Municipal Codes & Ordinances

The previous tabs discussed locating municipal codes, which are the formal, codified versions of ordinances and similar origin points of law. This section will expand on the earlier example using Section 10.86.010 of the Las Vegas Municipal Code. Specifically, we will be looking for Ordinance No. 6710, which was passed on November 6, 2019 by the Las Vegas City Council.

Question 1: Are ordinances available in the same location as the code sections?

Municode, which hosts all municipal codes for the State of Nevada, has a feature that allows the service to also host ordinances. Not all jurisdictions make their ordinances available using this feature, however. The City of Las Vegas does not utilize this feature, so below you will see what it looks like for the City of Henderson.

Since MuniCode does not archive ordinances for the City of Las Vegas, our example requires us to look elsewhere.

Question 2: Where else are ordinances collected?

The City of Las Vegas hosts ordinances in its document management system called Sire.

After clicking "Addl Meeting Records, you will have a chance to search for the ordinance number we identified earlier in the municipal code: 6710

Clicking on the view folder will open the ordinance in question, which contains additional information not apparent from the municipal code. For example, Ordinance 6710 details the bill's sponsor as Mayor Carolyn Goodman along with the voting record of each member of the City Council. It also lists the effective date of February 1, 2020, the punishment specifics, and proof of prior publication in local newspapers. The ordinance also lists the Bill No. as 2019-36, which will be useful in the next section.

Question 3: Is there any additional information I can find about the bill?

Each ordinance must be passed at a public meeting, which often invites discussion through the public comment process and/or from members of the City Council and their staff. The City of Las Vegas uses two websites for retaining those records, which include video recordings, agenda and meeting minutes, and other pertinent documents:

• Sire: For public meeting agendas, minutes, ordinances, and other records prior to February 6, 2019.

• Primegov: For public meeting agendas, minutes, and other records beginning February 6, 2019.

Using Primegov, we can navigate to the meeting on November 6, 2019, which both the municipal code and ordinance indicated was the meeting of passage.

Using the earlier identified bill number, we can search through the HTML Agenda to locate Agenda Item 62. Notice that the video recording has been helpfully linked to a time stamp at which time the City Council began discussion and presentation of Bill No. 2019-36. If you watch the video, however, it will become clear that this bill was also discussed in public comment at an earlier time.