Supreme Court reverses $40 million tax refund

The Nevada Supreme Court has reversed a lower court decision limiting how Nevada's Open Meeting Law is applied to the Nevada Tax Commission.

"This decision is not only important for the integrity of Nevada's Open

Meeting Law," Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said today. "It is also important for the citizens of Nevada, because it ensures that our government will remain open and transparent when making decisions involving millions of dollars paid by taxpayers."

The Nevada Attorney General's Office sued the Tax Commission in June 2005 after it failed to vote in an open meeting to allow a $40 million sales tax refund to Southern California Edison Co.

In 2006, Carson City District Court Judge Michael Griffin ruled in favor of the Tax Commission, saying the state confidentiality law governing proprietary information was an exemption to the state's open meeting law. The Attorney General's Office appealed the decision to the Nevada Supreme Court. The Supreme Court rendered its opinion, reversing the lower court's decision.

"The Nevada Attorney General's Office works to ensure that our governing bodies abide by the Nevada Open Meeting Law," said Senior Deputy Attorney General Keith Marcher. "This case exemplifies the importance of making sure our officials vote in an open and public manner."

In the opinion, authored by Supreme Court Justice Jim Hardesty, the court concludes: " When considering Edison's appeal, the Tax Commission deliberated entirely in closed session and voted in closed session. Therefore, its action granting Edison's refund was taken in violation of the Open Meeting Law. Actions taken in violation of the Open Meeting

Law are void. Therefore, because the Tax Commission's grant of Edison's tax refund is void, we reverse the district court's judgment."

"We are pleased that the Supreme Court agrees that the Nevada Tax Commission must abide by our state's Open Meeting Law," adds General

Masto. "I hope that the Tax Commission will take this decision and review the Edison matter as it should have been reviewed in the first place, in an open and public meeting."

This case was argued before the Supreme Court by Senior Deputy Attorney

General Keith Marcher who works with the Attorney General's Open Meeting

Law Unit. The Open Meeting Law Unit has a statutory duty to enforce Nevada's Open Meeting Law and prosecute those who fail to follow the law.