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VEGAS INC C OV E R STO RY Home-based business license fee After a year-long quest to close what he called a loophole in Nevada's business license regulations, Secretary of State Ross Miller last year persuaded a legislative panel to end an exemption he said was being misused. The panel decided that small home-based businesses registered as limited liability companies no longer would qualify for exemption from the state's $200 business license fee. Miller's office had found more than 100,000 businesses that claimed the exemption meant Miller for mom-and-pop operations that earn less than $27,000 a year. Miller said many of them – including a bowling alley and nail salon – did so fraudulently. While Miller failed to persuade the Legislature to close the loophole in 2011, he succeeded a year later with the legislative panel. Roberson now wants to reverse the regulatory change – and expand the exemptions. BDR 479 would free any home-based business that makes less than $27,000 a year, whether it is registered as an LLC or not, from paying the business license fee. "These are small mom-and-pop businesses, and now they are being hit with additional fees from the secretary of state," Roberson said. "My legislation would propose to reverse that." Marijuana dispensaries shutterstock.com PHOTOS Water regulators Last year, the Southern Nevada Water Authority embarked on a mission to find a revenue stream to replace the one it lost when the economic collapse caused a near end to new water hook ups and the fees that accompany them. The authority needed the money to pay down $3.3 billion in infrastructure bonds. Rather than saddle residential customers or big casinos with a rate increase, water regulators passed the burden onto the business community. Most local companies were hit with a rate hike. Some saw their water bills triple. Roberson, responding to concerns from business owners, began looking for a way to hold the SNWA board more accountable. He thinks he found it. His solution: Give the Nevada Public Utilities Commission oversight of the Mulroy Southern Nevada Water Authority. "Water rates were hiked on businesses in Southern Nevada, and many in the business community felt there was not an adequate opportunity for input by the business community," Roberson said. "It's a small group of people who make this decision." BDR 481 would give the utilities commission oversight power. It will be a bill to watch, and one that may cause fireworks. It's unlikely the water authority and its outspoken Director Pat Mulroy will let the draft legislation pass without a fight. 16 20130128_VI01_F.indd 16 In 2000, Nevada voters approved a constitutional amendment that allows residents to legally possess medical marijuana. But since then, Nevada lawmakers have failed to come up with a way for patients to legally obtain the drug. Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, wants to change that. BDR 89, which still is in draft form, would create Segerblom a dispensary network that would be licensed and taxed by the state. Segerblom has yet to flesh out the details of how the state would set the system up, but he has named it as one of his top priorities this session. | 28 JANUARY 2013 | 1/24/13 2:26:14 PM