Opinion ID: 2460291
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: B. 6, section 18 is a local and special law

Text: The CWC and The M Resort argue that because A.B. 6, section 18 applies in only a single Nevada county, and only to users of the municipal or county sewer systems in that county, it is a local law, and because it applies specifically and directly to a single entity in the state to the exclusion of all others similarly situated, it is a special law. The CWC also points out that the assembly bill's text admits that it is being used in lieu of a general law. The State responds that even though, on its face, A.B. 6, section 18 operates selectively in a few political subdivisions and in only a limited geographical area, it is not a local or special law because it advances supervening statewide budget concerns that transcend purely local interests. The State also urges this court to disregard the legislative admission that section 18 is being used in lieu of a general law. A law is local if it operates over a particular locality instead of over the whole territory of the State. Damus v. County of Clark, 93 Nev. 512, 516, 569 P.2d 933, 935 (1977) (citing State of Nevada v. Irwin, 5 Nev. Ill, 121 (1869)). A law is special if it pertain[s] to a part of a class as opposed to all of a class. Id. (citing Irwin, 5 Nev. at 121); see State of Nevada v. Cal. M. Co., 15 Nev. 234, 249 (1880) (describing a special law as one that imposes special burdens, or confers peculiar privileges upon one or more persons in no wise distinguished [way] from others of the same category). On the other hand, a general law is one that is applied uniformly. Nev. Const. art. 4, § 21; see Black's Law Dictionary 963 (9th ed. 2009) (defining a general law as one that is neither local nor confined in application to particular persons). In drafting A.B. 6, section 18, the Legislature found and declared that [a] general law cannot be made applicable to the provisions of this section because of special circumstances. A.B. 6, § 18(1)(c), 26th Spec. Sess. (Nev. 2010). The State acknowledges that when legislative findings are expressly included within a statute, those findings should be accorded great weight in interpreting the statute, but it points out that such findings are not binding and this court may, nevertheless, properly conclude that section 18 is a general law despite the Legislature's declaration to the contrary. McLaughlin v. L.V.H.A., 68 Nev. 84, 93, 227 P.2d 206, 210 (1951); Dunn v. Tax Commission, 67 Nev. 173, 184, 216 P.2d 985, 991 (1950). The Legislature's express finding and declaration that section 18 is not a general law, however, is consistent with the bill section's text, which, as the district court found, is directed specifically at the CWC and funds collected from wastewater treatment users within specified areas of Clark County. The law applies only to the CWC. The State argues that a law need not be operative in every part of the state to be general, but the determination of whether a law is local or special is based on how it is applied, not on how it actually operates. See County of Clark v. City of Las Vegas, 97 Nev. 260, 628 P.2d 1120 (1981) (noting that a statute with a population classification is not necessarily contrary to Article 4, Sections 20 and 21, because if the classification applies prospectively to all counties that could come within its population class, it is neither local nor special). Although the State asserts that the law is general because it advances supervening statewide concerns that transcend local interests, the case on which the State relies, State ex rel. List v. County of Douglas , does not support that proposition. 90 Nev. 272, 278, 524 P.2d 1271, 1275 (1974). Instead, in List, this court upheld a statute, enacted pursuant to a compact between Nevada and California that required the Nevada counties bordering Lake Tahoe to pay apportioned shares from their general funds to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, holding that the preservation of the region of the Lake Tahoe Basin as a natural resource for the enjoyment of all people sets it apart from the embrace of the commands of [Nevada Constitution Article 4, Sections 20 and 21]. Were we to rule otherwise, every interstate compact proposing to protect and preserve a common natural resource through an agency empowered to enact laws would be a nullity. We are wholly unable to attribute such an intention to those who wrote the prohibitions of [Article 4, Sections] 20 and 21. List, 90 Nev. at 279, 524 P.2d at 1275. Thus, the holding is based on the conclusion that the statute's purpose was to conserve a common natural resource for the enjoyment of all people that is not confined to a local area. Id. In so holding, the court in List agreed with the California Supreme Court, which, in addressing a challenge to the same compact under similar California constitutional provisions reasoned that [t]he water that the Agency is to purify cannot be confined within one county or state; . . . . The wildlife which the Agency should protect ranges freely from one local jurisdiction to another. . . . Only an agency transcending local boundaries can devise, adopt and put into operation solutions for the problems besetting the region as a whole. Indeed, the fact that the Compact is the product of the cooperative efforts and mutual agreement of two states is impressive proof that its subject matter and objectives are of regional rather than local concern. Id. (quoting People ex rel. Younger v. County of El Dorado, 5 Cal.3d 480, 96 Cal.Rptr. 553, 487 P.2d 1193, 1201 (1971)). List, unlike this case, addresses regional concerns and the preservation of a natural resource directly affected by inhabitants of that region. Here, a natural resource common to an interstate region is not at issue; instead, A.B. 6, section 18 is in the reverse and addresses statewide concerns through legislation that applies only to the CWC and funds collected from wastewater-treatment users within a certain locality. Since section 18 on its face advances statewide objectives, but burdens only the CWC by appropriating funds collected from certain residents and businesses within a particular locality for the state's general use, it is special (pertaining to only the CWC) and local (applying to only a particular locality). Damus, 93 Nev. at 516, 569 P.2d at 935; Cal. M. Co., 15 Nev. at 249.