Editorial: Ruling a winner for children

Friday, July 11, 2003 | 8:57 a.m.

It was considered a long shot when Gov. Kenny Guinn sought the Nevada Supreme Court's intervention to break a legislative impasse that had prevented passage of the state budget. Many legal and political analysts believed the court wouldn't get too involved. They thought the Supreme Court, at most, would tell state lawmakers to go back to work and find a solution to the budget gridlock, which was caused by the Legislature's inability to meet the Nevada Constitution's requirement that tax increases be passed with a two-thirds majority.

But on Thursday the Nevada Supreme Court, in a bold yet reasonable decision, paved the way for a resolution of the state's fiscal crisis. The court ruled 6-1 that the Legislature could use a simple majority, rather than a two-thirds majority, to raise taxes. Chief Justice Deborah Agosti, who wrote the court's opinion, noted that the deadlock in the Legislature had created a crisis for public schools because the Legislature has failed to meet its constitutional responsibility to fund public education for the upcoming school year. Basically, the court found that the constitutional requirement for the Legislature to fund education trumped the requirement that tax increases be passed by a two-thirds vote.

When there are conflicting requirements in the Constitution, Agosti wrote, "this court must exercise its judicial function of interpreting the Constitution and attempt to resolve the problem." The two-thirds majority requirement to pass taxes became effective in 1996, but Agosti aptly looked back to when the Constitution was enacted in 1864. "Our Constitution's framers strongly believed that each child should have the opportunity to receive a basic education," Agosti wrote. "Their views resulted in a Constitution that places great importance on education. Its provisions demonstrate that education is a basic constitutional right in Nevada." The Constitution's framers, Agosti added, "elevated the public education of the youth of Nevada to a position of constitutional primacy. ... If the procedural two-thirds revenue vote requirement in effect denies the publ ic its expectation of access to public education, then the two-thirds requirement must yield to the specific substantive ed! ucational right."

Particularly upset by the Supreme Court's decision were some of the 15 Assembly Republicans who had been able to thwart the 42-member Assembly from passing a tax plan. "They tore up the Constitution and rendered it meaningless," Assemblyman Ron Knecht of Carson City said of the justices. U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, the former Republican state assemblyman and author of the referendum that required the two-thirds majority to raise taxes, wasn't happy either. Gibbons said the decision disenfranchised the more than two-thirds of voters who passed his tax restraint initiative in two consecutive elections. "This ruling today is a prime example of why many people believe that their vote does not count, and unfortunately the Nevada State Supreme Court reinforced that belief with this ruling," Gibbons said. Notwithstanding the hyperbole from Knecht and Gibbons, the Supr eme Court acknowledged a conflict in the Constitution and properly exercised its power, which is to settle thorny constitut! ional disputes.

Now it's up to the Legislature and the governor to do their jobs: raise the necessary taxes to balance the state budget. More than two-thirds of the Senate already approved an $873 million increase in taxes over two years, while the 42-member Assembly was just one vote shy of getting two-thirds support for their own tax plan. On the surface that seems encouraging, but there are significant differences between each house's tax package. The Democratic Assembly version is better, producing a genuine broad-based business tax, which would provide more fairness and bring about more stability to our tax structure. The Assembly Republican obstructionists no longer have the power to derail the will of the majority. It's time for the grown-ups in the Legislature to take over and do what's right.