Control Board bill is signed into law

By Richard N. Belotta
IN BUSINESS LAS VEGAS
Week of May 18-24, 2007

Legislation that moves the effective dates of the governor’s appointments to the state Gaming Control Board has been signed into law by Gov. Jim Gibbons.

The legislation responded to an appointment earlier this year that left the board with two people laying claim to the position.

One of Gibbons’ first appointments to the three-member board sparked controversy when his appointee was different from the one selected by his predecessor, Gov. Kenny Guinn. Guinn selected his chief of staff, Keith Munro, to the position, in what was widely viewed as a political favor and was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. Gibbons wanted the Control Board’s chief of investigation, Randall Sayre, to take the job.

Gibbons had his oath of office administered at the stroke of midnight Jan. 1 so that he could immediately appoint Sayre and head off the Munro appointment.

Under terms of the legislation of AB179, which was approved unanimously by both houses of the Nevada Legislature last week, Control Board appointments will take effect on the last Monday in January, a move designed to prevent outgoing chief executives from making appointments for their successors.

Gaming law classes from UNLV presented the legislative analysis for the bill, said Las Vegas lawyer Robert Faiss, the adjunct instructor who taught the classes.

The legislation signed by Gibbons makes the succession change effective with the appointment of a board member in January 2011. A board member scheduled to be appointed in 2009 will be appointed Jan. 1 for a term expiring Jan. 25 that year.

Faiss credited the Las Vegas Sun column advocating a change in term dates written by Sun Columnist Jeff Simpson motivating the law students to draft the legislation and shepherd it through the legislative process. Simpson is also executive editor of In Business Las Vegas.