CARSON CITY -- A Senate panel opened debate Tuesday on a Democratic-sponsored bill that would restrict contributions to politicians' legal defense funds, such as the one set up for Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons' legal hassles.

The same blackout periods that prohibit the governor and lawmakers from getting political donations during a legislative session should apply to legal defense funds, Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said in asking the Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee to pass Senate Bill 425, which would write such prohibitions into law.

The bill also would extend some campaign finance rules for state officials down to local government. The proposal would create blackout periods during which local officials can't accept contributions from people who have business that will come before the official. Those blackout periods would begin 30 days before a person files an application or request for action, and end 30 days after final action is taken.

"As a city council member or a county commissioner, you can take a check from a donor in the morning and in the afternoon vote on that very donor's proposed zoning change," Titus said. "That is classic pay-to-play."

Although Gibbons' defense fund received a contribution this year, Titus said the bill wasn't specifically aimed at the governor. Rather, it's part of a larger package of campaign finance reforms including regulations proposed by Secretary of State Ross Miller.

"It's aimed at a loophole that exists in the law," Titus said. "Now that it's an issue, we've got to regulate it."

Matthew Griffin, Miller's elections deputy, also spoke in favor of SB425, saying it complements other ideas Miller has for regulating legal defense funds.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said Nevada officials should look at what other states are doing to regulate such funds, which he defended as sometimes necessary.

"There can be many reasons to have them," Raggio said. "Otherwise you'd say to a guy in public office who isn't particularly affluent that he could never get any assistance."

Griffin said outside the hearing that Miller's proposal for defense funds would "go a step further" than the bill from Titus. He said it would require advance registration of a fund, and the official would have to state the specific legal dispute that made the fund necessary. Quarterly reports of contributions and expenses would be required.

Miller stated that in reviewing Gibbons' legal defense fund, he ultimately found there was no violation of current campaign finance laws -- but also determined that "there are loopholes in our laws that allow elected officials and candidates to solicit money that is not required to be disclosed to the public."

Gibbons attorney Michael Pagni has said the defense fund, which had total donations of $194,100, is being closed because two issues that prompted its creation have been dropped for lack of evidence.

The fund actually was created as a result of three cases, one of which is still pending: a legal dispute between Gibbons' longtime friend, multimillionaire federal contractor Warren Trepp, and a former Trepp partner.

Gibbons has two high-priced lawyers, Don Campbell of Las Vegas and Abbe Lowell of Washington, D.C., helping him deal with FBI questions about his associations with Trepp. Gibbons has denied that he accepted payments or gifts from Trepp in exchange for helping Trepp get defense contracts while Gibbons was a member of Congress.

The cases mentioned by Pagni as the basis for setting up the fund included a claim by Chrissy Mazzeo of Las Vegas that Gibbons assaulted her just before the November elections; and a claim by Martha Patricia Sandoval, an illegal immigrant employed as a nanny years ago by Gibbons and his wife, Dawn.