NCPE Town Hall Meeting

Join us on June 28, 2008 for the Third NCPE Town Hall Meeting.

NCPE in the News: 2008

"Court Hopeful Says Consultant Pitched Deal" (Las Vegas Review Journal)

"Given $50,000 He Decides to Run" (Las Vegas Sun)

Acting President Julie Tousa on Jon Ralston's "Face to Face: Ethics Complaint"

Meet the Acting President of NCPE, Julie Tousa

"New Watchdog of Public Ethics Continues Enforcing Vital Unwritten Law" (Las Vegas Review Journal)

"Partying Away As Taxpayers Pay and Pay" (Las Vegas Sun)

Ethics Legislation 2007

NCPE at the 2007 Nevada State Legislature: Summary and Details

"Article 6 Commission" to study and recommend improvements in the Nevada judiciary
See Dr. Craig Walton's summary of May Meeting

NCPE statement about the danger of big donors contributing to Supreme Court justice election campaigns.

Judicial Ethics & the Complaint Processes

Craig Walton's letter, to the Las Vegas Business Journal in favor of the new plan for judicial selection

Candidate Pledge

Email NCPE Treasurer

How Nevadans can get in to the Ethics Legislation Process

Every phone call or email can make a difference, if it is relevant to a piece of pending legislation. So, if you can give ANY time to this, even on just one bill, or only once in a while, here is the process:

1. Go to the website of the NV. Legislature,  www.leg.state.nv.us

2. On the left, click on "Session Information" ; up comes a list just to the right of it. Move your cursor down the list to '2007 Session' . That will give you a new list, and on that list, choose ‘Committee Information';
      At that place, you can choose "Assembly Standing Committees" or "Senate Standing Committees". 
            – If you click on the Assembly side, up comes a list of their committees, and you go to the "Elections, Procedures, Ethics and Constitutional Amendments".  You will see that name on the left, and also on the right.  If you click on the Right side, you go to the page with their hearings agenda, which is what you want.  First will be the dates closest to today’s date.  For example, as I write this, tonight it shows 3-06-07, and tomorrow's 3:45 p.m. hearing is on AB 142; also there is a link to the bill itself  (Often described as “As Introduced”, but later in the session, there would be that one plus, maybe, “As Amended”.  You can click on that, and the Bill’s Adobe Reader  " .pdf " file will come up, so that you can print the bill just as it will be in the hands of all committee members). Then, below today’s date, say, for example, 3-06-07, it will list 3-08-07, since they do have a hearing for 2 items on next Thursday (and you can also click on those, if you want to download the .pdf files for those 2 bills).   Beneath this week's dates and agenda and bills, there is a list starting with the Legislature’s beginning in early February, of every hearing, the agenda for those hearings, and the links to the bills as .pdf files if you want to download them.

            – Then, you can use your 'back' arrow to go back to the screen that had Assembly + Senate,
and choose 'Senate Standing Committees', and up comes the page listing all their Committees. Scroll to "Legislative Operations and Procedures", which is the name of their committee that hears ethics bills. Click on the right side (because it's listed on the left and on the right - the left gives you names of the members of the committee, and right side gives you the agenda and bills, as I just described about the Assembly).  That will give you the same as above, namely that whatever is due up for a hearing this week will come first, - listing the bill or bills, and also giving the link to click to download and print the bill.

3.  Sometimes those 2 sites will list next week's hearings on this week’s Thursday night or some time on the Friday of the week before.   But Beware !  Last week there was no warning of SB 144 on LLC's, until the Wednesday morning before the hearing, which was on the next day, Thursday at 1:30 !  So, if you want to keep current and track stuff, you should at least take a peak every day or two.  I checked last Friday about this week, and today I checked and the hearings are the same, the bills are the same as they said on Friday, so no panic.
4.  If you want to testify:  you can do this 2 ways  ( as President of  NCPE, so far I've done both):  [A] fax, or [B] be there at the videoconferencing of the hearing.

            [A]  The fax numbers are: 
            – for that Assembly Committee, fax to Assemblywoman and Chair Ellen Koivisto, 1-775-684-8893
            – for the Senate Committee, fax to: Chairwoman Senator Barbara Cegavske, 1-775-684-6500

            [B]  If you want to come and testify for or against something in person, it is done at the Sawyer State Office Bldg. on Washington just across the street from Cashman Center and Cashman Field. Lots of parking.  Go to the 4th floor, go to the receptionist for the Legislature, and she will know (and often shall have posted signs) as to what room will have the videoconferencing for the Committee you want.   When you were doing Step 2, and got to the Committee's page for agenda and links to bills, and you were able to click on 'Agenda'.  If  you do that, it comes up, and if videoconferencing has been scheduled,   the Agenda will say so .  For example, right now the Assembly Agenda for tomorrow says that there will be videoconferencing in Sawyer 4401.

           PROBLEM:  so far, the Assembly has provided for videoconferencing of their ethics stuff every time it comes up.  But the Senate Comm. only provides it if someone calls in advance and asks for videoconferencing, and that may or may not happen.  (The sooner we know of a Senate Comm. hearing about an ethics bills, the sooner we can call - so, make the call to the Senate Comm. secretary, Ms. Terri Miller at 1-775-684-1445 and ask that it be set up for us to testify down here in southern Nevada as soon as you learn of one).  If you are not sure whether I already called, but the Agenda on your screen does NOT show anything about this, make the call and then call and tell me. The worst that could happen is that she would get several calls - not a problem.

5. How to testify:  The rule is that first you sign in, in a very legible way, on the clipboard by the door.  Do that at 3:40 for the Assembly Committee, or at 1:25 for the Senate Committee.  A Legislature person picks up the sign-in sheet in about 10 minutes, and faxes it to Carson City, where it is given to the Committee chairperson.  She will then first have the bill's introducer speak, then maybe another sponsor, then maybe government officials invited to comment, and then she will either hear Carson City folks first, or might choose to hear Las Vegas folks first. She will use the list on which you wrote your name.  When she calls on you, you open by saying, "Madam Chairman, members of the Committee, my name is ______ from Las Vegas, Nevada.  I am a member of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics, and speak in support  (or, in opposition, as the case may be) of XXX (the designation of the bill, such as, tomorrow, AB 142). " Limit yourself to a few minutes, maybe 3; if you are not experienced at that kind of limiting, write your words out: one page of 8 ½ x 11 paper, 12-point font, double-spaced, takes 2 ½ - 3 minutes to read, so, a good measure of how to limit yourself.
      After a person testifies, the Chair asks the Members of the Committee if anyone has a question for this person.  In case there is a question, the way to answer is quite formalized:  you say, "Madam Chairwoman, and through you to Assemblyman [ or Senator]  X  [whoever it was, try to remember the name!], ..... [your reply].

            We shall provide a link to .pdf files containing the names of the leadership in the Assembly and the Senate, and also the full list of all members of each of those two committees, including their home phones, addresses, emails, and where possible fax numbers. You may need this list (taken from the Legislature’s website) to reach legislators individually.  If you do not know who is your Assembly person or Senator, the Legislature’s website has a link on the right side, ‘Who is my legislator?’ , where you can find out.
            But concerning participating in a hearing, offering support or doubts, it does not matter whether you are living a person's district or not.  You have the right to speak, and your position can be taken seriously.

best,

Craig Walton <cwalton@unlv.nevada.edu>
President, Nev. Center for Public Ethics
Emeritus Professor of Ethics & Policy Studies, UNLV

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