Leave a Comment Sagesse
Nevada lawmaker to propose marriage equality bill in 2013 session
September 11, 2012
By Jacob Combs
The Las Vegas Sun reports that Nevada Assemblyman Elliot Anderson will introduce a bill in the next legislative session, which begins in February, that would overturn the constitutional amendment banning marriage equality that the state passed in 2002. The 2002 amendment was approved with 67 percent of the vote, but Anderson argues that Nevadans’ opinions have changed in the intervening 10 years: “All people are created equal and we must make sure our constitution is not sideways on that issue.”
Anderson’s bill would have to pass the Nevada state legislature in its 2013 session and then be approved by a popular vote. In 2009, Nevada established a domestic partnership law over the veto of then-Gov. Jim Gibbons, which provides “the same rights, protections and benefits” as heterosexual spouses and affords gay and lesbian couples the “same right to nondiscriminatory treatment as provided spouses.” Since 2009, 3,887 couples have entered into domestic partnerships in Nevada.
In addition to Anderson’s planned bill, Nevada’s marriage laws are facing a federal constitutional challenge in the case of Sevcik v. Sandoval, which we’ve been covering here at P8TT. The Sevcik case has many similarities to the Prop 8 case, and could eventually be a highly significant case moving forward if the Supreme Court decides against rehearing the Prop 8 decision, as many legal observers expect it to. If the Prop 8 case is limited to California only, it will fall to a future legal challenge to establish marriage equality as a fundamental right under the U.S. Constitution. Sevcik, like similar cases in the works in Hawaii, Michigan and Illinois, could be that landmark case several years from now.
The district court hearing the Lambda Legal-led Sevcik challenge, will hold a hearing on Nov. 26 to consider a motion by Nevada to dismiss the suit. P8TT will provide coverage of that hearing when it occurs in Reno.
Having technical problems? E-mail equalityontrial AT couragecampaign DOT org for assistance!
8 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Gregory in SLC | September 11, 2012 at 8:28 am
Go NV!
2.
Sagesse | September 11, 2012 at 9:25 am
@
3.
davep | September 11, 2012 at 9:39 am
Wow, was not expecting that!
4.
Stefan | September 11, 2012 at 10:23 am
We are moving forward people. Do you honestly think that we would've had this happen even 2 years ago?
5.
Alan | September 11, 2012 at 10:48 am
Something this article should really mention is that there's no way to change Nevada's constitution overnight. It takes either two public votes two years apart (like the votes in 2000 and 2002 that added the "Only a marriage between a male and female" language), or two legislative votes two years apart followed by a public vote. The fastest this process could go would be for the legislature to approve the amendment in 2013 and 2015, followed by the voters approving it in November 2016. See Nevada Constitution, Art. 16, sec. 1, subsec. 1. http://www.leg.state.nv.us/const/nvconst.html#Art…
6.
Mike in Baltimore | September 11, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Or a SCOTUS decision can change it immediately if the SCOTUS decision says a provision in a state Constitution is unConstitutional. And Congressional legislation can also overrule a state Constitution, per Article 6 of the US Constitution.
7.
karen in kalifornia | September 11, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Don't forget Nevada's DP law exempted state and public employers from providing health insurance benefits to partners.
8.
Sam | September 12, 2012 at 9:16 am
I would agree that the legislature would be the fastest route. The state Assembly will likely to stay Democratic this election and the next, but state Senate is where I worry the most. Democrats only hold a one seat advantage and I doubt Republicans would allow a vote on the bill if they gain control.
We can bet NOM will reach it's ugly bigoted hand into that state if the bill gains any progress next year.
Leave a Comment
XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
TrackBack URL | RSS feed for comments on this post.