STATE OF NEVADA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Protecting Citizens, Solving Problems, Making Government Work FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Bob Harmon January 26, 1999 (775) 687-3512 FEDERAL GRANT HELPS TO OFFSET COST OF HOUSING ILLEGAL ALIENS IN STATE PRISON Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa has signed award documents accepting over $2.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Justice to help Nevada offset the state's cost due to the incarceration of undocumented criminal aliens. Del Papa signed the award documents yesterday. The Attorney General's office applied for the funding under the Fiscal Year 1998 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). This program provides partial assistance to states and local governments that are incurring costs from housing undocumented criminal aliens in their prisons. As a result, the state will receive $2,645,345 in funding under SCAAP. "This funding will help to partially reimburse the State of Nevada for the tremendous financial burden of incarcerating illegal criminal aliens," Del Papa said. Based upon the federal review of Nevada Department of Prisons' records, there are an estimated 167 illegal and reimbursable inmates currently in the state's prison system. The operating cost for fiscal year 1998 is $15,851 per inmate. STATE OF NEVADA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Protecting Citizens, Solving Problems, Making Government Work FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Marty Howard January 20, 1999 (702) 486-3120 EFFORTS OF A.G.'S INSURANCE FRAUD UNIT HELP REDUCE RATES AT NEVADA GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY The Insurance Fraud Unit of the Nevada Attorney General's office was recently cited as contributing to the reduction of insurance rates at Nevada General Insurance Company (NGIC). In a letter to its Nevada policyholders, NGIC President R.B. Feldman stated: "Although inflation continues upward in healthcare cost, and in the "sticker prices" and repair cost of automobiles, Nevada General Insurance Company, in cooperation with the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Nevada Attorney General's Insurance Fraud Unit, and the FBI, has been successful in fighting "excessive and fraudulent" claims, thereby lowering our costs in some territories." "Insurance fraud costs each Nevada family more than $200 per year in premiums. Your cooperation and our continuing efforts to reduce fraud, have a positive effect on premium rates. Many participants in insurance fraud are spending this holiday season in prison," Feldman said in the letter. "We are pleased to announce no rate increases, and a premium rate decrease for many policyholders, effective February 1, 1999." "We expanded the Insurance Fraud Unit in 1997 as part of our continuing efforts to lower insurance costs in Nevada by fighting insurance fraud. It is encouraging to see the positive impact of those efforts as reflected in Nevada General Insurance Company's notice to policyholders," Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said. "However, we must continue to devote the resources necessary and enhance our efforts to prosecute those who contribute to higher insurance costs by fraudulently dealing with insurance companies." In October of 1997, the Attorney General's office devoted additional staffing, through reorganization, to the Insurance Fraud Unit to meet the growing problem of Insurance Fraud in Nevada. During fiscal year 1998, the Unit made 24 arrests and achieved 18 convictions representing over a 150 percent increase in arrests and convictions over the previous fiscal year. So far in fiscal year 1999 (July 1 to present), the Unit has made 20 arrests and achieved 13 convictions. Persons who suspect any type of insurance fraud or workers compensation fraud should contact the Attorney General's toll-free fraud hotline at 1-800-266-8688. For more information about Nevada's Insurance Fraud Unit, please visit the Attorney General's website at http://ag.state.nv.us/ STATE OF NEVADA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Protecting Citizens, Solving Problems, Making Government Work FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Bob Harmon January 15, 1999 (775) 687-3512 MEDIA ADVISORY CBS' SIXTY MINUTES TO AIR SEGMENT ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE> IN THE MILITARY Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, Chair of the Nevada Domestic Violence Prevention Council, and Sue Meuschke, Executive Director of the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence, would like to remind the media that the CBS News Magazine Show 60 Minutes will air a special segment on Domestic Violence in the Military during their broadcast this Sunday night, January 17, 1999, immediately following the NFL Playoff game. The show takes an in-depth look at the experience of victims of domestic violence at the hands of military service members. The victims' stories are compelling. The way in which the various service branches handled these cases varied. Background for this 60 Minutes segment has been in the works since September of 1997. Interest peaked following the passage of the misdemeanor domestic violence offender gun ban which now requires the military to remove firearms from persons with misdemeanor domestic violence offenses. According to the broadcast, the service branches have been slow to implement the gun ban and disclose little about the handling of domestic violence cases. The National Network to End Domestic Violence anticipates the broadcast will encourage calls for oversight hearings and proposals for change from members of Congress and domestic violence prevention advocates. For more information on how to help with efforts to prevent Domestic Violence in Nevada, call Nevada's toll free domestic violence information and referral line at: 1-800-230-1955. If you are being abused, or know someone who is, call Nevada's Domestic Violence Hotline at: 1-800-500-1556, 24 hours a day, to get help. STATE OF NEVADA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Protecting Citizens, Solving Problems, Making Government Work FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Pam Howle January 15, 1999 (775) 688-1828 ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION GRANT WILL HELP NEVADA EFFORTS TO ENHANCE END OF LIFE CARE Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa announced today that the State of Nevada and the Sanford Center for Aging at the University of Nevada, Reno, received a $450,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to coordinate policy and practices that ensure ethical treatment for those at the end of life. Del Papa, who served as Chair of the state's Task Force on Death with Dignity and Caring, said the grant will help to establish the Nevada Center for Ethics and Health Policy. The Center will be the first of its kind in the country. According to Del Papa, the Ethics and Health Policy Center will seek to implement the following objectives: ● Develop a permanent infrastructure for coordinating and implementing ethical end of life policy. ● Demonstrate effective end of life care programs, especially in the rural areas. ● Coordinate the implementation of effective policy through enhanced education and support for professionals throughout all areas of Nevada. ● Conduct statewide multimedia campaigns to help disseminate information and awareness of end of life issues. "Our goal is to emphasize the needs of dying persons and their families including pain management, symptom control, dignity, autonomy, spirituality and emotional support," Del Papa said. "Many people are deeply concerned about the complex issues faced when loved ones are dying." Pam Howle, one of the founding members of state's Death with Dignity and Caring Task Force, and a staff member of the Attorney General's Office, has been named as Program Officer of the Nevada Center for Ethics and Health Policy effective mid-January. In August, 1996, Del Papa convened a broad-based task force consisting of health care professionals, hospice workers, educators, patient advocates, representatives of the religious community, legislators and others. The task force was co-chaired by Barbara Thorton, Ph.D., Professor of Health Ecology at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Thomas Scully, M.D., Director of the Ethics program at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. The group's mission was to encourage more sophisticated and comprehensive public discussion. It issued an action plan, Death with Dignity and Caring in Nevada, which has since been distributed statewide. The action plan is a preventive effort, aimed at making death more understandable, less painful and a more peaceful process. The recommendations contained in this report are designed to get more information to health providers, patients and their families which should help make the dying process much more humane. "We need to continue to provide tools to ensure everyone understands their own rights, and the rights of others, concerning end-of-life matters," Del Papa said. "We need to achieve greater consensus on pain management and continue to improve the quality of end of life care for a more dignified death and better pain management. Through our collective efforts, we will continue to make a difference in providing death with dignity and caring in Nevada. This grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will go a long way in supporting those efforts." The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, New Jersey, is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It became a national institution in 1972 with receipt of a bequest from the industrialist whose name it bears. Since 1972, the Foundation has made more than $52 billion in grants. Through its new grant program, Community-State Partnerships