UPDATE: By the time the Nevada Senate adjourned Wednesday night, the Assembly and Senate had passed 107 bills, and sent 35 bills to finance committees for exemptions from the midnight deadline. All bills that were brought to a vote passed, keeping them alive if they can win approval in the second house.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Up against a midnight deadline, the Nevada Legislature is churning through more than 100 bills in Carson City and passing everything that comes to a vote as the Democratic majority controls the Assembly and Senate.
So far today, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s school safety bill — Assembly Bill 330 (AB330) — has passed on a 38-4 vote in the Assembly and is now headed to the Senate. The bill does away with “restorative justice” provisions passed in 2019, and gets tough on violence and drug violations. Students as young as 6 years old can be expelled, despite emotional arguments from lawmakers demanding the end of policies that create “throwaway children.” An appeals process is now part of AB330.
GUN CONTROL: Democrats passed AB354, which prohibits firearms within 100 feet of election sites, as well as refining language in a 2021 law that outlawed ghost guns. Last week, Democrats passed AB355 to make it illegal in Nevada to own, possess or buy certain semiautomatic weapons until age 21, although there are some exemptions for military and law enforcement officers. Both bills passed on a 28-14 party-line vote.
SUBSTITUTE TEACHER BENEFITS: AB282, which passed 31-11, targeted the lack of health benefits for a large segment of teachers who aren’t full-time employees. The ACLU of Nevada presented information at a March 14 bill hearing saying there are currently 775 long-term substitutes in the Clark County School District at the same time the district has more than 1,350 vacant jobs. AB282 would provide “a monthly subsidy totaling at least $450 per covered full-time substitute teacher to full-time substitute teachers for the purchase of health insurance coverage.”
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: A bill that seeks federally negotiated “fair market prices” for a short list of high-demand drugs passed on a 27-15 vote in the Assembly — before lawmakers even know which drugs will be on the list. The 10 initial drugs are expected to be brand names that treat conditions including COPD, diabetes, blood cancer, breast cancer and strokes. AB250 would require drug companies to sell those drugs to all Nevadans at the federally set price — not just Medicare recipients.
JAILHOUSE ELECTIONS: AB286 sets requirements for allowing jail inmates to cast votes in an election. The bill passed on a 39-3 vote, and now goes to the Senate.
ELDER EXPLOITATION: The Senate passed SB61 on a 21-0 vote, specifying that a joint bank account doesn’t give someone the right to take their parent’s money.
Many bills passed before today’s deadline. And some bills are exempt from the deadline because they are being studied to determine how much they will cost.
Before a bill can become law, it must pass a committee vote in the house where it originated — the Assembly or the Senate. From there, it must receive the support of the house where it originated (tonight’s deadline) and then receive the support of the house.
The Assembly wrapped up business after approving 35 bills Tuesday night and referring 32 bills to the Ways and Means Committee. The Senate went back to the floor at 6 p.m. and is continuing to vote on bills. At 7 p.m., the Senate still had about 25 bills to vote on.
