In the Year
of Our Lord
Vol. 34 No. 4
Eagle Forum is tracking over 300 bills and we have
testified on dozens and dozens of them. The bills listed below are the ones on
which we have sent out email alerts. We have included info on their status in
this newsletter. We’re over half way through! Send us your email address if
you want to receive Alerts.
Perhaps the most important bill this session,
AB95 was born of the gun confiscations from law-abiding citizens in the Katrina
aftermath. This bill prohibits the
Governor or head of a county or city to authorize the confiscation of or to
actually confiscate firearms during an emergency. The hearing was held April12
in Assembly Government Affairs. The
police brought an amendment, which significantly watered down the language and
did not specifically prohibit confiscation.
We offered an amendment to take the confiscation language from the
original bill and amend it into the police amendment. Miracle…this
satisfied everyone on the committee and it was voted out unanimously.
We anticipate this bill will pass the Assembly unanimously and move to
the Senate for a hearing. Your
emails made a big difference and having your Eagle Forum team at the hearing was
critical. We especially want to thank Asm. Bob Beers & David Bozien
for their efforts to get a strong acceptable compromise, Chairwoman Kirkpatrick,
a co-sponsor of the bill, and Asm. Valerie Weber the author of the measure.
Eagle Forum Supports.
AB 442 was a bill expanding existing employment
discrimination prohibitions to include “sexual orientation.” It protected
employees from “discrimination” for sexual orientation, but would have
forced employers into hiring persons whose “sexual orientation” violated
their religious beliefs. Thanks for your emails and calls. This bill is dead. The Assembly Government Affairs Committee
did not take a vote. Any bill not
passed out of committee by April 13th is dead. Thanks go to Chairwoman Kirkpatrick. Eagle Forum opposed.
SB325 designates English as the official language of the
State of Nevada, requires all official proceedings of the State be conducted in
English, requires all official records of the State to be prepared, stored and
made available in English, and requires all official publications of the State
to be printed in English. It also prohibits employment discrimination if a
person does not converse in a language other than English. This bill has been
amended and we do not have access to the amendment at this time.
It passed out of the Senate Government Affairs Committee as amended on
the April 13th deadline. We
will be looking to see what the amendment does. For more information on English
as our official language see www.eagleforum.org/psr/2001/may01/psrmay01.shtml
Eagle Forum Supports.
SJR3 would have amended the Nevada Constitution to require
that signatures on an initiative petition be collected in all 42 Assembly
Districts! This is an almost insurmountable
requirement. It was brought by
Senator Rhoads and the Nevada Mining interests. These bills would have literally made it nearly impossible to
qualify an initiative petition by the people. SB549 was horrendous companion
legislation. SJR3 has now been
amended to require that signatures be collected in all 17 counties with a
formula of 4% of the population as a signature requirement.
Signatures would still have to be from registered voters. This is still
difficult, but not as impossible as the original. It does fulfill the desired
end of including all parts of the state and all counties in the petition
requirement. The Court overthrew Nevada’s previous requirement to qualify in
at least 13 of 17 counties. Thanks for emails! Eagle Forum opposed.
AJR1 from 2005 Special Session Constitutional
Amendment on Petitioning
The Assembly passed AJR1, which would require that initiative
petitions be gathered in Nevada’s three Congressional districts.
This measure passed the entire Legislature during the 2005 session, so if
it passes the entire Legislature this time it will go on the ballot in 2008 for
a vote by the people. Currently,
because of the Court decision mentioned above, there is no petition distribution
requirement. Eagle Forum supported.
Real ID Act of 2005, which passed Congress hidden in a
funding bill for the Iraq War, is a mandate from the federal government to the
States, which will require them to link their record keeping systems (driver’s
licenses) to national databases. In other words, it is a National ID.
Real ID will store every driver’s personal information and a
photograph in a central database. The
specter of a National Identity card, long antithetical to liberty loving
Americans and a windfall for identity thieves, was to be implemented by May
2008. Without
REAL ID you will not be able to board an airplane, enter a federal building,
collect Social Security or other benefits, open a bank account or have a job.
AJR6 passed the full Assembly and the Senate Transportation &
Homeland Security Committee unanimously.
We anticipate it will pass the Senate unanimously as well.
Passage of AJR6 was one of Eagle Forum’s top priorities this session.
SB92 Repeals the ordinances in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas,
Henderson, which were grand-fathered in when Nevada’s Concealed Carry Weapon
law was originally passed in 1989. SB92
makes the law concerning concealed carry uniform throughout the state.
As it is now, if you have a CCW permit in any county outside of Clark and
travel to Las Vegas within 24 hours you must register your gun.
Most of us living in Nevada even with CCW permits were not aware of
this oppressive fascist law. Nevadans living in North Vegas, Henderson and
North Las Vegas are required to register their guns. (That
may also be true of other municipalities in Clark Co.) The Nevada Constitution
guarantees Article 1, Section 9 “Every citizen has the right to keep and bear
arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreation use and
for other lawful purposes…” SB92 passed out of Senate Judiciary and we
expect it will pass the Senate and then move to the Assembly.
Eagle Forum supports.
SJR2, A proposed Constitutional Amendment, provides for the
initial appointment instead of election of our Nevada Supreme Court and
District Court Judges. SJR2 would provide for the initial appointment by the
Governor of district court and Supreme Court justices from candidates
recommended by the Commission on Judicial Selection. After that there then would be a ballot question asking the
voters if they want to retain that particular judge. He would have to get 60% of the vote each time he runs again.
If he doesn’t get 60% the Governor appoints someone else. SJR2 Takes away our
right to vote for our Judges on the Supreme Court and District Court and makes
them appointed positions. SJR2 passed the Senate with Senators Amodei, Beers,
Cegavske, Heck, McGinness, Schneider voting NO. Eagle Forum opposes.
SB299 provides that the
mother of an unborn child and the unborn child constitute separate and distinct
victims for purposes of prosecuting any criminal offense involving violence. We
supported the original bill, but the bill was amended to strip out any language
recognizing that an unborn child is a separate individual.
We no longer support the bill.
SB415 would put Nevada into compliance with the federal law, Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 which prohibits states from providing a postsecondary education benefit to an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States…” This would result in illegals not being eligible for Free Tuition, Millennium Scholarships and certain loans for nursing students. It passed out of Senate Human Resources & has now been placed on Secretary’s Desk, which means it could be up for amendment or it is a move to kill it. Eagle Forum supports.
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AJR5 proposes
to amend the Nevada Constitution to authorize the Legislature to provide for a
statewide lottery to provide money to school districts for textbooks, computers
and other educational media for classrooms. Lotteries in other states have not
improved education funding or educational performance.
How many more families and particularly children will be harmed when more
parents become addicted to gambling via the lottery.
The majority of people participating in lotteries are those who can
least afford it. Players with household income under $10,000 bet nearly three
times as much as those with income over $50,000. Education
reform is what we need, including real instruction in systematic intensive
phonics, basic math, and school choice. These
basic reforms will provide much more real educational improvement in our
government schools than any amount of lottery money.
It is relatively easy for children
to gamble on a state sponsored lottery. In Massachusetts 47 percent of 7th
graders have purchased a lotto ticket. Nationwide, more than 4 in 10 adolescents
gamble on lotteries. Recent research suggests that the earlier a person begins
to gamble, the more likely they are to become addicted to gambling.
This bill has passed out of the Assembly and is now in the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
AJR10 is a resolution, which urges Congress not to
reauthorize Fast Track approval of international trade agreements, such as
NAFTA & GATT. Phyllis Schlafly
has written a superb article on why Fast Track is unconstitutional. www.eagleforum.org
This bill passed out of the Assembly 32 to 10 with Eagle Forum supporting
it.
SJR7:
Support Tax and Spending Control TASC
SJR7 would have amended the Nevada Constitution by adding the
Tax & Spending Control for Nevada Initiative petition.
Many of us signed and supported the TASC petition in an effort to get it
on the ballot 2006. It was removed by Nevada’s Supreme Court on a
technicality. TASC would prevent state and local tax increases and new
multi-year indebtedness (bonds) except when referred to the voters by 2/3 of the
Nevada Legislature or local governing board.
It would limit spending increases to inflation plus population growth. If
tax revenues exceed spending limits then part of the money will go into a
“rainy day” account for emergencies. Additional
revenues would be refunded to taxpayers. SJR7 also barred the state from
imposing unfunded mandates (shifting costs) to local governments. TASC did not
pass the Senate Finance Committee. Eagle Forum supported.
Support
Reciprocity for Concealed Carry Weapons Permits
Nevada has no reciprocity at this time. These are good beginnings.
SB237 Allows
a person from another state to carry concealed if the Dept. of Public
Safety has determined the requirements for a CCW permit are substantially
similar or more stringent than Nevada’s requirements. The bill requires the
Dept. to determine on or before July 1 each year which states are similar. This
bill creates 3 categories of firearms: revolvers, semi-automatics, or both.
A CCW may be obtained in any of the three categories. It extends the CWW
permit for out-of-staters for renewal every 3 years to every 5 years like Nevada
residents. Amended & passed out of Senate Judiciary. Eagle Forum supports.
AB268 Requires the Attorney General to evaluate the laws governing CCW permits of other states annually. He is to verify that the other states require the successful completion of a course in firearm safety and if it is possible to verify the validity of the permit on any date and at any time. CCW holder from another state must carry proper ID when carrying. The bill provides for a $25 civil penalty for each violation. This bill provides that one permit covers all the firearms owned by him. He must demonstrate competence with each category of firearm. The permit is valid for any firearm within each category. Died with no vote taken in committee. Blame anti-gun Assembly Committee Chairman Bernie Anderson for this. Eagle Forum supported.
Full Day kindergarten is a project
of the Teachers Union and the Educrats to increase tax spending thereby
increasing job security, union membership, and continuing empire building. The cost
is estimated at $186 million. The
Cato Institute Study, like many others, show that there are no long term
benefits even to at risk children. Dr.
Raymond Moore in his book School Can Wait sites some 6,000 studies, which
show the benefits of later school attendance and the negatives of going early.
Early school attendance is especially harmful to boys who lag behind
girls developmentally at least a year. That’s one reason why so many more boys
are in remedial classes. National Education Associations resolution
passed in 2006 calls for: B-1 Early Childhood Education in the public school
for children from birth through age 8…should include mandatory kindergarten
with compulsory attendance. This bill passed out of Asm. Education Committee
on March 12. It is probably waiting
in Asm. Ways and Means. We anticipate it will be used as a bargaining chip with
the Governor who opposes Full Day Kindergarten.
Eagle Forum opposes.
SB404 is a wonderful bill, brought forth by the homeschool
community. This bill will update and modernize our 60-year-old homeschool
law, as well as fit the current needs and requirements. Included in the
bill is the statement "No regulation or policy of the state board or any
school district may infringe upon the right of parents to educate his child
based on religious preference, unless it is essential to further compelling
governmental interest and the least restrictive means to further that
governmental interest." This language further protects families who
homeschool for religious reasons. Currently, no other state has such
language in their homeschool laws. Bill was amended and passed Senate Human
Resources. Eagle Forum Supports.
Your
financial support is needed and appreciated.
During the Legislature we have heavy expenses. Thanks,
Janine Hansen
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