Opinion ID: 2513964
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Remedy afforded by the court

Text: Given our intervention, the petition necessarily seeks our resolution of separate mandatory provisions in the Nevada Constitution that may remain in conflict in the current application. Section 6 of Article 11 mandates legislative funding for Nevada schools, the budget for which may be set by a simple majority of each house of the Legislature. Section 2(1) of Article 9 requires that additional taxes be created whenever projections indicate state revenue will be insufficient to defray estimated expenses of the state. And Section 18(2) of Article 4 requires that any increase in taxes must be approved by two-thirds of the members of each legislative body. Thus, while the state's education budget may be set by simple majorities of each legislative house, any new taxes to fund the budget may only be accomplished via supermajority. These provisions are not inherently in conflict; they only conflict in the event education funding is prevented by an inability to balance the budget with sufficient funding mechanisms. That is the current state of affairs, as described by the majority. I would now turn to address the following observations submitted by the Legislature in its response to the Governor's petition: With respect to the allegation that the Legislature has not balanced the state budget for the next two fiscal years, and not done so in a timely manner, that allegation is simply erroneous.... .... ... [T]he Legislature has worked diligently to fulfill its constitutional duties and continues to engage in such work, and ... complete its duties as soon as possible. .... ... The Answering Respondents [the Legislature] agree that the Legislature has a mandatory duty to provide money for education and to ensure adequate revenue to pay state expenses. The Legislature goes on in its papers filed in this case to request our forbearance to allow it to acquit its admitted constitutional responsibility to fund a state education budget. I can only observe that this Legislature has completed the mandatory 120-day session, has been convened twice in special session and has failed to fund the DSA and balance the budget. It has had plenty of time to fulfill its constitutional obligations. I would give the Legislature more time; but the exigencies of the current situation require some dispatch. Absent the immediate relief now being afforded, the Governor, of course, would have been free to amend the scope of the special session to facilitate a resolution. Also, individual legislators could, upon further deliberation, have relented to help comply with the supermajority requirements. And, as stated, there was still a window of opportunity for the two branches of government to resolve the impasse without our assistance. In the absence of an education budget crafted and funded in time to effect statutory distribution of funds to the county school districts, we could appropriately declare the impasse at an end because time then would truly be of the essence. [16] Accordingly, I would give the Legislature until July 28, 2003, to resolve the impasse [17] before intervening and considering the relief afforded today, along with other possibilities. [18] I take this opportunity to comment upon the dynamic that brings us to this point in our state's history. For years, a philosophical debate over provision of state services has been developing and is highlighted by the unparalleled population growth here in Nevada and economic conditions governed by external forces, including those attendant to the attacks of September 11, 2001. This debate is the signal feature of the 2003 legislative sessions. The primary concerns of both sets of antagonists involve the quality of state services, the extent to which state services need to be expanded and/or improved, including education services for our children, and unwise or wasteful use of state resources; resources that are paid for by the citizens of this state. This debate has been conducted in a true democratic spirit and both sides have admirably stated their cases. In my view, taking judicial notice of the public debate, considerable waste has been revealed, services can be improved, and many in our state government have been working to improve the situation. Nevertheless, it is not evident that the totality of fiscal problems facing Nevada will be solved in the near term. What is evident is that our schools must, as matter of constitutional law, be funded on or before August 1, 2003.