NOVEMBER BALLOT: INITIATIVES ON WAY TO VOTERS

Supporters File Three Proposed Constitutional Amendments; Property Tax
Measure Falls Short Of Needed Signatures

CARSON CITY -- Three proposed constitutional amendments dealing with
marijuana, insurance issues and legal rights were filed with county
officials Tuesday and appeared to qualify for the November ballot.

A fourth measure that would have rolled back property taxes failed to
garner the required number of signatures.

Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, who organized the property tax
petition drive, held a news conference in Las Vegas to announce that the
effort fell short by 5,706 signatures.

She blamed the failure on the arrest of the campaign's top field operative
in May at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas while gathering signatures
during a visit by first lady Laura Bush.

"It concerned the other volunteers because they were worried about getting
arrested. ... Everybody was fearful," Angle said. "The arrest had a
chilling effect on signature gathering and on fund raising, and we had to
change our strategy."

The other initiatives filed Tuesday would appear to qualify for the ballot.

Jennifer Knight, a spokeswoman for the effort to legalize the sale of one
ounce of marijuana, said her organization secured signatures of 70,226
residents.

Two years ago, 61 percent of the voters opposed a petition that would have
legalized up to three ounces of pot.

Knight said this petition is better because it increases penalties for
distributing marijuana to youth and prescribes harsher penalties for
driving under the influence of the drug.

"It would make one ounce legal to sell, but it would be regulated," Knight
said. "The Legislature would have to decide how it is going to be cultivated."

The filing of two initiatives Tuesday that are backed by the Nevada Trial
Lawyers Association could complicate the ballot for voters.

Gail Tuzzolo, spokeswoman for the two initiatives, said one measure would
roll back insurance rates for consumers and others, including doctors. It
contains provisions that could eliminate medical malpractice reforms. The
measure has 75,000 signatures.

The companion measure dealing with lawsuit issues and prohibiting limits on
attorneys fees garnered 72,000 signatures, she said.

The two measures conflict with a doctor-backed measure already on the
November ballot that would start more stringent medical malpractice
reforms, including placing limitations on attorneys fees.

The doctors' measure, because it amends state law only, would be nullified
if the two lawyer-backed measures win approval.

The different ballot measures will be checked by county clerks to ensure
they qualify. The measures need 51,337 valid signatures and need an
adequate number of signatures in 13 of 17 Nevada counties.

Tuzzolo and Knight said the requirements were met with their petitions.

The two insurance measures became controversial when medical officials said
backers' real intent is to void the state's current medical malpractice
reform law.

Las Vegas attorney and president-elect of the Nevada Trial Lawyer
Association Gerald Gillock has denied the claims.

He said the insurance industry is opposed to the measures because they
would roll back rates for consumers and for the medical community and put a
dent in their profits.

But if medical malpractice premiums did not drop for doctors when the
insurance initiative took effect in 2007, the measure would eliminate any
caps on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases. A $350,000 cap
now exists with some exemptions.

Tuzzolo, the spokeswoman for the petitions backed by the trial lawyers,
said she is optimistic voters will approve the two measures.

"We can work hard and let voters know exactly what is in the initiatives,"
she said. "I don't think doctors understand what the initiatives will do.
The insurance rollbacks will help doctors."

Angle said legal action is still a possibility to win more time to collect
signatures for her property tax petition.

District Judge Kenneth Cory early Tuesday morning gave another group,
Nevadans for Sound Government, until July 20 to collect petition signatures.

That organization has been gathering signatures for petitions that would
prohibit government employees from serving in the Legislature and repeal
the record $833 million tax increase signed into law in 2003.

The group's leaders said its efforts have been hampered by repeated
harassment of its signature gatherers on public property.

If her effort fails this year, Angle said she plans in two years to try
again to get the property tax measure on the ballot.

"I don't give up on a fight," the assemblywoman said.

Other initiatives already filed and undergoing checks to ensure they
qualify for the November ballot would increase the minimum wage, require
the Legislature to fund education before any other part of the budget and
require the Legislature to fund public education to the national average.

Amendments to the constitution must be voted on twice before they take
effect, meaning any of the measures will have to win in November and again
in 2006.

Carson City Bureau Chief Ed Vogel contributed to this report.