Lawmaker wants safer cigarettes
(AP) " A lawmaker who also is a firefighter testified Monday that "fire-safe" cigarettes would save lives by preventing blazes caused by unattended smokes.
Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, authored AB229, to require cigarettes that would self-extinguish if left unattended. He said that cigarette-related blazes are the nation's leading cause of fire deaths in homes. That included 14 deaths in Nevada in 2008.
The new cigarettes would be wrapped in what Oceguera called "speed bumps," two or three less porous papers, that slow down burning, he explained. If a lit cigarette is left unattended, the burning tobacco hits one of the "speed bumps" and the cigarette goes out.
Ray Bizal of the National Fire Prevention Association also supported the bill.
The bill also would impose a tax on the cigarettes for a Cigarette Fire Safety Standard and Firefighter Protection Fund. Bizal said that New York, which was the first in the nation to pass such a law, has seen no reduction in cigarette taxes since the law was first adopted.
No cap on Nevada Check Up likely
(AP) " Nevada lawmakers say they're likely to go against Gov. Jim Gibbons' recommendation and allow continued enrollment in a program that provides health insurance to low-income children.
The Nevada Check Up program currently has 23,000 participants, and Gibbons had proposed setting an enrollment cap at 25,000 children.
The estimate of children eligible for the program is about 55,000. The Department of Health and Human Services listed the program as a top priority, and members of a Senate-Assembly budget subcommittee agreed.
Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, summed it up: "As we have more and more families struggling with the recession, we can't cut children off their health insurance."
Upgraded medical regulations sought
(AP) " A Senate panel was asked Monday to support a package of measures to strengthen rules and licensing for Nevada's medical professionals.
Senate Commerce and Labor Chairman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, said her proposals are needed to weed out doctors and other medical professionals who "abuse the public trust."
The bills include SB8, which changes the process for appointment to medical boards; and SB269, which provides, among other things, for immediate license suspensions of medical professionals convicted of felonies related to their practices.
The package also includes SB362, which strengthens the ability of various boards to strip medical professionals of their licenses for unsafe practices; and SB364, which would expand the authority of the Board of Medical Examiners to investigate potential unlawful activity by medical professionals.