by Jon Ralston Tue, 04/02/2013 - 17:32 Tweet Article19.pdfUPDATED BELOW WITH STATEMENT FROM SEN. MICHAEL ROBERSON AND FRIENDS, REAFFIRMING (THEY SAY) LEGISLATIVE SUPREMACY: That's the gist of an exchange of letters I have obtained and posted here. Some good reading. Bye bye mining tax alternative. Hello, margins tax campaign. Unless the Legislature passes a tax package..... ROBERSON ET AL STATEMENT: Senators Roberson, Kieckhefer, Hardy, Brower, Hammond and HutchisonReaffirm Constitutional Authority of the Legislature History has demonstrated that separation of powers is fundamental to our system of government under the Nevada Constitution. Any attempt by the executive branch to usurp legislative authority in areas specifically reserved to the legislature--including the various means by which legislation may be approved or rejected--is inappropriate and constitutionally suspect. With these principles in mind, we have reviewed the legal arguments of the Office of the Governor, which boil down to about a page of legal analysis. We have also reviewed the half-page response of the secretary of state’s office containing no legal analysis after spending one business day considering the opinion offered by the governor’s office. The secretary of state refers to “consultation”with the attorney general’s office, but presents no legal analysis from the attorney general. We remain highly confident in the legal opinion of the Legislative Counsel Bureau,which has analyzed legislative and constitutional arguments for decades for both Republican and Democratic legislators. LCB’s opinion that the Legislature is not required to take specific legislative action to reject the margins tax initiative is carefully researched, well reasoned, and persuasive. Indeed, LCB has specifically stated in response to the executive branch’s recent position, “if the Legislature proposes and passes a competing legislative measure under Article 19, Section 2(3), all state executive branch officers must presume that the competing measure is constitutional, they musttreat it as a valid legislative measure and they must perform their constitutional and statutory duties based on that presumption unless and until the judicial branch declares otherwise.” (Emphasis added.) Comments:
UPDATED BELOW WITH STATEMENT FROM SEN. MICHAEL ROBERSON AND FRIENDS, REAFFIRMING (THEY SAY) LEGISLATIVE SUPREMACY:
That's the gist of an exchange of letters I have obtained and posted here.
Some good reading.
Bye bye mining tax alternative.
Hello, margins tax campaign.
Unless the Legislature passes a tax package.....
ROBERSON ET AL STATEMENT:
Comments: