The Nevada Senate passed a bill which included an amendment allowing Nye County to increase the sales tax by a 16-5 vote Monday, the last day of the 2007 regular legislative session, leaving only the governor's signature to enact it into law.

The creation of a Nye County water district passed much easier, with unanimous votes by the state assembly and senate. Other bills advocated by local legislators however failed in the 120-day session.

The Senate originally voted down the half-cent sales tax increase proposal when it was a stand-alone bill. After that defeat, State Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, told lobbyists for Nye County she would support the bill if it was part of an amendment on another bill.

Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas, then agreed to allow the amendment to be tacked onto a bill providing more extensive reporting requirements for a Clark County sales tax that passed in 2005.

Lobbyist Patti Chipman, of Nevada Elect, said the sales tax increase got entangled in the transportation debate Sunday evening. She credited Rusty McAllister, a lobbyist for the International Association of Firefighters, with the bills eventual passage Monday.

The sales tax increase was a hard-fought battle from the start. Nye County Commissioners voted 3-2 to permit the question to go on the ballot, where it passed by only 18 votes.

It will provide more funding for firefighters and sheriff's deputies. If signed by the governor, and he has 10 days to do so or the bill automatically becomes law, the sales tax will increase in Nye County from 6.75 percent to 7.25 percent.

Chipman was confident Gov. Jim Gibbons will sign the bill. Gibbons has expressed opposition to any tax increases, though supporters describe it as merely enabling legislation for the Nye County Commission.

"Because it was voted on by the people it'll probably be a yes," Chipman said. But she added, "that's what staff said, I haven't spoken to him directly."

If it becomes state law, Nye County commissioners will have to vote to enact the sales tax increase.

The only changes to the bill creating the water district, SB 222, eliminated seats on the board by private utilities. Senator John Lee, D-Las Vegas, referred to other regulated industries, noting limousine companies don't have a seat on the Transportation Services Authority, and casinos don't have a seat on the Gaming Control Board.

A bill revising the distribution of money to Nye County from mineral leases -- a request for at least the last 10 years dating back to former Assemblyman Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah -- died again this session. The bill would apply to the county's request for more of the royalties from oil fields in Railroad Valley.

Chipman said that bill didn't pass because legislators were concerned about a shortage in the distributive school account, a fund for public schools in Nevada. The royalties have gone into the state school fund.

Likewise Senate Bill 551, requested by the Nye County School District, which would set up an account for grants to certain school districts like Nye County for the repair, replacement and renovation of school facilities, died in the legislature.

A bill that will allow a bank to open in Amargosa Valley passed unanimously. Assembly Bill 215 allows an out-of-state depository institution to establish a branch in a county whose population is less than 100,000 if the institution also establishes a branch office in a county whose population is more than 100,000.

A bill introduced by Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, was passed, which will expand the collection of impact fees to water and sewer connections.

But Goedhart wasn't successful in passing a bill he introduced requiring approval at the highest department levels, including the secretary of the interior or secretary of agriculture, to file protests on the appropriation of public waters.