JUDGE ORDERS PETITIONS PLACED ON BALLOT

Secretary of State Overruled in Plans for Minimum Wage, Frivolous
Lawsuits

CARSON CITY -- A District Court judge Tuesday ordered the secretary of
state to put initiative petitions to raise the minimum wage and stop
frivolous lawsuits on the November ballot saying it was "better for
the people of the state to vote."

Judge Bill Maddox overruled Secretary of State Dean Heller, who had
held the two petitions did not garner enough legal signatures because
they failed to abide by a mandate in the state constitution.

"We should favor the people of Nevada expressing their opinion,"
Maddox said.

Renee Parker, chief deputy secretary of state, said Heller has agreed
to abide by Maddox's decision. But she said that if the Las Vegas
Chamber of Commerce, which argued against putting the initiatives on
the ballot, appealed, her office probably would join.

Sam McMullen, attorney for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, which is
against the minimum wage proposal, asked the judge to stay his ruling
to allow an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court. The judge refused.

McMullen said he would have to talk to his clients whether they want
to appeal but he added there were "very key constitutional issues"
that should be decided by the Supreme Court.

Signatures on the two petitions were thrown out because the people who
circulated some of the petitions did not follow a clause in the state
constitution. With the loss of those signatures, the petitions failed
to get on the ballot. The constitution requires signature-gatherers
who are not registered to vote in the state have a registered voter
who signed the petition sign an affidavit saying the signatures were
legal.

Supporters of the measures called the constitutional clause arcane and
said it made no sense. Backers of the provision said it helped insure
the integrity of the petition signatures. Maddox called the
requirement "meaningless," noting that a registered voter who was not
even present when the signatures were gathered, could sign the affidavit.

"I don't see how the second affidavit increases the integrity of the
process," the judge said.

Because the judge denied the request for the stay, the the secretary
of state's office will now prepare the two questions for the ballot.
The office must appoint committees to write arguments for and against
each question.

Danny Thompson, executive director of the Nevada State AFL-CIO, the
organization that pushed the proposed constitutional change to raise
the minimum wage by $1 an hour and then by a yearly cost of living,
said the ruling by Maddox was proper.

Thompson said the state attorney general's office and the secretary of
state "attempted to commit a crime against the people" by trying to
keep the initiatives off the ballot.

Carmen Cashman, spokeswoman for People for a Better Nevada, the group
behind the frivolous lawsuit initiative, said she was "thrilled to
death." She called the two petitions "pro-consumer
initiatives."

The frivolous lawsuit initiative would penalize lawyers who bring
bogus suits and it would also prohibit future laws that would limit
monetary awards to those who are wrongfully injured.

More than 13,000 signatures on the minimum wage petition were not
counted because of the legal defect on the petition. The frivolous
lawsuit petition lost more than 10,000 signatures because of the problem.

With those signatures both had the required 51,337 names of registered
voters.

Attorneys Eric Myers of Reno representing the wage petition and Bob
Crowell of Carson City for the frivolous lawsuit initiative argued
that a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates the
requirement for the second affidavit signed by a registered voter.

Myers told the judge the added affidavit is "a hoop they must jump
through" and the added burden is "substantial." He argued there is no
"compelling reason" why the state should require the extra affidavit.

Myers said an unregistered circulator has to find a registered voter
to sign the affidavit. But he said it is still a "hearsay" affidavit
because the registered voter doesn't know if these signatures are valid.

Crowell argued this requirement runs afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court
ruling.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Victoria Oldenburg told Maddox there
were mistakes made in failing to follow the requirement of the state
Constitution. The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, she said, only
eliminated the requirement that those who circulate the petition must
be registered voters. It did not invalidate the requirement in the
Nevada Constitution.

Oldenburg argued that the affidavit requirement does not infringe on
free speech and does not constitute a burden since the circulator, who
may not be registered, has to get an affidavit signed by a registered
voter. The signature can be by somebody who has signed the petition,
she said. She said this insures the integrity of the process.

McMullen argued that having a registered voter sign the affidavit
improves the verification process. He said some of these circulators
go from state to state and there is no way of contacting them after
they leave Nevada.

Requiring the signatures of a registered voter on the affidavit is "a
guard against fraud," and is a "very minimal restriction."

Attorney Weldon Havins, representing the Nevada State Medical
Association, said the rules were not obeyed in gathering the
signatures. The association has a petition on the ballot to further
amend the laws to restrict payments in medical malpractice suits. The
frivolous petition, if enacted, would nullify the medical associations
proposal, he said.

These petitions must be approved by the voters in 2004 and 2006 before
they become part of the Nevada Constitution.

A petition to allow residents to possess and use one ounce of
marijuana also was rejected by the secretary of state's office because
it did not have enough valid signatures. It is now looking at the
possibility of requiring a full count by every county of the
signatures on the ballot, rather than just sampling a small percentage
of the names to see if they are registered.

Three initiatives have already qualified for the ballot dealing with
raising the state support of the public schools to the national level,
requiring the budget for public schools to be passed first by the
Legislature and the final one to reduce insurance rates by 20 percent.