Existing law: (1) creates the Legislative Fund as a special revenue fund for the use of the Legislative Department of the State Government; (2) provides that money in the Legislative Fund does not revert to the State General Fund; and (3) requires money to be paid out of the Legislative Fund only on claims approved by the Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau or his or her designee. (NRS 218A.150) Existing law further provides that when various items or services provided at the expense of the Legislative Fund are sold, the proceeds from such sales are deposited in the Legislative Fund. (NRS 218F.410-218F.440) Section 2 of this bill clarifies that proceeds from the sales of food or other items in the Legislative Building or any building maintained for the use of the Legislature or the Legislative Counsel Bureau must be similarly deposited in the Legislative Fund. Section 1 of this bill makes a conforming change relating to the petty cash account of the Legislative Counsel Bureau to account for the clarification made by section 2. Existing law reserves the powers and duties relating to the revision of statutes and the compilation, organization, revision and publication of the Nevada Revised Statutes to the Legislative Counsel and the Legal Division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau. (Chapter 220 of NRS) Specifically, the Legislative Counsel is: (1) required to classify and arrange the entire body of statute laws in logical order throughout the volumes of the Nevada Revised Statutes to enable subjects of a kindred nature to be placed under one general head; and (2) authorized to create new titles, chapters and sections of the Nevada Revised Statutes as may be required to effectuate the orderly and logical arrangement of the statutes. (NRS 220.120) In prior opinions, the Nevada Supreme Court has recognized that, based on the separation-of-powers provision in the Nevada Constitution, each state office, agency, court or other entity “must have a primary connection to and derive its power to act from one of the three branches of Nevada government.” (Comm'n on Ethics v. Hardy, 125 Nev. 285, 298, 212 P.3d 1098, 1107 (2009); Whitehead v. Nev. Comm'n on Jud. Discipline, 110 Nev. 128, 159, 906 P.2d 230, 249 (1994); Galloway v. Truesdell, 83 Nev. 13, 19, 422 P.2d 237, 241 (1967) (“The Constitution of the State of Nevada distributes governmental powers into the Legislative, Executive and Judicial departments; and each department is separate from the others.”). However, in a recent opinion, the Nevada Supreme Court erroneously construed the Legislative Counsel's decisions in organizing the Nevada Revised Statutes by title, distinguished by subject, as required by law, to be a decision by the Legislature which “indicated its understanding” that certain agencies of the Executive Department of the State Government fall outside “the three departments of state government.” (Nev. Policy Research Institute, Inc. v. Miller, 140 Nev. Adv. Op. 69, 558 P.3d 319, 327 (2024)) Section 3 of this bill provides that each state office, agency, court or other entity must have a primary connection to and be part of one of the three departments of the State Government, and no state office, agency, court or other entity is created, exists or functions outside of the three departments of the State Government. Section 3 also: (1) clarifies that the Legislative Counsel's decisions in organizing the Nevada Revised Statutes to effectuate the orderly and logical arrangement of the statutes and to classify the body of statute law by subject matter, as required by law, is not a decision by the Legislature as to which department of the State Government any state office, agency, court or other entity is located or to exclude any state office, agency, court or other entity from the three departments of the State Government; and (2) prohibits construing the organization of the Nevada Revised Statutes in such a manner. Existing law reserves to the Legislature the supervision and control of the property of the Legislative Department and requires title to such property to be held in the name of the Legislature of the State of Nevada. (NRS 331.135) Contingent upon the completion of the purchase of a certain parcel of land in Carson City, section 4 of this bill includes the parcel among the property for which supervision and control is reserved to the Legislature.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 218F.220, 218F.430, 331.135
As Enrolled: 218F.220, 218F.430, 331.135