Dick Flanagan
W6OLD
Via email

Dear Mr. Flanagan,

Greetings.  My name is Bob Beers and I am a part-time Nevada
Assemblyman.  The City of Las Vegas has passed an ordinance designed
to give them tight control over the location and construction of
cellular phone antenna towers.  In their haste and zeal (an
unfortunately all-too-common mix in the making of laws), they also
outlawed ham radio antennas.  Occasionally, they are enforcing the law
against hams.

Technically, this is against the FCC's PRB-1 regulation, which
expressly forbids local governments from prohibiting ham radio
antennas.  However, the FCC has very little enforcement dedicated to
amateur issues; accordingly, I have introduced Assembly Bill 61 into
the 2001 Nevada legislature.  AB-61 would write the FCC's PRB-1 into
Nevada state law, bringing the rights of ham operators, and the
backbone of federal, state and local emergency preparedness, much
closer to home.

Perhaps I speak only for myself, but I know in high school I was too
busy building Heathkits, tuning long wires, and garnering CW contacts
to pay attention to my high school civics class.  Accordingly, I
thought it might be appropriate to describe for your readers how a
bill becomes a law.

Once introduced into the house of origin (in the case of AB 61, the
Assembly) the bill is referred to a committee for study.  The
committee will schedule a hearing, announced 3 to 10 days ahead of
time, where interested parties are invited to testify as to the merits
or demerits of the bill.

In the case of AB 61, the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs has
been assigned but has not yet scheduled a hearing.  I will let you
know as soon as a schedule has been set.

The members of the committee may then either kill the bill, vote it
back out to the full Assembly (typically with a recommendation to pass
the bill), or vote to amend it and send the amended bill back out to
the full Assembly.  If the full Assembly votes to pass the bill, then
it is referred to the State Senate, where the same process is
repeated.  If the full Senate passes the bill, then it is referred to
the Governor, who either signs it or vetoes it.  If the Governor signs
it, it becomes law.

There are five times when you and your readers can help this bill's
passage by emailing, faxing, telephoning or snail-mailing your
support: once when the Assembly committee is deliberating it, once
when the full Assembly deliberates it, once when the Senate committee
deliberates it, once when the full Senate deliberates it, and once
when it is on the Governor's desk for his signature.  At each one of
these times,  communications should be directed to whoever is
deliberating the bill (either committee members, the full legislative
body, or the governor).

If you have Northern Nevada readers with extra time on their hands,
they are invited to attend any committee hearings.  In addition, I
would be honored to have you sit on the floor with me when (if) the
bill comes before the full Assembly for a vote.

Thanks,


Bob Beers
Assemblyman, Dist. 4
WB7EHN