WORK SESSION DOCUMENT   Legislative Commission's Subcommittee to Study Competition Between Local Governments and Private Enterprises June 26, 2002

The following "work session document" has been prepared by the Chairman and staff of the Legislative Commission's Subcommittee to Study Competition Between Local Governments and Private Enterprises. It is designed to assist the subcommittee members in developing statements and determining recommendations to be forwarded to the Legislative Commission and ultimately to the 2003 Session of the Nevada Legislature. Each item in this document may be the subject of further discussion, refinement, or action.

 

The recommendations contained herein do not necessarily have the support or opposition of the subcommittee. Rather, these possible actions are compiled and organized so the members may review them to decide if they should be adopted, changed, rejected, or further considered. The members of the subcommittee may vote to send as many subcommittee statements or letters as they choose; however, pursuant to Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 218.2429, the subcommittee is limited to five bill draft requests (BDRs), including requests for the drafting of legislative resolutions.[1]

 

The source of each recommendation is noted in parentheses. Please note that specific details of approved requests for legislation or subcommittee statements may need to be clarified by subcommittee staff prior to drafting. Supporting documents for some recommendations may be obtained by contacting Michael J. Stewart, Senior Research Analyst, Research Division, Legislative Counsel Bureau, at 775/684-6825. All place names referred to in this document are in Nevada unless otherwise noted.

 

 

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LEGISLATIVE MEASURES

 

Bills and Resolutions

 

1.                  Request the drafting of a bill or resolution to require (if a bill) or encourage (if a resolution) a state agency (to be determined) to compile and make available a guidebook for use by state and local government that establishes specific criteria and assessments that these entities may use to evaluate services or activities that may compete with the private sector before procuring those services or entering into those activities. This guidebook may be modeled after similar publications produced in other states.

 

(Recommended by Senator O'Connell; Carole Vilardo, President, Nevada Taxpayers Association; Sam McMullen, Representing the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce; several subcommittee members; and others.)

2.                  Request the drafting of a bill establishing a review board, commission, or council to address the privatization of services and determine whether certain services should or should not be outsourced. This may be modeled after similar boards or commissions created in other states, including Georgia, Maine, Michigan, New York, Texas, and Virginia.

 

(Recommended by Chairman Schneider for discussion purposes; representatives of Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center; and several witnesses.)

 

3.                  Request the drafting of a bill prohibiting competition with private enterprise in certain state services or activities. Require the measure to stipulate numerous exceptions, including: state parks, historical monuments, state forest and soil resources, correctional institutions, veteran's homes, the tourism board, the Department of Public Safety, the construction of state transportation facilities, the provision of free medical services and equipment to indigent persons (in association with community health programs), regional transportation districts, higher education, and other exceptions as determined by the subcommittee. This measure may be modeled after Colorado Revised Statutes 24-113-103.

 

(Discussed at several meetings; recommended by Senator O'Connell; and numerous individuals.)

 

4.                  Request the drafting of a bill or resolution requiring (if a bill) or encouraging (if a resolution) the State Motor Pool Division of Nevada's Department of Administration to conduct a study and "pilot project" that would provide outsourcing with private rental car companies for the use of private rental car fleet vehicles for State of Nevada employees. Results of the study and pilot project would be submitted to the 2005 Nevada Legislature.

 

(Recommended by Chairman Schneider for discussion purposes; Senator O'Connell; Carole Vilardo; David Nestor, Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Nevada; and others.)

 

5.                  Request the drafting of a bill amending Chapter 450 of the NRS ("County Hospitals and Hospital Districts") in the following manner:

 

A.                 Specify that the definition of "reasonable compensation" and "reasonable charges" shall mean the full hospital costs associated with each service;

 

B.                 Specify that the hospital shall not sell health care services to non-indigent patients at below the full cost of providing such services;

 

C.                 Require that hospital cost accounting must identify all cost components, both direct and indirect, in providing each service; and

 

D.                Require that units of service produced and the itemized cost per unit must be made available upon public inquiry.

 

(Recommended by representatives of Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.)

 

6.                  OPTION I

 

Request the drafting of a bill adding a new section to Chapter 244A of the NRS providing that:

 

A.                 A county fair and recreation board utilizing bonds issued under NRS 244A.637 shall not acquire, construct, or authorize a recreational facility if the operation of such a facility is not reasonably expected to result in a direct increase in tourism and the facility is expected to compete with one or more private businesses already providing substantially similar goods or services to the public within the county;

 

B.                 A county fair and recreation board, if it determines that a recreational facility previously constructed or one that is to be constructed with bonds issued under NRS 244A.637 will result in an increase in tourism but is expected to compete with one or more private businesses already providing such goods or services, shall:

 

                                                  i.            Ensure that the fees or costs charged for the use of such goods or services are commercially reasonable or, if it is necessary to charge less than commercially reasonable rates, provide grants to such businesses in an amount sufficient to equalize the subsidy received and utilized by the board; and

 

                                                ii.            Ensure that the facility is not leased or otherwise made available to any customer of such a private business if the Board or staff of the facility thereof had solicited that customer;

 

C.                 Revenue bonds issued pursuant to NRS 244A.637 shall not be affected by the requirements that recreational facilities be required to charge commercially reasonable fees as described above.

 

(Recommended by Phil Stout, Executive Director, Nevada Association of Independent Businesses.)

 

- OR -

OPTION II

 

Request the drafting of a bill amending NRS 244A.619 to require a county fair and recreation board to: (1) set and periodically adjust fees or rates for convention facilities that reflect actual market rates; (2) provide for grants to privately owned or operated convention facilities to equalize the subsidy utilized by the Board if it chooses to set rates below actual market rates; and (3) ensure that no member or staff of the Board solicits the business of any customer of any competing privately owned or operated convention facility located in the same county as the Board.

 

(Recommended by Phil Stout, Executive Director, Nevada Association of Independent Businesses.)

 

7.                  Request the drafting of a bill requiring the use of "independent project managers" for certain contracted projects (possibly based on a certain dollar amount of the contract).

 

(Recommended by Senator Townsend for discussion purposes.)

 

8.                  Request the drafting of a resolution expressing support for a public/private partnership effort between Nevada's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the rental car industry to allow for an optional program of internal, computerized motor vehicle registration by rental car companies.

 

(Recommended by Chairman Schneider for discussion purposes; Senator O'Connell; David Nestor; Carole Vilardo; DMV; and others.)

 

9.                  Request the drafting of a bill resembling or identical to Assembly Bill 611 of the 1997 Legislative Session (Chapter 404, Statutes of Nevada). Assembly Bill 611 proposes that an amendment to the Sales and Use Tax Act be submitted to Nevada's voters at the general election of 1998 to require state and local governments to collect sales taxes on sales of items purchased for resale to the public.

 

(Recommended by Carole Vilardo, President, Nevada Taxpayers Association.)

 

 

OTHER POSSIBLE SUBCOMMITTEE STATEMENTS OR LETTERS

 

Action Items for Subcommittee Discussion

 

10.              Send a subcommittee letterto Governor Kenny Guinn and the Legislative Subcommittee to Study Medical Malpractice expressing support for the Governor's and the Subcommittee's examination of the issue and setting forth a policy statement from the Subcommittee to Study Competition Between Local Government and Private Enterprises regarding the possible impacts on competition stemming from recent insurance and medical malpractice issues.

 

(Recommended by Chairman Schneider for discussion purposes.)

 

11.              Send a subcommittee letter to the Nevada Rural Hospital Partners expressing support for their mission and their desire to maintain the tax-exempt status afforded to several of Nevada's rural hospitals.

 

(Recommended by Robin Keith, President, Nevada Rural Hospital Partners; and Michael McMahon, Director, Policy and Program Development, Nevada Rural Hospital Partners.)

 

12.              Send a subcommittee letter to the Director of Nevada's Department of Taxation supporting the tax-exempt status afforded to several of Nevada's rural hospitals as identified by the Nevada Rural Hospital Partners and encouraging the Department to maintain this status to help sustain the economic viability of these rural service providers.

 

(Recommended by Nevada Rural Hospital Partners.)

 

13.              Send a subcommittee letter to the Chairmen of the Elko County Commission and the Elko City Council requesting that those bodies review the concerns raised by Timothy R. Brown, President and Owner, Elko Sanitation Company, during the subcommittee's meeting held in Elko on May 20, 2002. The letter should further request that the results of the review be transmitted to the Senate Committee on Government Affairs during the 2003 Legislative Session. As a result of Mr. Brown's experience in bidding for sanitation contracts in Elko, he proposes the following amendments to state and local contracting procedures: (1) establish a time limit (to be determined) during which a government entity "can delay the signing of a contracted service"; (2) impose a time frame of one year during which a service that is contracted out-of-state must be "re-bid"; and (3) prevent state and county employees from altering or changing contracts that have already been approved and accepted by a government entity.

 

(Recommended by Timothy R. Brown, President/Owner, Elko Sanitation Company.)

 

14.              Send a subcommittee letterto representatives of the Nevada Recreation and Park Society, Gary Vause, Owner, Lit'l Scholar Academy (Clark County), and Carol Hall, Owner, Creative Kids (Clark County), encouraging continued dialogue between these parties in addressing real and perceived competition in the provision of childcare services.

 

(Recommended by Chairman Schneider for discussion purposes and Mary Walker, Lobbyist, Carson City, Douglas, and Lyon Counties.)

 

15.              Send a subcommittee letter to member's of Nevada's Congressional delegation, the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior (DOI), and the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), encouraging the full funding of the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program administered by the BLM. Specify in the letter that many local governments in Nevada do not have adequate operating budgets due to the lack of private, taxable land base for the collection of revenue, and that at a minimum, full funding of PILT by the United States Congress as requested by the DOI would greatly improve the fragile economic status of several rural Nevada counties.

 

(Recommended by Senator O'Connell; Carole Vilardo; and Brad Roberts, Chairman, Elko County Commission.)

 

16.              Send a subcommittee letter to the Director of the Department of Motor Vehicles expressing support for the Department's public/private partnership activities and outsourcing efforts in the delivery of a wide array of services.

 

(Recommended by Chairman Schneider for discussion purposes.)

 

17.              Send a subcommittee letter to the Legislative Commission or Governor Kenny Guinn requesting the Commission or the Governor to notify the various executive state agencies of the requirements set forth in NRS 233B.066. This provision requires all adopted regulations submitted to the Legislative Counsel Bureau or filed with the Office of the Secretary of State to include a statement of the estimated economic effect of the regulation on the public and on the business which it is to regulate.

 

(Recommended by Assemblyman Carpenter.)

Please note that subcommittee letters may also be crafted to address topics that were originally considered for BDRs (see recommendation nos. 1 through 9) and subsequently set aside or rejected due to the five BDR limit set forth in NRS 218.2429.

 

NOTE:   ·           The Legislative Commission's Subcommittee to Study Competition Between Local Governments and Private Enterprises may make additional recommendations based on discussions held and presentations made at its meeting in Carson City on June 26, 2002. Please see meeting agenda for discussion topics.   ·           The Chairman of the subcommittee may choose to raise other issues for discussion or committee action during the work session.   ·           Subcommittee staff may need to seek additional details or clarification on approved recommendations from subcommittee members and others prior to drafting BDRs or subcommittee letters/statements.

 

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