Opinion ID: 2630289
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The initiatives

Text: The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) is a statutorily created body that markets Las Vegas as a worldwide tourist and convention destination. It has described its mission as attracting an ever-increasing number of visitors to Southern Nevada. It also operates the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Cashman Center. It is defined in NRS 354.474 as a local government entity because it was created pursuant to NRS Chapter 244A, governing county park and recreation commissions. The LVCVA is funded primarily by room taxes imposed by the local governments in Clark County, including the County itself and its incorporated cities. Additional funding is obtained from gaming license fees imposed by most of these local governments. [2] Two of the initiatives, the Education Enhancement Act and the Funding Nevada's Priorities Act, seek to divert a portion of the LVCVA's funding to other purposes. [3] The Education Enhancement Act would devote the LVCVA's room tax and gaming license revenue over its 2006-07 level (adjusted for inflation) to the State Distributive School Account, which funds K-12 education throughout the state. The Funding Nevada's Priorities Act would divide this excess income into three equal parts, with one-third going to the State Distributive School Account; one-third to the State Highway Fund; and one-third to the Public Safety Fund, which is a fund created by the initiative to fund services such as police, fire, homeland security, and corrections. The Nevada Taxpayers Protection Act initiative petition seeks to amend the Nevada Constitution to require that at least two-thirds of the voters approve any ballot initiative proposing a statutory or constitutional law that would create, generate, or increase public revenue in any manner, before that initiative could become law. In addition, to correct a perceived loophole allowing the Legislature to enact revenue-generating initiative statutes by simple majority vote, even though it must normally enact revenue-generating statutes proposed in a bill or by joint resolution by a two-thirds vote, [4] the Taxpayers Protection initiative also states that any such initiative submitted to the Legislature would be subject to the constitutional provision requiring approval by two-thirds of the Legislature. The initiative's opponents dispute that any such loophole exists, arguing that any revenue-generating law enacted by the Legislature in whatever form, is subject to the preexisting two-thirds vote requirement.