Regents criticize lawmakers’ action over proposed college

Friday, June 18, 1999 | 10:31 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Some university regents say the Legislature may have overstepped its authority in setting up a special committee to conduct a $500,000 study of the feasibility of creating a four-year state college in Henderson, rather than allowing the regents to do it.

But Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, who sponsored the bill, said he pushed for the committee because he didn't think he could get a fair study out of the regents.

Regent Howard Rosenberg of Reno, at a meeting of the board Thursday in Carson City, complained, "I feel I've been bullied and I just don't like it."

Assembly Bill 220 was amended to establish a five-member committee with two of the members coming from the regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada. One other member will be appointed by the governor and two will be chosen by the Legislature.

The regents, at the suggestion of Rosenberg, Thursday approved a motion to have its attorney, Tom Ray, research whether the Legislature exceeded its authority in creating the committee.

But Perkins said he created the special panel after he got "word back from some of the regents that they would submarine it," referring to the study.

The bill originally had the regents doing the study, but the switch to a five-member study committee was made after regents complained that the budget committees of the Legislature did not give them enough money. Perkins said the timing was "no coincidence" and that the change was deliberate.

"If I had thought the citizens would have gotten a fair shake (from the regents), I would have given the study to them," Perkins said. "I wanted to make sure this is objective."

He said he has already asked for and received a legal opinion from the attorney for the Legislature that the panel is constitutional.

"I anticipated the question," Perkins said. "If the regents took the time to read the Nevada Constitution, they would know that."

The Constitution, Perkins said, holds that the regents administer the system of higher education but is subject to the Legislature.

Another committee studying the equity funding issue of the university system has the same makeup, Perkins said. He said he was at a loss to understand the complaints of the regents because two members will be on the study committee.

There has been a continuing question of how far the Legislature can go in dictating to the regents about higher education matters. Conversely, there has been a lingering question about whether the regents have to follow the wishes of the Legislature on certain policies.

Regent Dorothy Gallagher of Elko said there will be a test case some day, but she said she didn't want to see legal action until the regents have a sure thing and this doesn't appear to be the case. She said the Legislature has authority over the study because the $500,000 funding came from that body.