Nevada Special Tax District Ban Measure (2012)

Not on Ballot
This measure did not or will not appear on a ballot

The Nevada Special Tax District Ban Measure did not make the November 6, 2012 general election ballot in the state of Nevada as a legislatively-referred state statute. Also known as Senate Bill 495, it was introduced on March 28, 2011 as a response to the certified sports arena ballot measure. The proposal would prohibit a special tax district in the state. Also, the bill would prohibit the creation of an area in which the sales tax was higher than other parts of the county. The measure was introduced by the Senate Revenue Committee, and according to State Senator Sheila Leslie, chairwoman of the committee, if approved by the Legislature, the bill would be placed on the 2012 ballot as a competing measure to the sports arena initiative. Leslie also stated that the proposal that received the most votes in the 2012 general election would win. However, if neither measure receives 50 percent of the vote, both would be considered rejected by voters.

Support

Supporters

• Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford stated, "This is an issue that should be left to the voters, so I will be supporting the measure."

Path to the ballot

The Senate Committee on Revenue voted unanimously to approve the measure on April 12, 2011. The measure was then placed in front of Nevada State Senate. On May 23, 2011, the state senate voted in favor of the measure, with a tally of 39 to 3. Then on May 24, 2011, the Nevada Assembly voted in favor of the measure as well. This final legislative approval sends the measure to the ballot, since it does not need to be approved in the next legislative session. Only legislatively-referred constitutional amendments need to be voted on in two successive sessions to be sent to the ballot, according to the Nevada Constitution

Removal

A lawsuit was filed against a citizen initiative in the state that lead to the Nevada Supreme Court striking that measure from the ballot, and therefore removing this competing measure from the 2012 ballot at the same time.

The citizen initiative that was taken off of the ballot was the sports arena initiative that would have allowed a 20,000-seat sports arena on the Las Vegas Strip. Specifically the initiative would have imposed a 0.9 cent sales tax in a taxing district near the proposed arena. The revenue would have financed bonds to construct the arena. The state supreme court ruling stated that the initiative's petitions were invalid because they didn’t say where the arena would be built.

Timeline

The following is a timeline of events surrounding the measure:

Event	Date	Developments
Vote	April 12, 2011	The Senate Committee on Revenue voted unanimously to approve the measure.
Approval	May 23, 2011	The state senate voted in favor of the measure, with a tally of 39 to 3.
Final Approval	May 24, 2011	The Nevada Assembly voted in favor of the measure.

See also

Suggest a link

• Nevada 2012 ballot measures
• 2012 ballot measures
• List of Nevada ballot measures
• Nevada Legislature
• Nevada Harrah's Sports Arena Initiative (2012)