Veteran legislator Dodge dead at 91

Carl Dodge, author of some of Nevada's most important laws, including the plan which funds public schools, died Saturday at Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center.

He was 91.

Dodge served 20 years in the Nevada Senate as a Republican representing Churchill County and, after reapportionment, the Western Nevada Senatorial District.

"He was obviously one of the more important senators in the history of the state," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, on Monday.

Raggio, who served nearly 10 years with Dodge, said that at one point, he, Dodge and former Senator and later Supreme Court Justice Cliff Young were the only three Republicans in Nevada's upper house.

He described Dodge as "very knowledgeable, dedicated and an important factor in all major decisions."

"He could be tough," said Raggio. "But he always knew what he was talking about. He was very effective."

Dodge was the primary author of the Nevada Plan, which still operates to fund Nevada's public schools. It was based on the principal of pooling money from across the state, then dividing it up to ensure every school district, rich or poor, received a base amount per student in funding. Designed to equalize educational funding between wealthy and poor county districts, the Nevada Plan is one of the few statewide school funding plans that has never been challenged in court.

He also authored the legislation providing local government employees and teachers, bargaining rights for pay, benefits and work conditions. That law, also still on the books, is called the Dodge Act.

Former Churchill County legislator Virgil Getto, who spent 24 years as an assemblyman and senator entered the state Legislature in 1967 and received valued advice from Dodge.

"I'll always remember - I was not an experienced legislator, I wasn't experienced in politics. Carl said 'You want to remember you're dealing with issues, not people. It's kind of hard not to dislike certain people, just deal with the issues.' It was some of the best advice I received," Getto said.

He also remembers Dodge being a down-to-earth legislator.

"Most of the legislators wanted their own offices and secretaries. Carl - all he had was his desk and he was his own secretary," Getto said. "I admired Carl. He was my mentor and was a great man."

Dodge served from the 1959 through the 1979 Legislature, resigning to take an appointment as chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. During a lifetime of public service, he also served as chairman of the Nevada Commission on Ethics, chairman of the Nevada State Personnel Commission, a chairman of the Churchill County Board of School Trustees and on the Fallon City Council.

Dodge is survived by his wife of 58 years, Bette; son Carlon of Fallon; and daughter Audys Dodge Losche of Carson City.

Dodge was born in Reno on June 8, 1915, but moved to Fallon with his parents and family when he was 5. He attended the University of Nevada and was elected student body president in his senior year. He graduated fourth in his class from Stanford Law School in 1939 and returned to practice in Fallon until joining the U.S. Navy in 1942.

After the war he returned to Fallon to join the family construction business and was later operator of Dodge Island Ranch, which has been in the family 78 years.

Dodge has been named to the Nevada Senate Hall of Fame and honored as a Distinguished Nevadan by the University of Nevada.

A celebration of Dodge's life will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Smith Family Funeral Home in Fallon. A private family burial will be held at the Masonic Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Reno.



• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750. Reporter Christy Lattin of the Lahontan Valley News contributed to this report.