MINIMUM WAGE HIKE INITIATIVE MAY GET ON BALLOT

Fate of Three Other Petitions Remains Undecided

CARSON CITY -- A district judge on Monday gave proponents of an
initiative petition to raise the minimum wage in Nevada by $1 an hour
a chance to argue that it should be on the election ballot in November.

District Judge Bill Maddox issued a temporary restraining order
prohibiting Secretary of State Dean Heller from taking any further
action on the proposed constitutional amendment sought by the Nevada
State AFL-CIO.

He set July 20 for oral arguments on the suit filed by Give Nevada A
Raise Inc. and Danny Thompson, executive director of the AFL-CIO.

The fate of three more initiative petitions dealing with marijuana,
insurance rate reductions and frivolous lawsuits was still up in the
air this morning. They may have the same legal problem and the
counting of signatures by the counties had not been completed by
Monday afternoon.

The suit challenges Heller's ruling last Friday that the minimum wage
petition, which seeks to boost the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to
$6.15 an hour, with yearly cost-of-living adjustments, failed to
qualify for the ballot. Heller said the petitions did not include a
valid affidavit signed by a registered voter who had signed that
particular document.

The rule is a requirement of the Nevada Constitution.

The rule disqualified 13,994 signatures. The petition, after that
adjustment, fell 2,618 signatures short of the required 51,337.

Heller acted on the advice of Senior Deputy Attorney General Victoria
Oldenburg, who said the secretary of state must comply with the Nevada
Constitution and a decision by the Nevada Supreme Court on the
signature requirements.

The minimum wage suit was filed by attorney Eric Myers shortly before
noon Monday. Oldenburg must file an answering brief by Friday and the
Myers has until Monday to submit a reply brief.

Maddox, in signing the temporary restraining order, said the AFL-CIO
is "likely to prevail on the merits, or at least have raised very
serious questions."

Thompson said a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court holds that a person
doesn't even have to be a registered voter to circulate petitions.

"This is akin to the South trying to keep African-Americans from
voting," he said. "The people have the right to petition government
and this is a serious disenfranchisement of voters."

He said he could not believe the attorney general and secretary of
state have become part of the effort to stop the petition from
appearing on the ballot.

If any of the other three pending petitions do not qualify for the
same reason as the minimum wage, then they are expected to join in the
suit against Heller.