3 MORE PETITIONS MAKE DEADLINE, FACE VALIDATION

Backers of another three citizen initiative petitions turned in signatures
Tuesday, while organizers of petitions to repeal last year's $833 million
state tax increase and prohibit public employees from serving in the
Legislature won more time to gather signatures.

If the signatures turned in to county clerks and voter registrars across
the state are valid, voters will decide at least six proposals to amend the
state constitution on Nov. 2. If the measures pass this year, they will be
put to a second vote in 2006.

The six petitions for which more than 51,000 signatures were submitted
include measures to legalize marijuana, raise the state's minimum wage to
$1 above the federal minimum wage of $5.15, roll back casualty insurance
rates, and make lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits responsible for paying
resulting fines. Also proposed are two education measures prompted by a
legislative stalemate over new taxes and the schools budget last year.

Organizers seeking to repeal the record tax increase passed by the
Legislature last year and another to prohibit government employees from
serving as lawmakers convinced a Clark County judge to extend their
deadline to July 20.

Nevadans for Sound Government, headed by the Nevada Independent American
Party, argued that harassment from government employees prevented them from
gathering enough signatures by the deadlines. The tax-repeal petition was
due May 18, and the public employees petition was due Tuesday.

The only petition for which organizers failed to turn in signatures was a
measure to roll back property tax rates and control how fast the rates
could increase.

Dan Burk, Washoe County voter registrar, said his office received a call
that Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, who organized the effort, would
be turning in the signatures. But she did not make it before the office
closed at 5 p.m., he said.

"It's too late now," he said just after 5 p.m.

Angle could not be reached for comment.

To qualify for the ballot, petition backers must turn in signatures equal
to 10 percent of those who voted in the 2002 election in 13 of Nevada's 17
counties. County clerks and voter registrars across the state must count
the signatures, then verify that 5 percent are valid from registered voters.

Burk said the record number of petitions that his office must verify is
straining his resources. Besides counting signatures, Burk is trying to
train his staff and 900 election workers on the new electronic voting
machines the county is using for the first time in the Sept. 7 primary.

Clark County District Judge Kenneth Cory's decision to extend the deadline
for two additional petitions only will make things more difficult, Burk said.

"The compounding effect of this is really, really putting the county at
risk of not being able to administer this primary election effectively," he
said.

Burk said he will have to hire temporary workers to help verify the signatures.

Six petitions have been turned in to have signatures verified. They are
measures to:

* Require lawmakers to fund education at the national average of per-pupil
spending.

* Require lawmakers to fund education before any other part of the state
budget.

* Raise Nevada's minimum wage to $1 above the federal minimum wage of $5.15.

* Roll back casualty insurance rates 20 percent that also could eliminate
caps on jury awards for economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.

* Make lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits responsible for any fines or
fees that result from the litigation.

* Make it legal for adults to possess one ounce of marijuana and would
stiffen penalties for driving under the influence of the drug and for
giving marijuana to minors.