Teachers’ petition rejected

CARSON CITY -- The state teachers union cannot circulate petitions to let voters increase gaming taxes without cutting out language that directs the revenue to teacher pay, a judge has decided.

In a decision obtained Thursday but written Wednesday, Senior Justice Miriam Shearing, acting as a district judge, decided language earmarking how the tax money would be spent violates a state law requiring petitions to deal with a single subject.

Nevada State Education Association President Lynn Warne said her union will review its options, including appealing to the Nevada Supreme Court or allowing the petition to go forward as suggested by Shearing.

"I don't see this as the end of our petition," Warne said. "In one way or another, it's going to be on the November ballot."

The teachers association wants to increase the gaming tax rate, now 6.75 percent, to 9.75 percent to raise an additional $250,000 million to $400 million a year.

The petition would amend the state constitution if voters approve it in November and again in 2010.

In a court hearing Monday, both the Nevada Resort Association and the Las Vegas Sands argued that the teachers initiative deals with several subjects.

Not only would the petition increase casino taxes, but it also would require the Legislature to set a minimum level of funding for public education and tell lawmakers how the higher tax revenue must be spent, gaming lawyers said.

Shearing agreed with that argument. The state Supreme Court last year upheld the constitutionality of the single-subject law.

But Shearing said the petition would not violate the single-subject law if it merely said the additional taxes would be spent on education.

As a retired justice, Shearing is permitted by the Supreme Court to serve as a senior justice. She can work as a judge when needed in District Court and Supreme Court cases.

"It is definitely a step in the right direction," Sands lawyer Scott Scherer said about the decision.

The gaming industry has been emphasizing on billboards and public announcements that it already contributes more than a third of the revenue going to public education in Nevada.

While the industry agrees that more money should be spent on education, it contends the money should come not from a tax only on gaming but from a broad-based tax on all types of businesses.

Instead of tax increases through petitions, the increases should be imposed by the Legislature, the gaming industry argues.

In her decision, Shearing rejected petition language that would earmark 40 percent of the tax for teacher pay increases, 20 percent for incentive pay and 40 percent to reduce overcrowding. The decision also rejected language that would add days of instruction.

If the teachers association withdraws that language and rewrites petition as she has directed, then the new version of the petition could be circulated among voters, Shearing said.

The NSEA would have to submit any new version to the secretary of state's office before it could collect signatures. Any signatures the association already has collected on the faulty petitions would have to be tossed out.

Shearing's decision indicated that school boards in each of the 17 county school districts would determine how the additional education money would be spent.

To qualify a petition as a question on the November ballot, the NSEA must collect 58,836 valid signatures by May 20.

Southern Nevada lawyer Kermitt Waters said the Shearing decision might doom his two separate petitions that would triple the gaming tax rate to 20.2 percent.

"I hope they appeal," Water said. "This decision is outrageous. If you can't direct where the money goes, you might as well forget about it."

Waters said someone needs to file a petition to overturn the single-subject law.

He has said he filed his petitions to increase gaming taxes because the gaming industry controls legislators, who will not OK higher gaming taxes.

A hearing on the Nevada Resort Association's challenge to Waters' petitions will be held Feb. 11.

Besides increasing gaming taxes, Waters' petitions specify that the additional money would be earmarked for road improvements, cover property taxes on owner-occupied residences and develop solar and wind energy.

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or (775) 687-3901.