Lawmakers work on ‘green’ bill

CARSON CITY -- Nevada lawmakers worked Tuesday on a new bill revising "green" building tax breaks -- one already in the works when Gov. Jim Gibbons vetoed a temporary ban on the breaks -- and also questioned his executive order that accompanied the veto.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said legislative counsel already has indicated that Gibbons has no legal authority to overturn legislation passed in 2005 by the Legislature by issuing an executive order.

"It's my understanding that our legal staff considers that to be unconstitutional," Titus said. "And I think that we cannot afford to let that be a precedent where the governor can overturn legislation with an executive order or in the future he will never bother with a veto."

A written opinion to that effect is expected today, although what lawmakers will do with it remains uncertain.

Titus said the Legislature probably will have to take some action in regard to the executive order -- which suspended the tax breaks through June 4 for all but four projects -- to make it clear that lawmakers are on record as believing the governor's action is unconstitutional.

Melissa Subbotin, press secretary to Gibbons, reiterated that the governor and his legal counsel, "believe we have acted within the legal parameters of the law."

In announcing his decision on Monday, Gibbons said, "suspending regulatory enforcement, or any regulations, I do have authority to do that as chief executive of the state."

The governor has no plans to release any information provided to him from Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto on how to deal with the issue, she said.

As to the veto, the Senate did not read Gibbons' veto message on the Senate floor Tuesday, and no date for consideration of a veto override has been set. There is no requirement for the Senate to take up an override of the veto if it chooses not to.

Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, met with members of the Assembly on Tuesday in preparation for a joint hearing of the Senate and Assembly Commerce and Labor committees on Friday on the proposed new green legislation.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said the legislation is expected to address a range of issues, from how the application process should work to whether school budgets should be held harmless from any loss of tax revenue to the appropriate level of the tax breaks, she said.

But most of the discussion Tuesday was whether Gibbons acted properly in issuing an executive order suspending the sales and property tax breaks for construction projects following what are known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, standards.

In the executive order, Gibbons said that Article 5, Section 1 of the Nevada Constitution provides that the supreme executive power of the state is vested with the governor. Citing that authority, Gibbons then suspended regulations implementing Assembly Bill 3 of the 22nd special session that have been adopted by the Nevada Tax Commission, the Department of Taxation, the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and the Nevada Office of Energy, but only through June 4.

Titus said that even with the exemption of the four projects from the suspension of the tax breaks, other companies seeking the benefits could still theoretically have a cause of action against the state if the program is changed or they are denied participation.

Projects exempted from Gibbons' executive order include the $7.4 billion CityCenter project on the Strip, which will be exempted from $100 million in local and schools sales tax exemptions over three years; the Fontainebleau project in Las Vegas with nearly $38 million in sales tax exemptions; and The Palazzo, being built by the Las Vegas Sands Corp., with about $24 million in sales and use taxes. A fourth project is in Reno, a service center for the Patagonia company.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.