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That's the gist of an answer from legislative lawyers to the writ filed by troubled Assemblyman Steven Brooks at the state Supreme Court.
The highlights, with page numbers of the 45-page document, which is attached here:
I. Standard of review. .....................................................................................10
II. Because the Assembly seated the Petitioner and did not exclude him from his legislative seat for failing to meet the qualifications of his office, the decision in...
UPDATE: Lest you think the timing was an accident, the Democrats filed this on the eve of a hearing on Hickey and Brower's bill that was inspired by ex-Democratic Speaker Barbara Buckley. Tit for tat? Ya think?
A former Democratic Party chairman has filed a complaint alleging former GOP Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert illegally kept campaign funds, then funneled them to a PAC she controlled and then disbursed the money.
The complaint, field today by ex-Washoe Democratic Party Chairman Chris Wicker...
This is where lobbyists matter:
XPressWest, under attack from Paul Ryan and Jeff Sessions, now has a letter of support (attached here), from Nevada legislative leaders, including two Republicans.
The missive reads like a news release from XPressWest's consultants, R&R Partners, which has a strong capital presence and has been aggressively pushing back since the GOP attack on the train.
So now the XPressWest has brought together Harry Reid and Dean Heller as well as a bipartisan group of...
On Tuesday in Nevada's capital, two committees will meet, and the results are freighted with historic significance.
At 1 PM, the Senate Revenue and Economic Development Committee will consider SJR 15, which would take mining taxation out of the Constitutio0n, assuming voters, as is likley, approve it next year.
At 6 PM, at the Carson City Courthouse, Assemblyman Steven Brooks will face a tribunal of his peers -- one that could put him on the path to expulsion -- inartfully and unimaginatively...
Here’s what we know:
The margins tax is dead, but will live on the 2014 ballot.
Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson has a plan, but it’s not drafted yet.
The Democrats want more revenue, but their path to get there is unclear.
Here’s what we don’t know:
Most lawmakers don’t trust Roberson.
The mining industry’s scare tactics include threatening to blow a huge hole in the budget and suing to preserve their rights not to pay any more taxes (or less).
The Democrats will have a plan that...
UPDATED WITH DELEGATION COMMENTS BELOW
The House budget plan up for a vote this week would effectively repeal a critical piece of legislation passed 15 years ago that has brought billions to Nevada conservation and infrastructure projects.
The budget would put most of those funds instead toward deficit reduction, essentially erasing the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, one of the prize feathers in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's cap and a true delegation accomplishment. The...
Will SJR15, which would take mining taxation out of the Constitution, pass the Legislature?
Primary tabs
Yes
73% (102 votes)
No
26% (37 votes)
Total votes: 139
One of the reasons mining's Carson City clout is so formidable is because the industry knows it must extinguish taxing efforts in that compliant universe lest the effort get before less-friendly voters.
This is not some hypothetical; there is plenty of empirical evidence. Here's some:
Before he abandoned his attempt to tax mining last year, businessman Monte Miller hired master voter contact man Billy Rogers to gauge support. So Rogers went door-to-door asking folks how they felt about raising...
When the Legislature missed the 40-day deadline to act on the margins tax, they rejected it by inaction, according to the Legislative Counsel Bureau.
Even though the Constitution uses the word "reject," and some lawyers believe a vote must be taken, the LCB disagrees, as state Sen. Michael Roberson has been saying.
The opinion, attached here, essentially says: There is more than one way to reject an initiative.
This could be critical because if a court does not construe inaction as rejection,...