Assembly Bill No. 551–Committee on Ways and Means

 

May 31, 2003

____________

 

Referred to Committee on Ways and Means

 

SUMMARY—Requires certain local governments to pay periodic assessments for portion of costs of operating Commission on Ethics. (BDR 23‑1368)

 

FISCAL NOTE:  Effect on Local Government: Yes.

                           Effect on the State: No.

 

CONTAINS UNFUNDED MANDATE (§ 2)

(Not Requested by Affected Local Government)

 

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EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.

 

AN ACT relating to the Commission on Ethics; requiring certain local governments to pay periodic assessments for a portion of the costs of operating the Commission; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

1-1  Section 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:

1-2  1.  A significant percentage of the workload of the Commission

1-3  on Ethics relates to public officers and employees of the larger cities

1-4  and counties in this state; and

1-5  2.  The proportion of the workload of the Commission that

1-6  relates to each larger city or county correlates approximately to the

1-7  proportion that the population of that city or county bears to the

1-8  population of all the larger cities and counties in this state.

1-9  Sec. 2.  Chapter 281 of NRS is hereby amended by adding

1-10  thereto a new section to read as follows:

1-11      1.  Each county whose population is more than 10,000 and

1-12  each city whose population is more than 10,000 and that is located

1-13  within such a county shall pay an assessment for the costs

1-14  incurred by the Commission each biennium in carrying out its

1-15  functions pursuant to NRS 281.411 to 281.581, inclusive. The total

2-1  amount of money to be derived from assessments paid pursuant to

2-2  this subsection for a biennium must be determined by the

2-3  Legislature in the legislatively approved budget of the Commission

2-4  for that biennium. The assessments must be apportioned among

2-5  each such city and county based on the proportion that the total

2-6  population of the city or the total population of the unincorporated

2-7  area of the county bears to the total population of all such cities

2-8  and the unincorporated areas of all such counties in this state.

2-9  2.  On or before July 1 of each odd-numbered year, the

2-10  Executive Director shall, in consultation with the Budget Division

2-11  of the Department of Administration and the Fiscal Analysis

2-12  Division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, determine for the next

2-13  ensuing biennium the amount of the assessments due for each city

2-14  and county that is required to pay an assessment pursuant to

2-15  subsection 1. The assessments must be paid to the Commission in

2-16  semi-annual installments that are due on or before August 1 and

2-17  February 1 of each year of the biennium. The Executive Director

2-18  shall send out a billing statement to each such city or county

2-19  which states the amount of the semi-annual installment payment

2-20  due from the city or county.

2-21      3.  Any money that the Commission receives pursuant to

2-22  subsection 2:

2-23      (a) Must be deposited in the State Treasury, accounted for

2-24  separately in the State General Fund and credited to the budget

2-25  account for the Commission;

2-26      (b) May only be used to carry out NRS 281.411 to 281.581,

2-27  inclusive, and only to the extent authorized for expenditure by the

2-28  Legislature; and

2-29      (c) Does not revert to the State General Fund at the end of any

2-30  fiscal year.

2-31      4.  If any installment payment is not paid on or before the date

2-32  on which it is due, the Executive Director shall make reasonable

2-33  efforts to collect the delinquent payment. If the Executive Director

2-34  is not able to collect the arrearage, he shall submit a claim for the

2-35  amount of the unpaid installment payment to the Department of

2-36  Taxation. If the Department of Taxation receives such a claim, the

2-37  Department shall deduct the amount of the claim from money that

2-38  would otherwise be allocated from the Local Government Tax

2-39  Distribution Account to the city or county that owes the

2-40  installment payment and shall transfer that amount to the

2-41  Commission.

2-42      5.  As used in this section, “population” means the current

2-43  population estimate for that city or county as determined and

2-44  published by the Department of Taxation and the demographer

2-45  employed pursuant to NRS 360.283.

3-1  Sec. 3.  NRS 281.411 is hereby amended to read as follows:

3-2  281.411  NRS 281.411 to 281.581, inclusive, and section 2 of

3-3  this act may be cited as the Nevada Ethics in Government Law.

3-4  Sec. 4.  The provisions of NRS 354.599 do not apply to any

3-5  additional expenses of a local government that are related to the

3-6  provisions of this act.

3-7  Sec. 5.  This act becomes effective on July 1, 2003.

 

3-8  H