Marijuana Policy Project

The Las Vegas City Council withdrew on Wednesday two resolutions expressing opposition to initiatives on the November ballot after the city attorney's office said that by approving the resolutions, the council might violate state law prohibiting expenditure of public resources on political causes.

The Clark County Commission last month passed two resolutions against the ballot initiatives, one of which would limit governments' use of eminent domain and another that would allow possession of small amounts of marijuana.

North Las Vegas on Wednesday passed a resolution against the eminent domain initiative.

"If PISTOL (the eminent domain initiative) were to pass, we could be hamstrung for the very thing the city is supposed to do, build streets," North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon said.

Boulder City adopted a similar resolution earlier this month.

At the Clark County Commission meeting Sept. 19, Neil Levine, campaign manager for the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, told the Clark County Commission that a state law prohibits the commission from taking a formal position on the matter.

Commission lawyer Mary-Anne Miller said the commission would not be spending resources if it merely discussed the marijuana question and expressed its opposition.

City Attorney Brad Jerbic said Wednesday that an attorney general's opinion found that a Northern Nevada government's newsletter included a few sentences against a political effort.

"It might be a strong opinion, but given the fact that the meeting is televised on a taxpayer-paid-for television station, I thought it would be best" for the council not to vote on the resolutions, Jerbic said.

Also Wednesday, the City Council passed a resolution expressing city policy to use its power to seize land for public projects only, such as roads, and not to use the power to pass land to private developers.

On Tuesday, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman stood with Montandon and other politicians and business leaders to denounce PISTOL, the People's Initiative to Stop the Taking of Our Land.

Review-Journal writer Lynnette Curtis contributed to this report.