If you want to know if policy matters, look at how people vote with their feet.

California has more natural advantages than Nevada. It has a mild climate and a massive coastline with access to the Pacific Ocean. This has helped make it a hub of trade and a desirable place to live. Landlocked states can’t build oceanfront property. The weather, especially in Southern California, is desirable. It has hundreds of thousands of acres of productive farmland and access to significant water resources from Northern California. Its water system includes power-producing dams, too.

As people flocked to California, major industries grew. Those included Hollywood and technology. Its once-prestigious university system gave many of its best students top-notch educations. Unsurprisingly, California draws millions of tourists annually to attractions such as its beaches, Disneyland and Yosemite National Park. Dozens of songs are based on the appeal of California.

Nevada has its own virtues, but the state’s success has long relied on problem-solving and creative marketing, especially for Las Vegas. The desert has its own beauty, but it’s not as popular as ocean beaches and balmy weather.

Yet, Californians keep moving here. Almost 158,000 of them have since 2020. That has been 43 percent of Nevada’s new residents during that time. It was happening pre-COVID, too. Between July 2017 and July 2018, more than 50,000 people moved from the Golden State to the Silver State. Census data from 2022 shows more than twice as many Californians have moved to Nevada as Nevadans moving to California.

These new residents aren’t low-income individuals with few options either. A new report from Placer.ai found the Las Vegas area is attracting those with higher incomes. Its analysis showed that “between December 2019 and December 2023, the median (household income) of incoming residents was 20 percent higher than the median HHI of the local population.”

This is counterintuitive. But Nevada has one major advantage over its bigger neighbor. It hasn’t been governed like California. Nevada has relatively low taxes, a business environment that is relatively friendly and a lower cost of living.

Leftist policies are systematically crippling California. It has high income and sales taxes, but residents don’t get much for their money. In part, that’s because powerful public-sector unions largely control state government. Homelessness and crime is rampant. Building restrictions and mandates, such as requiring rooftop solar on all new homes, have made housing increasingly unaffordable for all but the wealthy. Its regulations have driven energy prices through the roof.

Welcome ex-Californians. But please try not to help turn Nevada into the state you just left.

Henderson City Councilman Dan Shaw is facing two more lawsuits, accusing him of making illegal loans via a tribal lender allegedly owned and controlled by Shaw and his business partner Greg Jones. 

The filings bring the number of federal class action lawsuits filed against Shaw, Jones, and the lender, Green Arrow Solutions, to six since 2022. Four of the suits, which are almost identical, have been settled in Illinois, Massachusetts, and Indiana, court records indicate.

The new lawsuit, in Illinois, seeks to prevent Green Arrow Solutions, purportedly a tribal enterprise operated by the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians in California, from making and collecting high-interest loans of more than 700% annual interest over the Internet. The company is allegedly using tribal immunity to evade regulation. 

The plaintiff in the case received a loan for $350 from Green Arrow Solutions in February 2023, according to the complaint.  

“The loan would result in repayment of $1,132.28 if paid on schedule,” the complaint says. “The total interest charged would be $787.28, which according to Green Arrow Solutions equates to an annual percentage rate of 852.42%, a rate more than 20 times that permitted in Illinois (36%).”

Shaw, who was appointed to Henderson City Council in 2017 and later won election, faces a general election challenge in November from Dr. Monica Larson.

“The personal and business behavior of elected leaders matters,” Larson said in a statement to the Current. “It goes to the heart of ethics, integrity, and good decision-making. The charges in these current and past lawsuits are serious. Residents deserve better.” 

Elizabeth Trosper, Shaw’s campaign communications director, said she expects Shaw to be dropped from the lawsuit. “It would be inappropriate to further comment on a open lawsuit that includes Dan Shaw or his companies.” 

The Illinois suit, filed May 30, alleges that in an attempt to evade prosecution, “non-tribal owners of online payday lending businesses frequently engage in a business model commonly referred to as a ‘rent-a-tribe’ scheme,” in which “non-tribal payday lenders create an elaborate charade claiming their non-tribal businesses are owned and operated by Native American tribes.”

The alleged scheme, according to the new suit and those filed previously, is purported to shield the lenders from state and federal usury laws under the guise of sovereign immunity. 

“However, the tribal lending entity is simply a facade for an illegal lending scheme; all substantive aspects of the payday lending operation – funding, marketing, loan origination, underwriting, loan servicing, electronic funds transfers, and collections – are performed by individuals and entities that are unaffiliated with the tribe.”

The suit alleges that in exchange for use of the tribe’s name, the true owners pay the tribe “a fraction of the revenues generated.” While the percentage varies, “the number is almost always in the single digits.” 

Tribal administrator Ben Ray did not respond to requests for comment. 

A map on Green Arrow Solutions’ website indicates it does business in Nevada. 

“On information and belief, the list of states in which Defendants do not make loans depends on the likelihood they will face public or private enforcement actions,” says the Illinois suit.

The complaint lists five other Internet lenders that purport to be operated by tribal enterprises, but are owned by Nevada Impact Management, LLC, a company that lists Shaw and Jones as officers. 

“Attempting to circumvent state interest rate caps by fraudulently hiding behind tribal sovereign immunity has been found to constitute criminal conduct,” the suit says, noting a New York jury convicted two individuals in 2017 on 14 felony counts for operating a network of tribal lending companies. 

A Wisconsin suit was filed this week. Only a cover sheet has been filed. The attorney representing the plaintiff did not respond to requests for comment.