be paid for every day of regular sessions in which they serve. The current language in the Constitution limits their pay to just the first 60 days of session " the original limit on the length of session. When the 120-day limit was installed in 1997, the language limiting pay for lawmakers wasn't changed.

In order to change the Constitution, the proposal must be approved by two successive sessions of the Legislature then by a favorable vote of the people at the following general election.

The soonest it could take effect would be the 2013 Legislature.

AJR6 was referred to the Committee on Elections, Procedures, Ethics and Constitutional Amendments.

- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.