Late Assemblyman Hogan never loitered in the halls

Joe Hogan had guts.

The Nevada state assemblyman — who died last week, about two months after suffering a massive stroke while house-hunting in Washington, D.C. — was not a star in the Legislature. He didn’t make fiery speeches on the floor, didn’t chair a committee or sit at the head of the table in a back room when a big deal was being made.

But he didn’t shy away from attacking big issues, even when he knew he probably wouldn’t succeed.

He was the primary sponsor of only four bills in the 2013 Legislature, but he didn’t waste his time on frivolous legislation, either.

Take Assembly Bill 141, for example. The bill would have amended the law to prohibit an employer from requiring his employees to divide their tips to be shared with others without their consent.

Many people thought NRS 608.160(1)(a) already did that, given that it says “It is unlawful for any person to take all or part of any tips or gratuities bestowed upon the employees of that person.”

But Hogan lived in Nevada a long time, long enough to suspect that the courts might not see it that way. (He was right: In October 2013, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the Wynn Las Vegas tip-pooling requirement for dealers.)

Hogan’s bill was a direct challenge to the Wynn tip pool, and to casino mogul Steve Wynn himself. And, outside of a dealers union, Hogan stood nearly alone in fighting against the policy.

The Culinary Local 226 backed Wynn. Only three fellow Democrats signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. It never even got a hearing in the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee. (Asked why, committee chairman Assemblyman David Bobzien said it was because labor unions were divided on the question, as if labor unanimity was a requirement for a legislative hearing or a vote.)

The bill died in that committee. And while Hogan never complained publicly, he indicated to me privately that he’d hoped his long tenure in Carson City would have at least earned him the right to a hearing.

It didn’t.

One of Hogan’s other bills, Assembly Bill 402, would have legalized recreational marijuana outright.

“By way of introduction, I would like to say that this is not a bill about smoking marijuana, nor is this a bill about getting high,” Hogan told the committee. “Assembly Bill 402 is a bill about coming to terms with reality and, borrowing from a recent speech by Congressman Stephen Horsford, showing some courage and refusing to loiter in these halls.”

Hogan never loitered in the halls. He had a purpose. In this case, it was to raise money for education from marijuana taxes. And he was ahead of his time. Petitions are currently being circulated to legalize recreational pot in Nevada, similar to efforts that were successful in Colorado and Washington state.

Hogan knew 2013 was going to be his last session. He revealed that he was in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and he opted to leave. It was an understandable decision, albeit an unfortunate one. Nevada’s Legislature doesn’t have enough iconoclasts, people of courage who stand up for doing the right thing, even and perhaps especially when they must face long odds to do it.

The late Assemblywoman Peggy Pierce, D-Las Vegas, was such a person, too. Pierce, who died in October 2013, stood for the concept of a business tax when the majority of her colleagues couldn’t even say the word. She predicted during the 2013 session that the passage of The Education Initiative in 2014 would shock the business community, and she called it a just consummation. Her last, defiant, haranguing appearance before the Review-Journal editorial board was truly something to see.

Nevada needs more Joe Hogans and Peggy Pierces, lawmakers who recognize that regular people, not the powerful, are the ones who most need the help and protection of the Legislature. You know: elected officials who do more than simply loiter in the halls.

Steve Sebelius is a Las Vegas Review-Journal political columnist who blogs at SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.