Nev. bill kept legislators from being investigated
By Bethany Barnes, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Nevada Legislature staffers last year quietly supported a bill that helped them win a legal battle to keep the state’s Ethics Commission from investigating legislators.
The new law flew under the radar as an “emergency measure” in the final days of the 2015 session and passed with little scrutiny. Commission officials would have testified against the bill, but by the time they figured out it existed, the bill had passed — born and approved in less than 48 hours.
The bill not only appeared to commissioners as being tailor-made to torpedo their legal stance, they believe it expanded what’s known as legislative immunity, making it almost impossible for the commission to hold legislators accountable for anything.