There’s a reason our elected officials are called “public servants.” Before anything else, their job is to serve their constituents. But too often, we hear stories of public officials using their power to enrich themselves, their family and friends, or seemingly anyone other than taxpayers. In most of these stories, the official sneaks around and hides their illegal activities, but sometimes, bad governance and corruption is done right out in the open.

This is what was happening in Nevada.

For decades, many Nevada state legislators have served in the legislature while simultaneously holding separate state or local government jobs. This is a dangerous status quo because, as Nevada Policy Research Institute’s Vice President, Robert Fellner, explains, “Government employees serving as legislators has led to a Legislature that serves the needs of government, rather than the needs of ordinary Nevada citizens and taxpayers. This means higher taxes, bloated bureaucracies, and reduced governmental accountability and educational choice.”

To end this practice for good, the Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI) crafted a campaign and got to work. As with most things that are worth fighting for, it wasn’t a fast or easy process, but NPRI refused to give up.

Taking the fight to the courts

The Nevada Constitution states that, “No persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any functions, appertaining to either of the others.” State legislators are, therefore, barred from exercising “any functions” related to the two other branches of government. This makes legislative dual service seem clearly unconstitutional. But legislators have gotten away with it for nearly 100 years because of the rules of standing. Standing requires anyone trying to enforce a constitutional right in court to demonstrate how they’ve suffered a unique, particularized injury.  This made enforcing the prohibition against legislative dual service almost impossible since these kinds of bad governance practices don’t just impose a unique and concrete injury on one person but harm all Nevadans. 

From 2004 to 2017, multiple lawsuits—including one in 2004 from the Secretary of State and two from NPRI in 2011 and 2017—were all turned away on standing grounds.

By that point, NPRI was the only organization still pursuing the issue, and after the 2017 loss, there did not appear to be a viable path forward.   

NPRI would try one final time. In July 2020, NPRI filed suit against the nine sitting state legislators who held dual government positions. But rather than trying to prove standing, NPRI argued that the Nevada Supreme Court should adopt a public-interest exception to the rules of standing. Over the next two years, NPRI’s case wound its way through the courts. Then, in April 2022, the Nevada Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in favor of NPRI. The decision created a public-interest exception to standing for those seeking to enforce the state constitutional separation of powers doctrine.

After the decision was handed down, Fellner explained, “For nearly two decades, lawsuits seeking enforcement of the state constitutional separation of powers were turned away on procedural grounds, leading almost everyone to give up and conclude that the state constitution was nothing more than lofty rhetoric that would never be enforced.  Our victory confirms that all Nevadans have the right, enforceable in the courts, to demand that our elected officials comply with the state separation of powers doctrine.”

Far-reaching victory

In recent years, one of NPRI’s biggest legislative priorities has been reforming Nevada civil asset forfeiture laws. In 2017, the NPRI team worked tirelessly with Democratic lawmakers to form a bipartisan coalition to pass civil asset forfeiture reforms in the Nevada Assembly. But after the bill passed on a bipartisan vote in the state House, State Senators Melanie Scheible and Nicole Cannizzaro—who also work as County Prosecutors—killed the bill in the Senate.

Flash forward to NPRI’s State Supreme Court victory. Quickly after the State Supreme Court ruling, both Scheible and Cannizzaro resigned from their jobs as county prosecutors. These two state senators resigning from their prosecutor jobs means that criminal justice reforms like civil asset forfeiture laws will now have a better chance of making it through the legislature. Fellner explains, “Practically speaking, our win led to the two prosecutors/legislators immediately resigning and has guaranteed that such a blatant violation of the Constitution will never happen again.  The removal of active law enforcement from the state legislature means that the legislature will be more responsive to the will of the people on criminal justice issues.” 

Public officials are elected to serve taxpayers. Too often, however, dual-serving Nevada state legislators weren’t fulfilling that promise. But now, thanks to NPRI’s tireless work, Nevada’s separation of powers is being strengthened and dual-serving state legislators could soon be a thing of the past.