Bill to let Nevada dump TRPA passes Senate

Legislation providing for the withdrawal of Nevada from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency passed the Nevada Senate.

Sponsor John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, said the withdrawal would happen Oct. 1, 2014, unless the TRPA governing body eliminates the supermajority requirement and requires the governing board to consider economic conditions in the Tahoe Basin in its decisions.

The vote was 19-2 with Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, and Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, opposed to the plan.

Leslie said the agency was formed to protect the pristine waters of the lake. She said the bill conditions Nevada's continued membership on actions by California and the federal government.

"I fear this bill will result in increased environmental damage at Lake Tahoe and a loss of much needed federal funding," she told the Senate.

Leslie said the bill is "too extreme."

"We should focus on working together to resolve these issues and not be threatening withdrawal," she said.

She said the bill "says that Nevadans care more about the needs of builders and developers than it does about the health of Lake Tahoe."

Lee said the bill won't do anything "that will not keep the lake in the pristine condition as it is now and in the future."

Senate Bill 271 goes to the Assembly.