AG lashes back on closed meeting debate

Friday, Sept. 2, 2005 | 10:52 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state attorney general's office said Thursday that lawyers for the Legislature were way off base in their opinion that the Nevada Tax Commission can vote in closed meetings on taxpayer appeals.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Neil Rombardo said, "They missed two important points and it shows they are wrong," referring to the legislative legal opinion that held that the Tax Commission could deliberate and vote without opening the meeting to the public.

Rombardo said that if the view of the legislative lawyers is upheld, then the Nevada Gaming Commission and the state Public Utilities Commission could use similar laws to close their meetings when making important decisions.

The attorney general's office filed suit in July seeking to invalidate a decision made in closed session by the Tax Commission that gave a $40 million rebate to Southern California Edison for sales and use tax payments made on coal delivered to its plant near Laughlin in 2001-2003.

The suit said the Tax Commission is not allowed to make those decisions in closed session, and it asked District Judge Mike Griffin of Carson City to force the commission to deliberate and vote in public on the rebate.

A law allows a taxpayer to request a closed hearing to protect the confidentiality of business records, profits, expenses and other items.

Eileen O'Grady, senior principal deputy legislative counsel, said in a legal opinion that "in the narrow situation in which a taxpayer invokes confidentiality by requesting a closed hearing on appeal concerning tax liability ... it is the opinion of this office that the Nevada Tax Commission may deliberate and vote in the closed hearing."

Rombardo said the law says the Tax Commission "may" close the meeting. He said the commission has a choice whether to open it up or not. He also said that commission members do not have to worry about being charged with a criminal misdemeanor if, in open session, they disclose some confidential item of the taxpayer.

He said the commissioners are immune from prosecution under the law.

The Tax Commission, in its answer to the suit by Attorney General Brian Sandoval, said the commission has been voting in private dating back 25 years and the attorney general's office never objected.

The answer, filed by Reno attorney Thomas "Spike" Wilson, said deputies from the attorney general's office have been sitting in these private meetings and never raised any objection. Rombardo said Senior Deputy Attorney General Dena James told the commission in the Southern California Edison case they should not be meeting in private to make a decision.

He also said Sandoval never told the commission it was all right to meet in private to make decisions from appeals of taxpayers.