Inside Politics - September 2004

Ballot Questions 2004

Raise Even More Questions

by Tom Clark

Ballot questions are the moving targets in this year’s election. We know which candidates are seeking public office, but getting a fix on what questions the Nevada voters will decide on November 2 is a much more fluid effort. As of my writing this in mid-August, there are six statewide ballot questions that, if approved, could dramatically change the language of Nevada’s Constitution and the landscape of our government.

Let’s review what will be on the ballot this year. The first two ballot questions focus on education and how we fund schools in our state. Ballot Question 1, the "Education First Initiative," would amend the Nevada Constitution to require the Legislature to fund education before other components of the state budget. This initiative is the result of the 2003 session’s bitter budget and tax battles, which held education funding hostage for several months.

Ballot Question 2 is called "Improve Nevada Public School Funding to the National Average." This measure would do just that: require Nevada’s per-pupil funding to equal the national average. Currently, Nevada’s per-pupil spending is more than $1,000 below the national average.

Ballot Question 3, the "Keep Our Doctors in Nevada" question, is another outgrowth of the 2003 Legislature and the contentious medical malpractice insurance issue. It would essentially roll back the malpractice legislation approved last year, replacing it with the version preferred by doctors that includes caps on attorney’s fees and non-economic damages.

"The Insurance Rate Reduction and Reform Act," Ballot Question 4, adds an entire new section to the Constitution making a variety of changes to the insurance industry. The question would require the industry to submit to consumer and antitrust regulation, set caps on insurance rates and increases, and tie the reduction of medical malpractice jury awards to decisions by insurance carriers to reduce malpractice insurance rates.

The "Stop Frivolous Lawsuits and Protect Your Legal Rights Act" is Ballot Question 5. If approved, this question would require lawyers who willfully initiate or defend frivolous lawsuits to be held personally responsible for attorney’s fees, court costs and expenses, in addition to any fines imposed by a court.

Ballot Question 6 is the "Raise the Minimum Wage for Working Nevadans" question, aimed at raising the minimum wage paid by employers in the state. This petition would require employers that do not provide health insurance to pay a higher minimum wage rate than employers who provide insurance coverage.

While all of these petitions raise issues of merit, voters have a special responsibility to protect the sanctity and integrity of our state constitution. We must consider whether the constitution is the most appropriate place to regulate insurance rates and set the rate of education funding. A vote to amend our constitution should not be cast lightly.

Consider that every initiative on the ballot reflects a failed attempt to effect a statutory change at the Legislature. Every issue proposed on the ballot already has been raised, debated and voted on by the state Legislature, and for various reasons – some good and some not so good – each has been rejected. Even the savviest producer cannot condense years of debate on these complicated issues into truly informative commercials for TV or sound bites for the newspaper.

And so voters are left to seek out the specifics of each question on their own, and separate the facts from the fiction and the spin. This year’s election is being billed as one that is critical in keeping or changing (depending on your political view) the course of this country. We could say the same thing for our state

Tom Clark
Tom Clark is principal of Syndetic Partners, specializing in lobbying, government affairs and public relations services.