"That's what he told (Legislative Counsel Bureau Director) Lorne Malkiewich," Guinn press secretary Greg Bortolin told The Associated Press. "But the proclamation has not been issued to make it official. "

Guinn has until July 26 to issue a formal proclamation, Bortolin said, adding that the governor expects the session to last three days.

The state's 63 lawmakers will meet here to consider an insurance crisis that has doctors in southern Nevada balking at delivering babies and performing high-risk surgeries.

The crisis caused a 10-day closure of Nevada's only top-level trauma center, located in Las Vegas, after 58 orthopedic doctors resigned due to their skyrocketing insurance costs.

Guinn has said the issue of caps on damages for pain and suffering will be the key to the lawmakers' debate on ways to bring the rates down and end the crisis.

Doctors are pushing for a Nevada version of a tort reform law passed in California in 1975. That law includes a $250,000 cap on damages for pain and suffering.

Guinn favors tort reform, but questions whether Nevada would adopt the $250,000 cap. He notes Utah and other states that have caps on non-economic damages allow for periodic adjustments to account for inflation.

While doctors favor the $250,000 cap, malpractice lawyers argue such limits would allow insurers to take advantage of injured patients. They add that adjusting the old California cap to reflect inflation would more than triple the cap amount.

Doctors, lawyers and insurance industry representatives have been meeting privately in efforts to come up with recommendations to be forwarded to Guinn. But Guinn had said he'd call the special session whether or not there was an advance agreement.

Word of the special session date came a day after two new lawmakers were named from the Las Vegas area to serve in the session.

The Clark County Commission on Wednesday picked two Republicans - Christine Milburn, a friend and campaign volunteer for former state Sen. Jon Porter, and Jesse Paulk, a retired general contractor - to replace Porter and former Sen. Mark James, who resigned since the last regular session in 2001.

Milburn replaces Porter, a Republican from Henderson who's now running for Congress against Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, a Democrat.

Paulk, an officer with the Associated General Contractors organization, replaces James, a Las Vegas Republican who's running for the Clark County Commission.

Guinn knows Paulk and Milburn, Bortolin said. Guinn appointed Paulk to the state's Public Works Board, and he worked with Milburn while raising money for a veterans cemetery in Boulder City.

Paulk and Milburn won unanimous approval after assuring county commissioners they will vote independently on medical malpractice issues rather than on behalf of doctors, lawyers or other special interests.

State law required that the commission appoint Republicans who live in the state Senate districts that existed before the boundaries were redrawn after the 2000 census.

Legislative leaders already are outlining the rules they intend to adopt for the session.

Senate leader, Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he favors limiting the number of bill drafts that can be requested by lawmakers and conducting hearings before the entire 21-member Senate instead of in various committees.

Raggio said he hadn't discussed that process with minority leaders or with Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, the speaker of the 42-member Assembly.

The Nevada Legislature's last special session was last year, to deal with reapportionment and other issues left hanging after the close of the regular 2001 session. The special session, the first since 1989, started the morning of June 14 and ended just after midnight on June 15.