THREE INITIATIVES LIKELY TO SPUR DEBATE

This year's initiatives are already shaping up to be hot-button topics
- -- and they haven't even qualified for the ballot yet.

Groups needed 51,337 signatures by Tuesday afternoon, and hours before
the deadline three initiatives were turned in for verification.

One, which would attempt to regulate small amounts of marijuana in the
state, already is strongly opposed by DUI advocacy groups and some law
enforcement officers.

Another, which aims to lower insurance rates, has drawn anger from
doctors who say it is an obvious attempt by trial lawyers to prevent
tort reform.

Also on Tuesday, backers of a petition to cap property taxes with a
constitutional amendment pattered after California's Proposition 13
said they might appeal to a judge to get more time to complete their
signature drive.

We the People Nevada came up about 5,700 signatures short, said
Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno.

But she said her petition was going along at a fine pace until
mid-May, after one of the petition's coordinators, Tony Dane, was
arrested for collecting signatures at the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas.

"It caused all the other workers to be fearful to come to work with
us," she said.

The group's attorney, Don Chairez, is out of town but would file
something this week if the group decides to ask for more time, Dane
said.

We the People Nevada argues that Nevada's property taxes are
confusing, unfairly distributed and so expensive that some people are
being forced out of their homes.

"We need a stable and predictable tax," Angle said.

Also on Tuesday, a group called People for a Better Nevada turned in
signatures to reform insurance in Nevada.

One, the Insurance Rate Reduction and Reform Act, would roll back car
insurance rates by 20 percent for all Nevadans and another 20 percent
for good drivers.

Insurance companies also would be required to open their books before
increasing premiums.

The other, the Protect Your Legal Rights initiative, would force
attorneys to pay for fees when they bring "frivolous" lawsuits.

Backers of the initiative said Tuesday they collected a total of
145,000 signatures for the two initiatives through a grass-roots effort.

"We need serious, meaningful reform in this state," said Carmen
Cashman, who helped push the initiative.

Yet the initiative would nullify the tort reform now being pushed by
doctors through the Keep our Doctors in Nevada bill, which also will
appear on the November ballot.

The doctors' initiative would set a cap of $350,000 for the amount a
patient could win for pain and suffering in a malpractice suit.

Already, this is shaping up to be a difficult election. While the two
insurance petitions were being circulated, the Nevada State Medical
Association spent $33,000 to send mail pieces to people in rural
counties, asking them not to sign the petitions.

And while Cashman told the media when she first registered the
petition with the Secretary of State in April that she was part of a
small group working to reform insurance rates, a letter sent out by
the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association on March 8 asked attorneys to
give between $10,000 and $20,000 to help push an initiative to block
Keep our Doctors in Nevada.

"We are prepared to launch an initiative of our own that will preserve
all rights currently enjoyed by Nevada citizens," stated the letter,
which was given to the Sun. "We will do this by way of a
constitutional amendment."

Gail Tuzzolo, another supporter of the insurance reform petitions,
said the group has received most of its money from law firms and unions.

She argues that already the Legislature has passed tort reform, and
she called the Keep our Doctors in Nevada bill "draconian."

"It takes out any exceptions, so it protects bad doctors," she said.
"If a doctor cuts off the wrong leg and he's found to have been
drinking or have drugs in his system, under the legislation, that
would be an exception."

It also appears that Nevadans will have a chance again to vote on
regulating marijuana. The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana
turned in about 70,000 signatures on Tuesday, said spokeswoman
Jennifer Knight.

The measure would allow adults over the age of 21 to have up to one
ounce of marijuana. It also would strengthen penalties for driving
under the influence and selling marijuana to minors, Knight said.

"People support regulation," she said. "they like the idea of being
able to regulate this to generate taxes. They like the idea of
stricter penalties because they know things like that work."

But Sandy Heverly, executive director of Stop DUI, said she has helped
reorganize Nevadans Against Legalizing Marijuana, the same group that
opposed the last measure to regulate up to three ounces of marijuana.

That petition failed in the 2002 ballot.