Opinion ID: 1118998
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Effect of 1977 Amendments.

Text: NRS 241.030, as originally enacted, [7] expressly allowed a public body to consider appointment, employment or dismissal of public officers or employees in closed session. In 1977 the legislature amended the statute to its present form, and deleted the express provision allowing appointment, employment or dismissal in closed session. 1977 Nev. Stat. 1100. The statute now allows consideration of a person's character, alleged misconduct, professional competence or physical or mental health. NRS 241.030(1). Subsection (3)(e) of the statute expressly prohibits the appointment of a person in closed session. Employment and dismissal are no longer expressly mentioned in the statute. Where a statute is amended, provisions of the former statute omitted from the amended statute are repealed. City of Reno v. Stoddard, 40 Nev. 537, 543, 167 P. 317, 318 (1917); Cawley v. Pershing County, 50 Nev. 237, 255 P. 1073 (1927). It is ordinarily presumed that the legislature, by deleting an express portion of a law, intended a substantial change in the law. Crane, Hastings & Co. v. Gloster, 13 Nev. 279, 280-281 (1878); accord, Brousseau v. Fitzgerald, 138 Ariz. 453, 675 P.2d 713 (1984); People v. Dillon, 668 P.2d 697 (Cal. 1983). These rules of statutory construction demonstrate that the legislature intended to require open meetings for the decision to terminate a public employee, because the legislature deleted the former provision of the statute which expressly allowed termination in closed session.