The identities of people who own local marijuana operations shall remain confidential, according to a Nevada Supreme Court opinion issued Thursday.

Two years ago, the Reno Gazette-Journal sued the city of Sparks for redacting the identities of the owners of local marijuana establishments in requested business license records. Business licenses are public records that include the names of business owners. The city of Reno, for example, allows anyone to search for business licensees' names on its website.

While a district court judge initially determined that the the city of Sparks needed to release the identities of those who operated local marijuana establishments in requested records, the Supreme Court reversed the decision.

"As the identifying information of such persons has been validly declared confidential under (Nevada Administrative Code), that information is exempt from disclosure by a business licensor," said Chief Justice Ron Parraguirre, who authored the decision.

The decision noted that such information is normally available to the public, but it is exempt because Nevada lawmakers clearly intended to keep such information private based on language written into state law.

“We believe government works best when it’s transparent — especially as it begins to regulate a new industry like recreational marijuana,” said Kelly Ann Scott, executive editor of RGJ Media, which owns the newspaper. “It’s disappointing the public will now be denied that transparency because of today’s ruling.”

Scott added, “We will look for other ways to pursue transparency so the public can finally know who will profit from this industry — just like they can for any other business.”

Doug Thornley, the senior assistant city attorney for the city of Sparks, said the city was pleased with the decision and that Sparks is committed to "an open and transparent government."

"I think that the primary motivation behind the position we took is that we thought the law was clear, and it’s basically a safety concern. It’s an all cash business, and what those people don’t need is people keeping tabs on who they are and where they live," Thornley said.

The decision, which addresses only medical marijuana establishments, applies also to recreational marijuana establishments since all current operations are either medical or dual-purpose.

The RGJ previously requested copies of current business licenses for marijuana cultivation centers, dispensaries and production facilities in Washoe County, Reno and Sparks. The city of Reno and Washoe County have policies to release all of the information included in those business licenses.

It's unclear how Thursday's ruling will affect the policies for Reno and Washoe County.

Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, said that he was "shocked" by the decision and was regretful that he and other legislators had failed to address this loophole.

"Technically, (the Supreme Court justices) were probably right, but I don’t think it was ever our intention to keep their names private," Segerblom said. "You can’t have a situation where the state licenses somebody but we don’t know who we are-- there could be a conflict of interest."

If the Nevada Legislature wants to review the matter, it will have to wait until the 2019 session.

"The state has a history of backroom deals, the rich get richer and the powerful get more powerful. I thought we had something this session, but I guess -- with all the other things going on -- it was an issue that we just forgot about," Segerblom said. "We need to address it immediately. It was the legislature’s mistake and it needs to be resolved."