It's the same old bunch at the 2001 Legislature

There won't be many new faces at the 2001 legislature. In fact, for the first time in state history, there will be no new faces in Nevada's Senate.

Every incumbent running in Tuesday's election won re-election except for Assemblywoman Gene Segerblom, D-Boulder City, who was ousted by Republican David Brown.

Beyond that, the only new faces will be Debbie Smith in Sparks District 30, replacing the late Jan Evans, and Democrat John Oceguera replacing Kelly Thomas, who decided not to run.

Only three new lawmakers will arrive for orientation this year.

"It's the smallest turnover in the state's history," said Legislative Counsel Bureau Director Lorne Malkiewich.

At the same time, the two longest serving state senators, the two longest serving Assembly members and the man who has served more years altogether in the Legislature than anyone else in state history will all be back for the 2001 session.

The man with the most time is Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, who is halfway through a term which will bring his legislative service to 40 years - 16 in the Assembly and the rest in the Senate. He has said he will retire in 2002, which would coincide with reapportionment plans that call for reducing the number of Senate seats in the north by eliminating his district.

Not far behind him is Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, who Tuesday won his 18th Assembly term. When he finishes, he will have 36 years in the lower house. No. 2 in Assembly service is Bob Price, D-North Las Vegas, who Tuesday won the right to extend his tenure to 28 years.

The Senate is equally gray bearded with the both of its longest serving members, Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, both winning new terms. If they serve out the next four years, each man will have a total of 32 years in the Nevada Senate.

The static nature of the Nevada Legislature is ironic when one considers that most of the record holders supported term limits, which will kick in in 2010.

That provision, now in the state constitution, limits a person to no more than 12 years in each house. Jacobsen exceeds that in each of the two houses already.

"People will have to decide either to run for the other house or to leave," said Malkiewich.

While very few of the faces will be new, leadership in the Assembly is expected to shift. Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, will replace Dini as speaker. Dini has served as speaker eight times. No other legislator has done so more than twice.

Raggio is expected to keep the title of Senate majority leader, his seventh in that position.

By contrast, the biggest turnover in recent years followed reapportionment in 1991. According to LCB Research Director Bob Erickson, voters that year picked 23 new legislators, re-elected two who were out of the Legislature for at least one term and moved two others from the Assembly to the Senate. When the shuffling was completed, there were five new faces in the Senate and 22 in the Assembly - a majority - for a total of 27.

Even though she lost her seat this election, Segerblom is a member of an exclusive club as one of just two third-generation legislators in Nevada history. Her mother Hazel Bell Wines was Humboldt County's assemblywoman in the 1935 session and her grandfather William Bell was Humboldt's senator 1907-1913.