Leading Democrats request bill draft rule inspired by Carson's Knecht

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus and Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley want to require lawmakers to put their names on all requests for legislation.

The proposal by the two Las Vegas Democrats was inspired by the actions of Assemblyman Ron Knecht, R-Carson City, who last week put in a request for legislation to rename the state "East California" and designate the state song as "Taxman" and the state animal the "RINO" -- an acronym for "Republican In Name Only."

Lawmakers now currently allowed to request legislation without making public the identity of the requester. Titus and others have tried to change that rule without success.

Knecht's request was listed anonymously and taken as a slap at Gov. Kenny Guinn for his proposed $1 billion tax package. That prompted a 45-minute meeting between Knecht and the governor to discuss the issue last week.

Asked about the request, Knecht said it didn't cost the state a dime because he specifically told Deputy Legislative Counsel Kim Morgan it was a joke and not to spend any time actually drafting the legislation. He also pointed out that he was only repeating jokes that had been told behind closed doors in GOP caucus meetings.

Titus said the idea is to prevent the use of the legislative process for jokes and to make the legislative process more open.

"We have a tremendous amount of very serious business to conduct on behalf of our constituents in a very limited time frame," she said.

She said that knowing who requested each piece of legislation early in the process helps all interested parties become involved.

She and Buckley said that even though the legislation was prompted by the "East California" bill draft, the main purpose of the bill is to improve and further open the legislative process to the public.