Damus v. County of Clark

569 P.2d 933, 93 Nev. 512, 1977 Nev. LEXIS 610
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 28, 1977
Docket10054
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 569 P.2d 933 (Damus v. County of Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Damus v. County of Clark, 569 P.2d 933, 93 Nev. 512, 1977 Nev. LEXIS 610 (Neb. 1977).

Opinions

[514]*514OPINION

By the Court,

Manoukian, J.:

On May 7, 1977, the Nevada Legislature enacted Chapter 403 of the Session Laws which amended Section 450.290 of the Nevada Revised Statutes pertaining to the issuance of bonds to benefit county hospitals. Specifically, the new law principally amended subsection 2 of that statute which, prior to amendment, had provided that any county with a population in excess of 200,000, could issue, without voter approval, special obligation municipal securities payable solely from the gross or net revenues derived from the operation of the hospital.

As amended, subsection 2 now not only provides authority for such counties to issue special obligation bonds but- further provides authority for those counties to issue general obligation bonds payable from taxes with payment being secured by [515]*515a pledge of revenue from the operation of the hospital. A full reading of the amended legislation is set forth in the footnote.1

On June 27, 1977, the General Obligation Bond Commissioners of Clark County approved the bond issue of $12,400,-000.00 for capital expenditures relating to the modernizing of the Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital, a county and non-proprietary facility. The next day, the individual respondents, acting in their official capacity as County Commissioners, enacted an ordinance authorizing, without electoral approval, the issuance and sale of general obligation bonds pursuant to the amended statute.

Thereafter, appellant Damus commenced a class action for declaratory relief challenging the validity of respondents’ enactment of the ordinance. In the court below, appellant alleged the ordinance to be invalid, contending Chapter 403 constitutes special and local legislation, being in derogation of the Nevada Constitution; claiming that the ordinance was [516]*516invalid because Chapter 403 violates the principles of equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution; and alleging procedural deficiencies in the preliminary bonding proceedings.

After a trial to the court, without a jury, the district court, having made findings of fact and conclusions of law, entered judgment in favor of respondents, upholding the challenged legislation as constitutional in all respects. Damus appeals from that judgment.

1. Whether Chapter 403 constitutes special and local legislation.

Appellant argues that Chapter 403 is special and local legislation violative of the Nevada Constitution. We disagree. State of Nevada ex rel. Clarke v. Irwin, 5 Nev. 111, 121 (1869), defined local legislation as operating over a particular locality instead of over the whole territory of the State and defined special legislation as pertaining to a part of a class as opposed to all of a class.

It has long been the law of this State that all presumptions by the judiciary are in favor of legislative enactments. City of Las Vegas v. Ackerman, 85 Nev. 493, 457 P.2d 525 (1969); Ormsby County v. Kearney, 37 Nev. 314, 142 P. 803 (1914). Additionally, every act passed by the legislature is presumed to be constitutional. T. & G. R. R. Co. v. Nev. Cal. T. Co., 58 Nev. 234, 75 P.2d 727 (1938). Appellant, in order to successfully assail this legislation, must make a clear showing of its invalidity. McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420 (1961); Turner v. Fogg, 39 Nev. 406, 159 P. 56 (1916).

Our Constitution forbids the passage of a local or special law regulating “county or township business.” Nev. Const. Art. 4, Sec. 20. Such a law must “be general and of uniform operation throughout the state.” Nev. Const. Art. 4, Sec. 21. Further, county and township government “shall be uniform throughout the State.” Nev. Const. Art. 4, Sec. 25.

Appellant interprets the foregoing constitutional provisions as requiring uniformity in bond issuance on behalf of county hospitals. Indeed, he argues, subsection 1 of NRS 450.290 is general and uniform legislation, as it requires approval of the bond issuance by electoral authorization pursuant to NRS 350.070. The only difference between subsections 1 and 2 of [517]*517NRS 450.290, as amended, is that in subsection 2 any county with a population over 200,000 may issue without voter approval not only special obligation bonds but also general obligation bonds payable from taxes and secured by hospital operating and other revenues.

Appellant contends that because only Clark County currently has the requisite population, this is patent local and special legislation. He argues that the population requirement is a mere subterfuge to avoid outright identification of Clark County as the sole beneficiary of the legislation. It is arguable that respondents have provided substance to appellant’s argument by eliciting testimony below that, in Nevada, only in Clark County does the county hospital have to compete with private, profit-making facilities. Respondents claim that the benefit of the subject legislation is needed so that the county hospital can successfully compete for quality staff and service personnel and accommodate, the large population with more facilities and sophisticated equipment. These facts are just as consistent with respondents’ position. We have long upheld, as constitutional, statutes authorizing bond issues for specific counties for purposes particular and peculiar to those counties, reasoning that such statutes were not laws “regulating county business” and thus not violative of Article 4, Section 20. Cauble v. Beemer, 64 Nev. 77, 177 P.2d 677 (1947); Conservation District v. Beemer, 56 Nev. 104, 45 P.2d 779 (1935).

That is precisely the case before us.

In the Conservation District case, this Court held that:

It is the general rule, under such provisions as those of sections 20 and 21 of article 4 of the state constitution, that if a statute be either a special or local law, or both, and comes within any one or more of the cases enumerated in section 20, such statute is unconstitutional; if the statute be special or local, or both, but does not come within any of the cases enumerated in section 20, then its constitutionality depends upon whether a general law can be made applicable. (Court’s emphasis.)

Id. at 116, 45 P.2d at 782.

Moreover, the use of population as a qualifying criterion is permissible. Fairbanks v. Pavlikowski, 83 Nev. 80, 423 P.2d 401 (1967); Viale v. Foley, 76 Nev. 149, 350 P.2d 721 (1960); Compare State v. Donovan, 20 Nev. 75, 15 P.

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Bluebook (online)
569 P.2d 933, 93 Nev. 512, 1977 Nev. LEXIS 610, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/damus-v-county-of-clark-nev-1977.