An 11th-hour Senate bill would authorize $16.5 million in state spending to help fix a multimillion dollar foul-up in building a Nevada Highway Patrol communications system.

SB499, proposed Monday by the Senate Finance Committee, appropriates most of the money from the state's highway fund and the rest from the state's general fund. The lawmakers'Interim Finance Committee would have final say on how the money is spent.

The bill was introduced in the last week of the 2003 session after legislators were told the NHP could face big Federal Communications Commission fines for operating a communications system without proper federal licenses for three years.

NHP Col. David Hosmer, who took over as patrol chief six months ago, described the $14 million already spent on the communications system that may have to be junked as"buffoonery at its best."

Hosmer also said the patrol is conducting an internal investigation that could result in charges against employees who failed to obtain the licenses.

The patrol contracted with Motorola to build the computer radio system to link troopers with each other, the dispatch center and other law enforcement agencies. It was activated in 2000.

However, no one ever applied to the FCC for licenses for the frequencies, and the FCC is asking the patrol to get off those frequencies by June 9.

The error will force the highway patrol to switch to an old communications system, and could mean the agency will have to start over to build a system as fast and as capable as the one it would have to dismantle.

Some experts said that if FCC issues retroactive approval of the frequencies, the problem could be resolved without replacing the system.

But Hosmer said efforts to get the FCC to allow the patrol to have the frequencies retroactively have been unsuccessful.

RGJ

-- Anonymous, May 27, 2003