Nevada Constitution: Rights, Structure, and Amendments

The Nevada Constitution is the state’s supreme legal document, framed by a convention in Carson City in 1864 and approved by voters that September. It establishes the rights of residents, organizes the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, sets hard limits on taxation and state debt, and controls how the state itself can be changed. Every Nevada statute, local ordinance, and government action has to answer to it.¹

Rights Guaranteed to Nevada Residents

Article 1 is Nevada’s declaration of rights, and in several places it goes further than the federal Bill of Rights. You have the right to a jury trial in all cases at law, without a minimum dollar amount in controversy. Freedom of speech is guaranteed, with the caveat that individuals remain responsible for any abuse of that right in legal proceedings.¹

Religious freedom is broad: no person can be harassed in their person or property because of their religious beliefs. The writ of habeas corpus cannot be suspended unless public safety demands it during rebellion or invasion. Imprisonment for debt is prohibited except in cases involving fraud. The right to keep and bear arms is expressly guaranteed for self-defense, lawful hunting, recreational use, and other lawful purposes.¹

Property and Eminent Domain Protections

Article 1, Section 22 contains some of the strongest eminent domain protections in the country. If the government takes private property, it must pay enough to put the owner in the same financial position as if the taking never happened, including compounded interest and all reasonable expenses. The definition of “just compensation” explicitly bars the government from reducing the payout through offsets.²

The constitution prohibits using eminent domain to transfer property from one private party to another. Before the government can occupy a property, the owner must receive copies of all government appraisals and can demand a jury determination on whether the taking actually serves a public use. Property has to be valued at its highest and best use, ignoring any government-imposed future dedication requirements.²

If the government does not use the property for its stated purpose within five years of the final condemnation order, ownership reverts to the original owner upon repayment of the purchase price. Property owners also cannot be held liable for attorney fees or court costs in any eminent domain case.²

Who Can Vote

Article 2 sets the right of suffrage. Any U.S. citizen at least 18 years old who has actually resided in Nevada for six months and in their county or district for 30 days is eligible to vote. The constitution explicitly bars any denial of the right to vote based on sex. People convicted of treason or a felony lose voting rights unless restored to civil rights, and people adjudicated mentally incompetent are also disqualified unless restored to legal capacity.¹

How State Government Is Organized

Power is divided across three branches, each in its own article.

The Legislature

Article 4 creates a bicameral legislature made up of a Senate and an Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms; Senators serve four-year terms. Members of both chambers must be qualified electors who live in the districts they represent.¹

The Executive

Article 5 places executive power in the Governor, who serves a four-year term and must be at least 25 years old and a resident of the state for at least two years before the election. Other constitutional officers elected at the same time include the Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Controller, and Attorney General.¹

The Courts

Article 6 organizes the judiciary. The Supreme Court sits at the top, consisting of a Chief Justice and two or more associate justices who serve six-year terms. Below it are the Court of Appeals and the district courts.¹

Local Government

Article 8 covers counties, cities, and municipal corporations. The legislature must organize cities and towns through general laws rather than special acts, and must limit their power to tax, borrow money, and contract debts. Cities and towns can be authorized by general law to draft, adopt, and amend their own charters. Both the state and local governments are prohibited from donating public money to, or purchasing stock in, private companies, with narrow exceptions for educational, charitable, and railroad purposes.¹

Taxes the Constitution Bans or Caps

Nevada’s tax rules are written directly into the constitution, which is why they cannot be undone by ordinary legislation. Article 10, Section 1 flatly prohibits any income tax on the wages or personal income of individuals. The same section bans any inheritance tax. Businesses, by contrast, can be taxed on their income or revenue.¹

Property taxes have a constitutional ceiling. The total tax levy for all public purposes, including bond levies, cannot exceed five cents on each dollar of assessed valuation across the state and all its subdivisions. The legislature must also ensure uniform and equal assessment rates. Agricultural and open-space land can be appraised under a separate plan, but converting it to a higher use triggers retroactive assessment for at least seven years.¹

Mining is handled separately. Article 10, Section 5 requires a tax on the net proceeds of all minerals extracted in Nevada, including oil, gas, and other hydrocarbons, and caps the rate at five percent.³

State debt has its own limit. Article 9 caps total state debt at two percent of the assessed property valuation statewide, excluding interest, except for extraordinary expenses. Money collected for industrial accident compensation and public employee retirement is constitutionally segregated and cannot be spent on anything else.¹

Schools and Public Institutions

Article 11 requires the legislature to maintain a uniform system of public schools, with a school in each district operating at least six months per year. A district that allows sectarian instruction can lose its share of public school funding. The constitution also mandates a state university with departments covering agriculture, mechanical arts, and mining.¹

Education funding is protected by a permanent pledge in Article 11, Section 3: land granted by Congress for educational purposes, estates that go unclaimed and revert to the state, property donated to the state for education, and fines collected under the penal laws. Interest earned on these funds is divided among the counties for educational purposes, with a portion available for the state university. The principal can never be diverted to non-educational uses.¹

Article 13 obligates the state to support entities for the benefit of people with mental illness, blindness, deafness, and intellectual or developmental disabilities.⁴ It also requires the state to maintain a state prison and allows for facilities for juvenile offenders.¹

Removing Officials From Office

Article 7 sets the rules for removing state officials. The Assembly holds the sole power to impeach, by a majority vote of all elected members. The Senate then conducts the trial, and conviction requires a two-thirds vote of elected Senators. When the Governor or Lieutenant Governor is on trial, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides. The grounds are malfeasance or misconduct in office.⁵

Judges have a separate track. A two-thirds vote of members elected to each legislative chamber can remove a Supreme Court justice, appeals judge, or district judge for “any reasonable cause,” a broader standard than what applies to impeachment. The targeted judge must receive a copy of the complaint and have an opportunity to respond in person or through an attorney. No legislator who votes for removal may fill the resulting vacancy.⁵

How the Constitution Gets Amended

There are two routes to changing the Nevada Constitution, and both are deliberately slow.

Legislative Proposal

A proposed amendment must pass both chambers of the legislature by a majority vote in two consecutive legislative sessions. Only after clearing that hurdle does the proposal go to voters for ratification at a general election, where a simple majority approves it.¹

Citizen Initiative

Citizens can bypass the legislature through a petition. The petition must collect signatures from registered voters equal to at least 10 percent of the total votes cast in the last general election. Those signatures have to be gathered across each of the state’s four petition districts, so no single population center can drive a constitutional change on its own.⁶ Once certified, the amendment must be approved by voters at two consecutive general elections before it becomes part of the constitution.

Origins in 1864

Nevada took two tries to write a constitution. A convention in 1863 produced a first draft that voters rejected by roughly four-to-one, largely over disputes about mining taxes and divisions within the Union Party.⁷ A second convention met at Carson City from July 4 to July 28, 1864, and produced the version voters approved that September.¹ Three days after receiving the text of the constitution, President Lincoln proclaimed Nevada a state, eight days before the 1864 presidential election.⁸ The document has been amended many times since, but the framework laid down in Carson City still governs how the state operates.

1
Nevada Legislature. The Constitution of the State of Nevada
2
FindLaw. Nevada Constitution Art. 1, Section 22 – Eminent Domain Proceedings: Restrictions and Requirements
3
FindLaw. Nevada Constitution Art. 10, Section 5 – Tax on Proceeds of Minerals
4
FindLaw. Nevada Constitution Art. 13, Section 1 – Entities for the Benefit of Persons With Significant Mental Illness, Persons Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired, Persons Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Persons With Intellectual Disabilities or Developmental Disabilities
5
Ballotpedia. Article 7, Nevada Constitution
6
Nevada Secretary of State. Filing a Constitutional Initiative
7
Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records. The Nevada Constitution – Utah-Nevada Territory
8
National Archives. National Archives Celebrates the 145th Anniversary of Nevada Statehood