Nevada Withdraws Threat to Leave Tahoe Compact

Byline: Associated Press

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Nevada lawmakers on May 24 agreed to withdraw the state’s threat to pull out of the Tahoe Compact with California.

The Assembly voted 40-1 to pass SB 229, which repeals a law passed by the 2011 Legislature that paved the way for Nevada to exit the Tahoe Compact. The Compact was created in the late 1960s to regulate development and oversee environmental controls in the Tahoe Basin that straddles Nevada and California. The State Senate passed the measure in April.

“We have found new ways to cooperate, and SB 229’s repeal of the timetable of withdraw sends a strong message that Nevada supports working together with California to protect the lake,” Assemblyman David Bobzien, D-Reno, said, while urging his colleagues’ support on the floor.

California and Nevada lawmakers and representatives of both governors have worked for months to resolve the states’ differences that led to Nevada’s threatened withdrawal. Nevada had blamed California for favoring strict environmental controls that they said stifled development and crippled the economy of a state and region hard hit by the Great Recession.

The bill was ushered through the Legislature after Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and California Gov. Jerry Brown recently announced an agreement to protect Lake Tahoe’s delicate ecosystem while also considering the economy when making land use decisions.

“Tahoe is a natural beauty we have to be proud of in our state, and I’m glad everybody could come together to work together,” said Nevada Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas. “I’m glad that Tahoe will stay blue and we have good compromise, and I’m glad the governors worked together, as well.”