Nevada District 36 Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, has five bill draft requests for the upcoming state legislative session, including one allowing rebates to parents sending their children to private schools and another requiring a two-thirds vote on initiatives like the proposed sales tax increase on the ballot in the November 2006 election.

Goedhart said he has yet to come up with details on a bill revising residency requirements for candidates running for office.

Goedhart said that wasn't filed in response to a case in 5th District Court last July challenging the residency of Pahrump resident Harley Kulkin, who lived in Nye County District 1 but moved a trailer to District 3 to run against incumbent Nye County Commissioner Gary Hollis. Visiting Judge Joe Bonaventure ruled in Kulkin's favor.

"It's trying to prevent carpetbaggers who really don't live in a district from setting up this quasi-residency to get around the intent of the law," Goedhart said. "I think there's been enough abuse around the state that it's something that has relevance to the entire state of Nevada."

"Our intent is to beef up those definitions of what constitutes residency. Otherwise anyone from anywhere can go ahead and park a travel trailer in spot A who doesn't have to live there and run for a spot in a district he doesn't really even live in. The whole thing about these districts is people can have home representation, one of their own who will represent their needs and wishes, not someone who might be viewed as a political opportunist," he said.

Among his other bills:

* Conservative commentator Chuck Muth publicized his bill draft to amend the state constitution allowing tax rebates for eligible students who attend private schools. Goedhart said that would give parents of children educated outside of the public school system up to 75 percent of the base guarantee.

Goedhart said that version of school vouchers long advocated by conservative Republicans will save money for the state in this era of scarce tax dollars.

"They won't have to build as many expensive new schools for increasing enrollment and it will only credit a part of the tuition," Goedhart said.

* Another major bill would amend the Nevada Constitution to require a two-thirds majority on a citizen's initiative to raise taxes. That would appear to target an initiative like a measure that passed by only 15 votes in November 2006 to increase the Nye County sales tax a half percent.

While Goedhart supported an amendment to an assembly bill on the last day of the legislative session in 2007 that would allow Nye County commissioners to increase the sales tax following that close election, he indicated his bill draft relates to that whole issue.

Goedhart said state legislators need a two-thirds vote to pass a tax increase, it should be the same way for citizen's ballot initiatives.

"When you have two-thirds voting for a tax increase it's probably necessary. But the way you get special interests in there, it could be 50 percent plus two," Goedhart said. "That's additional protection to the taxpayer."

* Another bill draft was introduced at the request of Pahrump Utility Co. Inc. and developer Tim Hafen. Goedhart said that would free up smaller utilities from having to pay for expensive rate studies, which ends up being passed on to the consumer.

* Another bill draft would allow counties to keep all the money from the leasing of federal lands. Prior to a one-day special budget session last month, counties received half of all the proceeds from geothermal leases and one-quarter of the royalties from oil leases after the first $7 million. The state removed that $7 million cap in that special session.

Goedhart said if the money is generated in rural Nevada, it ought to stay in rural Nevada. He anticipates his position diverting all the money to the counties will be a starting point in the negotiations.

"We have to subsidize the counties to diversify their economies. We know gaming and tourism are not recession proof," Goedhart said. "It's patently unfair that the state is going to go against decades of law and practice and now try to basically upend the whole process."

* Goedhart will attempt to reintroduce a bill similar to Assembly Bill 425, which requires top officials in fedreal agencies to sign off on protests of water rights.

Goedhart said that is similar to the position taken by PISTOL, the People's Initiative to Stop the Taking of our Land, which revised the law on confiscating land by eminent domain.

"In Nevada we have property rights not only as it pertains to land, the physical dirt, but also water rights. This is to try to give the same protection to water rights as what PISTOL did in the last legislative session did for dirt," he said.