On April 1, a Nevada state court in Las Vegas ruled that Boulder City’s government, which opposes two local initiatives that the voters passed last year, should not have sued the proponents of those initiatives, if it wanted a court ruling on whether the initiatives are valid or not. The case is City of Boulder City v Jensen, no. 629989.

The voters had passed an initiative imposing term limits of twelve years on members of appointed city boards. The voters had also passed a measure saying the city council could not borrow more than $1,000,000 without voter approval. The city council believes both initiatives are invalid because these topics are not subject to the initiative process. But the city could have filed a lawsuit to overturn the initiatives, without actually suing the proponents, the judge ruled. The judge ordered the city to pay attorneys fees to the proponents, of $10,000. However, she stayed her ruling, to give the city time to appeal that to the State Supreme Court.