Assembly Bill No. 551–Committee on Ways and Means

 

CHAPTER..........

 

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:

 

    Section 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:

    1.  A significant percentage of the workload of the Commission

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

and counties in this state; and

    2.  The proportion of the workload of the Commission that

relates to each larger city or county correlates approximately to the

proportion that the population of that city or county bears to the

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

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

thereto a new section to read as follows:

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

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

within such a county shall pay an assessment for the costs

incurred by the Commission each biennium in carrying out its

functions pursuant to NRS 281.411 to 281.581, inclusive. The total

amount of money to be derived from assessments paid pursuant to

this subsection for a biennium must be determined by the

Legislature in the legislatively approved budget of the Commission

for that biennium. The assessments must be apportioned among

each such city and county based on the proportion that the total

population of the city or the total population of the unincorporated

area of the county bears to the total population of all such cities

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

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

Executive Director shall, in consultation with the Budget Division

of the Department of Administration and the Fiscal Analysis

Division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, determine for the next

ensuing biennium the amount of the assessments due for each city

and county that is required to pay an assessment pursuant to

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

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

February 1 of each year of the biennium. The Executive Director

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

which states the amount of the semi-annual installment payment

due from the city or county.

    3.  Any money that the Commission receives pursuant to

subsection 2:

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

separately in the State General Fund and credited to the budget

account for the Commission;

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

inclusive, and only to the extent authorized for expenditure by the

Legislature; and

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

fiscal year.

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

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

efforts to collect the delinquent payment. If the Executive Director

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

amount of the unpaid installment payment to the Department of

Taxation. If the Department of Taxation receives such a claim, the

Department shall deduct the amount of the claim from money that

would otherwise be allocated from the Local Government Tax

Distribution Account to the city or county that owes the

installment payment and shall transfer that amount to the

Commission.

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

population estimate for that city or county as determined and

published by the Department of Taxation and the demographer

employed pursuant to NRS 360.283.

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

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

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

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

additional expenses of a local government that are related to the

provisions of this act.

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

 

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