Court Opinion

ID: 9789771
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:41:04.673987+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:24.287185
License: Public Domain

*1057Rose, J.,
dissenting:
Respectfully, I dissent.
The Legislature’s clear intent was to appropriate the funds to renovate and preserve historic and cultural treasures and to exempt the funds from the State’s constitutional debt limit. The fact that the Legislature did not designate some of the funds for the programming element of cultural resources is not problematic. The State’s desire to preserve the properties and benefit from them requires some expenditures to cover the costs of furnishings, operations, and programming. Display cases necessitate windows, tourists require places to sit, and staff members need salaries for their services. These are reasonable expenditures within the broad purpose of restoring the structures to benefit the State.
In Marlette Lake Co. v. Sawyer, 79 Nev. 334, 383 P.2d 369 (1963), this court stated:
[T]he second paragraph of Nev. Const. art. 9, § 3, enables the legislature (without regard to the debt ceiling established by the first paragraph thereof) to enter into any contract (with the United States, another state, or with anyone having the capacity to contract) which the legislature deems necessary, expedient or advisable for the purpose of securing the benefits of or protecting and preserving property or natural resources located within the geographical limits of Nevada.
Id. at 338, 383 P.2d at 371 (footnote omitted). Thus, when Article 9, § 3 of the Nevada Constitution refers to “its property or natural resources,” the term “its” has a geographical rather than a proprietary connotation. As long as property is within the geographical limits of the State of Nevada, the Legislature may exempt it from the debt ceiling. In the instant case, the Legislature has plainly deemed it advisable to preserve the property. Because the structures designated for protection and preservation are within the geographical limits of the State of Nevada, I would hold that the bonds are exempt from the constitutional debt limitation.
The Legislature knew that specific structures were the subject of the bill, and all of the structures are of significant historical value. See A.B. 590 § 2(2)(c). Almost one and one-half years have elapsed since A.B. 590 was passed. I doubt the Legislature envisioned a delay of eighteen years, or even five years, before the State would issue the bonds to finance the preservation and restoration of the structures. The length of the delay thus far sufficiently warrants the extraordinary remedy of mandamus directed toward issuing the bonds to preserve the structures. Each *1058additional day of postponement allows the natural elements, vandalism, and accidents to contribute to the deterioration of these irreplaceable properties. In fact, in A.B. 590 § 2(2)(c)(2), the Legislature designated some of these funds to restore and improve the Nixon Opera House in Winnemucca so that it would meet the requirements of the fire code, and that structure has unfortunately burned to the ground since the Legislature passed A.B. 590. If the Legislature did not intend to appropriate the funds at once and exempt them from the debt limit, the Legislature may clarify that in the 1993 session. In the meantime, I would grant the writ so that the work of restoration may begin forthwith.