In Nevada, city’s with a population under 150,000 may submit a single BDR to the Legislative Counsel Bureau on or before September 1, 2016 in anticipation of the 79th Session of the Nevada Legislature commencing in February 2017.

It is important to note that the city is not required to submit a BDR. In some cases, legislators have sponsored specific and important legislation on behalf of the City of Sparks.

As an example, during the 2013 and 2015 sessions, the late Senator Debbie Smith sponsored the City’s Charter Bill amendments (SB 304 and SB 118 respectively). Also, in 2013 the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Smith, sponsored the bill that restored the city’s hotel room tax for Victorian Square (SB 509). All bills were ultimately signed into law.

The Manager and Community Relations Manager have had some internal discussions with key staff on BDR concepts.  However, there has not been a topic that has risen to a level that the Legislative Team feels the city should exert legislative resources, and hence does not have a BDR topic to bring forth for this upcoming legislative session and recommends not utilizing a BDR for 2017.

To follow is a short history on recent BDR activity for the City of Sparks dating back to 2005:

2013 Session – No Sparks BDR was utilized.

2011 Session – Sparks BDR was contingent upon an advisory question for public safety which failed to pass by the voters.

2009 Session – Assembly Bill 98 was introduced on behalf of the City of Sparks and would have allowed the city to administer its own occupancy (hotel room) tax. The bill had a hearing before the Assembly Committee on Taxation and went no further in the legislative process.

2007 Session – Assembly Bill 180 was introduced on behalf of the City of Sparks that increased penalties for graffiti taggers. Similar language from the Sparks BDR was added into Assembly Bill 14 that was successfully passed into law.

2005 Session – Assembly Bill 525 was introduced on behalf of the City of Sparks that would have revised the method by which proceeds from the auto gas taxes are allocated between local governments. The bill had a hearing before the Assembly Transportation Committee and failed to move further in the legislative process.

The Sparks Legislative Team which includes Mayor Martini and Councilwoman Ratti are recommending not to bring forth a BDR for the 2017 session unless the Council has other possible topics to discuss. 

No action or motion is required unless there is a particular BDR topic the Council wants to bring forward.