Lawmaker slows sex offender commitment bill

     Associated Press
      CARSON CITY -- Despite a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling authorizing involuntary civil commitment for violent sex offenders, Assembly Judiciary Chairman Bernie Anderson is going slow on a bill to enact such laws in Nevada.
      Several committee members seemed ready to pass Senate Bill 100 on Thursday, but Anderson said he wanted an extra day to find out how civil commitment laws are working in other states.
      "I'm not opposed to the concept, but I want to clearly understand how other states are using civil commitment statutes," said Anderson, D-Sparks.
      SB100 was introduced by Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, and has already passed the Senate.
      The bill would allow the commitment of those considered "sexually violent predators" to mental facilities after they've finished their prison sentences.
      James told the Assembly Judiciary Committee that the offenders would have to go through a hearing before a judge to determine if they were eligible for civil commitment.
      "This is a treatment law," James said. "If just one sexual predator is going to go out and hurt one child, that's enough to pass this legislation."
      James said SB100 was based heavily on Kansas legislation that was upheld Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.
      In that case, the justices ruled 5-4 that civil commitment doesn't violate double jeopardy laws -- which prohibit trying people twice for the same crime -- because it's meant for treatment and not punishment.
      Washington, Arizona and California are among the few states that already have civil commitment laws. The New York state Senate just passed a civil commitment law, and Hawaii, Illinois and Maine are considering similar laws.
      Anderson said part of his problem with SB100 was the fact that other states would have different levels of treatment for their sex offenders. He said he was concerned about how offenders from other states would be treated once they arrived in Nevada.
      "I don't want somebody to get transferred here for the treatment," Anderson said. "We could become the state that treats everybody."
      Assemblywoman Genie Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, congratulated James on anticipating the Supreme Court's decision and registered her support for the bill. But a few other committee members expressed some discomfort with SB100.
      After the hearing, Assemblyman Dario Herrera, D-Las Vegas, said he thought James hadn't adequately answered a question about the difference between prison confinement and civil commitment.
      James had described the difference by saying those in mental facilities could wear their own clothes, have visitors and not live under prison rules. "As long as it doesn't look like just pure prison, then it's OK," he said.