SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Today, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced an agreement that renews Nevada and California’s bi-state partnership to help preserve and enhance the Lake Tahoe region. Under the agreement, developed with legislative leadership from both states, amendments will be introduced to bills in the Nevada and California state legislatures that repeal Nevada’s planned withdrawal from the Tahoe Regional Planning Compact in 2015 and California’s proposal to re-establish a California Tahoe Regional Planning Agency in 2014.
“This agreement renews our commitment to work together to do what’s best for the environment and economy of the Lake Tahoe region. We urge state legislators and Congress to help us protect Tahoe’s future by taking action,” said Governor Sandoval and Governor Brown in a joint statement.
With these amendments California and Nevada will be able to continue important work to implement the updated regional plan for Lake Tahoe.
Each state has also committed to placing provisions in statute that require consideration of economic conditions in adopting and implementing regional plans, as well as language establishing a burden of proof for challenging a regional plan and decisions. In addition, the compromise confirms each state’s rights and authorities in relation to membership in the compact.
Governor Sandoval and Governor Brown will work closely with state legislators and Congress to ensure they consider and act upon these amendments. The amendments will be made to Nevada’s SB 229 and California’s SB 630. Some updates to the compact will require approval by Congress.
More than four decades ago, the governors of California and Nevada and lawmakers in both states approved the bi-state compact that created a regional planning agency to help oversee development at Lake Tahoe. In 1969, the U.S. Congress ratified the compact and created the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The compact also called for a regional plan that established a balance between the natural environment and the human-made environment. This plan was updated last year.
Governor Brown and Governor Sandoval both attended the Tahoe Summit in 2011 and 2012 and committed to continued cooperation on issues affecting Lake Tahoe.
