Health district bill looking pretty pale

It has been nearly a month since a bill that would allow the formation of multi-county health districts got sent off to the Assembly's Health and Human Services Committee.

As revised the bill wouldn't really do much more than have the Legislature study the issue during the interim session.

As originally written, the bill would have permitted two counties to pool their resources and form a health district, such as the ones in Washoe and Clark counties.

The taxing authority attached to the bill was significant. As introduced, it would have allowed members of the health district board to implement property and sales taxes without a vote of the people.

Both Carson City supervisors and Douglas County commissioners supported the bill, but once Nevada senators got ahold of it, it shed parts like a meteor burning up in the atmosphere.

We doubt the proposal will make it out of committee before the Legislature adjourns. They certainly have more important things to do than debate a bill that requires a study to decide whether to bring back another bill.

But the idea of establishing a health district isn't the worst thing we've ever heard. We believe the people have the right to tax themselves for services they feel are important.

In these days of contagion and food contamination, we feel there's a legitimate argument to be made in favor of bringing these services down to a local level. That argument would best be made during the course of an election campaign, so county voters could decide for themselves what's best for them.