Roster of proposed laws grows

CARSON CITY -- Las Vegas police want to raise the sales tax, Gov. Jim Gibbons wants to limit anti-war demonstrations near military funerals and taxi regulators would like to bar cabbies from using cell phones while hauling passengers.

Those are three of more than 170 bills requested in the week leading up to a Monday deadline for state agencies and local governments to propose legislation for the 2009 session.

Senate Taxation Chairman Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, said police in Las Vegas want to raise the sales tax by one-quarter cent to hire more officers. If approved by the Legislature, the tax increase still must be approved by the Clark County Commission.

Clark County voters in 2004 approved a plan to boost the sales tax by one-half of a cent for more officers, and the 2005 Legislature increased the sales tax by a quarter point. McGinness said police now want the other half.

Gibbons, a former military pilot, is concerned about disturbances created by protests at funerals or burials of military personnel and wants to restrict the location of those protests, says press secretary Ben Kieckhefer.

However, courts in other states have ruled such legislation amounts to a constitutional violation of the right to free speech and expression.

The Taxicab Authority in Clark County wants to stop drivers from using their cell phones while transporting passengers; and Washoe County says counties should be able to tack on a fuel surcharge on moving traffic violations. The money raised by the surcharge would pay for fuel used by law enforcement agencies.

The Nevada Association of Counties wants an increase in the property tax above current limits of 3 percent for homeowners and 8 percent for businesses. Jeff Fontaine, executive director of the association, said the plan would let counties exceed the 3 percent and 8 percent limits for one year and then return to the old limits.