Assembly Bill 229 would require cigarette manufacturers to sell only “fire-safe” cigarettes – an oxymoron if there ever was one – in Nevada beginning next year.
Passage of the bill would require the hiring of new government bureaucrats which we can’t afford….which will result in a fee increase to pay for the regulation which we can’t afford. So this is nothing more than yet another attempt to raise taxes and grow government. It is a complete waste of the Legislature’s time in the midst of this recession when they should be dealing with, in no particular order, cutting the budget, cutting the budget and cutting the budget.
Nevertheless, the bill passed in the Assembly yesterday with the votes of five of what some people might now start referring to as “Specter Republicans” – Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, Pete Goicoechea, Tom Grady, Joe Hardy and John Carpenter.
All five, not surprisingly, earlier this session voted for what is presently the second-highest tax hike in Nevada history. Go figure.
