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The bill was the
last approved by the Assembly as members beat a
Tuesday deadline to have legislation receive approval
from at least one house of the Legislature.
The original tip bill, Assembly Bill 357, had been
devised by Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Henderson, because
of the tip sharing order in September at Wynn Las
Vegas.
Beers was pleased with the move to revive his
proposal.
"This does essentially what my original bill did," he
said. "This protects those people who depend on tips
for their living."
Under AB248, casino employees, such as dealers, who
help patrons may pool their tips with other workers.
But a casino worker who does not customarily receive
tips "may not participate in an agreement to pool tips
and gratuities."
Anderson, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee,
said the original bill failed because of a lack of
time for members to agree on amendments.
According to the Legislature's Web site opinion poll,
nearly 1,600 people supported that bill, compared with
60 against.
At the hearing on the original tip bill, Wynn
executives said the tip sharing move was done to
correct what had been a widening disparity between the
wages earned by dealers and casino floor executives.
In an interview, Anderson said pit bosses often do not
make much more than dealers. But he said they often
voluntarily decide to take that job, considering it a
step up from being a dealer.
"Their hourly wage is different, higher than dealers
and they can count on that," he added.
But dealers might receive only $200 to $300 a week in
take-home pay, Anderson said.
"Having worked my way through college in a casino, I
know how dependent on tips people are who work in
gaming," Anderson said. "Those are minimum-wage jobs.
They depend on tips to live on."
While some Las Vegas dealers might make $80,000 to
$100,000 a year in tips, he said, that is not the case
everywhere, especially in Northern Nevada.
All 27 Democrats and five of the 15 Republicans in the
Assembly supported the bill.
Assembly Minority Leader Garn Mabey, R-Las Vegas, said
they did not receive the amendment until 30 minutes
before the vote. That was not enough time to consult
people in the gaming industry, he said.
As a principle, he said, Republicans don't "want to
dictate to businesses how they run their businesses." |
