Legislative Roundup #2 March 3rd, 2019

Greetings from Gold Hill. This week I finally felt like I was able to get my feet under me as I went to the Capital. I went to several hearings to testify for and against bills wending their way through the Legislative process and met with several Assembly members and Senators surrounding several bills.

As of today, there are 526 bills up for consideration. Some of them are good, some are bad, and some are ugly. I am working with the Nelis software to navigate the bills that require the scrutiny of the Libertarian Party of Nevada.

There were three bills that I testified on this week.

AB 165 – Death with Dignity

On Monday I testified at the Health and Human Services hearing on AB165. This bill deals with enacting a law that would allow a person to receive a prescription that they would administer to end their life in the face of a terminal illness where they have 6 months or less to live.

Many people at the end of their lives are given morphine which acts as respiration inhibitor, while others are taken off life support and allowed to starve or dehydrate to death. This bill provides a compassionate way for a terminally ill patient to end their pain and suffering by their own hand. It contains the proper safeguards to prevent a greedy relative to influence the decision and requires the patient to administer the drugs by their own hand.

We support this bill because it speaks to the concept of self-ownership. We feel that we should be able to chart our own course throughout life and with this grave decision as we face the end of our journey.

Feel free to reach out to the members of the committee hearing this bill and tell them how you feel: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

 

AB189 Prohibits Body Cavity Search Without Due Process

On Friday I testified at the Assembly Judicial Committee hearing on two bills. AB189 forces a law enforcement officer to obtain a warrant before performing a body cavity search. We support this bill and I offered testimony in support of the bill. The arguments for the bill are obvious; we require a search warrant for the search of our homes, papers and in the case of DUI, our persons. The indignity caused by this procedure, suffered by predominantly women, is immeasurable. We feel that this most intimate type of search should be conducted by medical professionals.

AB200 Authorizes the use of a device (referred to as a “textalyzer”) to detect if the driver in an accident where major injuries or death occurred to determine if the driver was texting at the time of the accident.

We oppose this bill and I provided testimony in opposition of this bill on the grounds of it violating the 4^th Amendment, the fact that current laws cover this exact scenario without the need of another unfunded mandate, and the notion of the slippery slope. I reminded legislators that George W. Bush told us that the warrantless surveillance of our telephone conversations would be limited to the overseas conversations of suspected terrorists. Edward Snowden revealed just how far down the slope we slipped since the days of that promise.

Feel free to reach out to the members of the committee hearing this bill and tell them how you feel:[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Bills we’re watching:

SB201/AB118 Changing the way the payday loan folks operate. These bills will restrict the amount of interest Payday Loan companies can charge and create other regulations surrounding this industry. We generally oppose the restriction of voluntary transactions between willing parties, especially in absence of similar products and services from the traditional banking industry.

SB246 Eliminates the Death Penalty on 1st-degree murder. We oppose the ability of the state to take someone’s life. There are no do-overs on capital punishment of innocent people.

SB123 Same-day Voter Registration. We generally oppose the government being able to decide who consents to be governed. Concerns of fraud and verification of voters in a close election aside, we support this bill.

AB226 Prohibits anyone in Nevada from being “chipped” or having any permanent identifying marker. This one is an obvious duh. However, it is worth noting that those of us carrying bank cards with chips are already chipped. One could argue this is a voluntary relationship, but try operating without your chipped bank/credit card for a while… But I digress.

Remember, Nevada provides incredible access and participation in the Legislative Process. If you want to provide testimony, you can do so representing yourself. Access to your government is available on every hearing at the State Legislature in Carson City and Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Avenue in Las Vegas. Step up and have your voice heard.

Until next week,

Sam Toll

Communication Director and Legislative Liason

Libertarian Party of Nevada