HEALTH GROUPS ASK HELLER TO 'PLAY FAIR'

Coalition Pleads With Secretary of State to Approve Petition

CARSON CITY -- A coalition of health groups appealed to Secretary of State
Dean Heller today to "play fair" in approving the initiative petition to
curtail smoking.

The coalition filed its petition with 64,871 signatures to put the smoking
restriction issue before the 2005 Legislature. But Heller, acting on the
advice of the attorney general's office, said 83,156 signatures were
needed, meaning the initiative won't go to the Legislature.

On Dec. 23, Heller sent the official notice to the three groups that had
filed initiatives, telling them they came up short. They now have five days
to appeal or file a lawsuit suit.

The American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the
American Lung Association issued a press release today urging Heller to
take another look at the issue.

Heller said Monday that he did not anticipate changing the decision. He
said he was relying on the advice of the attorney general's office. To
reject that legal opinion would open his office to all sorts of lawsuits,
he said.

Buffy Martin, government relations director for the Cancer Society, said,
"We followed the law and advice given to us by the secretary of state's
office, who told us that the number of signatures required was 51,337. Even
after following all the rules."

The health coalition and a casino group both filed petitions to restrict
smoking in public places.

A petition to allow adults to have one ounce of marijuana was also submitted.

Those backing the petitions believed they had to gather 51,337 signatures
of voters by Nov. 9 to qualify. That was based on 10 percent of those who
voted in the 2002 election. But they filed their petitions after this
year's election but before the deadline of Nov. 9.

The attorney general's office said the 10 percent must be based on the
current voter turnout or the 2004 election.

"Our petition was held until the deadline of Nov. 9 for the convenience of
county election officials" who asked them to hold off because they were
swamped with work related to the Nov. 2 election, Martin said. "Now, after
honoring their request, our petition has been thrown out.

"We were never informed throughout the process that we could be held to the
2004 voter numbers but were always given the 2002 numbers."

Heller said his office was never asked whether the petition if filed after
the election had to have the 83,156 signatures to qualify. He said he
provided the three groups with copies of the law on initiatives and
referendums.

Heller said he is aware of the fact that some of the county election
officials asked the groups to wait until after the election to file their
petitions but his office was not involved in that.

Martin and officials representing for The Regulation of Marijuana have both
said they will file lawsuits over the disqualifications. The marijuana
petition had 69,261 signatures and the rival smoking petition gathered
74,348 signatures.