ARTICLE. 9. - Finance and State

Section 1

2. Annual tax
for state expenses; trust funds for industrial accidents, occupational diseases
and public employees’ retirement system; administration of public employees’
retirement system.
 3. State
indebtedness: Limitations and exceptions.
 4. Assumption
of debts of county, city or corporation by state.
 5. Proceeds
from fees for licensing and registration of motor vehicles and excise taxes on
fuel reserved for construction, maintenance and repair of public highways;
exception.
 Section. 1.  Fiscal year.  The fiscal year shall commence
on the first day of July of each year. 
 [Amended in 1930. Proposed and passed by the
1927 legislature; agreed to and passed by the 1929 legislature; and approved
and ratified by the people at the 1930 general election. See: Statutes of
Nevada 1927,
p. 346; Statutes of Nevada 1929,
p. 429.]
 Sec. 2.  Annual tax for state expenses; trust funds for industrial
accidents, occupational diseases and public employees’ retirement system;
administration of public employees’ retirement system. 
 1.  The legislature shall provide by law
for an annual tax sufficient to defray the estimated expenses of the state for
each fiscal year; and whenever the expenses of any year exceed the income, the
legislature shall provide for levying a tax sufficient, with other sources of
income, to pay the deficiency, as well as the estimated expenses of such
ensuing year or two years.
 2.  Any money paid for the purpose of
providing compensation for industrial accidents and occupational diseases, and
for administrative expenses incidental thereto, and for the purpose of funding
and administering a public employees’ retirement system, must be segregated in
proper accounts in the state treasury, and such money must never be used for
any other purposes, and they are hereby declared to be trust funds for the uses
and purposes herein specified.
 3.  Any money paid for the purpose of
funding and administering a public employees’ retirement system must not be
loaned to the state or invested to purchase any obligations of the state.
 4.  The public employees’ retirement system
must be governed by a public employees’ retirement board. The board shall
employ an executive officer who serves at the pleasure of the board. In
addition to any other employees authorized by the board, the board shall employ
an independent actuary. The board shall adopt actuarial assumptions based upon
the recommendations made by the independent actuary it employs.
 [Amended in 1956, 1974 and 1996. The first
amendment was proposed and passed by the 1953 legislature; agreed to and passed
by the 1955 legislature; and approved and ratified by the people at the 1956
general election. See: Statutes of Nevada 1953,
p. 729; Statutes of Nevada 1955,
p. 927. The second amendment was proposed and passed by the 1971
legislature; agreed to and passed by the 1973 legislature; and approved and
ratified by the people at the 1974 general election. See: Statutes of Nevada 1971,
p. 2267; Statutes of Nevada 1973,
p. 1948. The third amendment was proposed and passed by the 1993
legislature; agreed to and passed by the 1995 legislature; and approved and
ratified by the people at the 1996 general election. See: Statutes of Nevada 1993,
p. 3064; Statutes of Nevada 1995,
p. 2899.]
 Sec. 3.  State indebtedness: Limitations and exceptions.  The
State may contract public debts; but such debts shall never, in the aggregate,
exclusive of interest, exceed the sum of two per cent of the assessed valuation
of the State, as shown by the reports of the county assessors to the State
Controller, except for the purpose of defraying extraordinary expenses, as
hereinafter mentioned. Every such debt shall be authorized by law for some
purpose or purposes, to be distinctly specified therein; and every such law
shall provide for levying an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest
semiannually, and the principal within twenty years from the passage of such
law, and shall specially appropriate the proceeds of said taxes to the payment
of said principal and interest; and such appropriation shall not be repealed
nor the taxes postponed or diminished until the principal and interest of said
debts shall have been wholly paid. Every contract of indebtedness entered into
or assumed by or on behalf of the State, when all its debts and liabilities
amount to said sum before mentioned, shall be void and of no effect, except in
cases of money borrowed to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, defend the
State in time of war, or, if hostilities be threatened, provide for the public
defense. 
 The State, notwithstanding the foregoing limitations,
may, pursuant to authority of the Legislature, make and enter into any and all
contracts necessary, expedient or advisable for the protection and preservation
of any of its property or natural resources, or for the purposes of obtaining
the benefits thereof, however arising and whether arising by or through any
undertaking or project of the United States or by or through any treaty or
compact between the states, or otherwise. The Legislature may from time to time
make such appropriations as may be necessary to carry out the obligations of
the State under such contracts, and shall levy such tax as may be necessary to
pay the same or carry them into effect.
 [Amended in 1916, 1934 and 1989. The first
amendment was proposed and passed by the 1913 Legislature; agreed to and passed
by the 1915 Legislature; and approved and ratified by the people at the 1916
General Election. See: Statutes of Nevada 1913,
p. 585; Statutes of Nevada 1915,
p. 516. The second amendment was proposed and passed by the 1931
Legislature; agreed to and passed by the 1933 Legislature; and approved and
ratified by the people at the 1934 General Election. See: Journal of the
Senate, 35th Session, p. 167, and Journal of the Assembly, 35th Session, p.
319; Statutes of Nevada 1933,
p. 357. The third amendment was proposed and passed by the 1987
Legislature; agreed to and passed by the 1989 Legislature; and approved and
ratified by the people at a special election held on May 2, 1989. See: Statutes
of Nevada 1987,
p. 2422; Statutes of Nevada 1989,
p. 2230.]
Sec: 4.  Assumption of debts of county, city or corporation by state.  The
State shall never assume the debts of any county, town, city or other
corporation whatever, unless such debts have been created to repel invasion[,]
suppress insurrection or to provide for the public defense.
 Section 5.  Proceeds from fees for licensing and registration of motor
vehicles and excise taxes on fuel reserved for construction, maintenance and
repair of public highways; exception.  The proceeds from the
imposition of any license or registration fee and other charge with respect to
the operation of any motor vehicle upon any public highway in this State and
the proceeds from the imposition of any excise tax on gasoline or other motor
vehicle fuel shall, except costs of administration, be used exclusively for the
construction, maintenance, and repair of the public highways of this State. The
provisions of this section do not apply to the proceeds of any tax imposed upon
motor vehicles by the Legislature in lieu of an ad valorem property tax. 
 [Added in 1940 and amended in 1962. The addition
was proposed and passed by the 1937 Legislature; agreed to and passed by the
1939 Legislature; and approved and ratified by the people at the 1940 General
Election. See: Statutes of Nevada 1937,
p. 567; Statutes of Nevada 1939,
p. 359. The amendment was proposed and passed by the 1960 Legislature;
agreed to and passed by the 1961 Legislature; and approved and ratified by the
people at the 1962 General Election. See: Statutes of Nevada 1960,
p. 509; Statutes of Nevada 1961,
p. 825.]