18 May 2023
In the face of growing tensions between Democratic legislative leadership and Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, lawmakers advanced hundreds of bills over the first weeks of May ahead of Friday’s deadline to pass bills out of committee in their second house.
Since the start of last week (May 8), legislators have voted more than 130 bills out of their second house committee, and as of Thursday morning, have scheduled votes on dozens of additional measures ahead of the deadline. As of Thursday morning, more than 230 bills have not received a committee vote and are not exempt from legislative deadlines.
The pressure to move bills comes as legislative timelines are squeezed by the impending sine die, the constitutionally mandated end of the 120-day session, which lies just two-and-a-half weeks away on June 5.
As of Wednesday, through the 101st day of the session, lawmakers have passed less than two dozen bills and resolutions out of both houses — a tiny fraction of the nearly 800 measures left alive in the Legislature.
Though many of those continue to move through the 18 policy committees across the Assembly and Senate, the powerful budget committees have also begun lengthy, often twice-a-day hearings on many budget implementation bills and others that have been exempted because of their potential financial impact on the state.
But even if lawmakers get a complete budget passed by June 5, Lombardo may keep the group of 63 in Carson City later into June — his chief of staff said this week the governor could veto the budget if his priorities are not passed.
For now, though, the Legislature is working to wrap up Friday’s committee passage deadline, quickly followed by the second house passage deadline just a week later on Friday, May 26.
Here’s a look at which bills have passed (and failed) ahead of Friday’s deadline. The Nevada Independent will update this story as additional bills are passed out of committee on Thursday and Friday.
THURSDAY (as of 2:22 p.m.)
Preventing animal cruelty
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday passed a bill aiming to up animal cruelty penalties.
The measure, AB159, is sponsored by Assemblyman P.K. O’Neill (R-Carson City) and seeks to classify animal abuse as a violent crime within state law.
Though the measure passed unanimously, Sen. James Ohrenschall (D-Las Vegas) reserved his right to vote against the bill on the floor, citing some remaining questions about the measure. Ohrenschall did not detail what those questions were.
GPS tracker ban
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to pass AB356, a bill that in most circumstances would outlaw attaching a GPS tracking device to an individual’s vehicle without their consent.
The measure, sponsored by Assemblywoman Jill Dickman (R-Reno), comes in response to a high-profile court case in Northern Nevada involving the legality of using non-consensual GPS trackers. Supporters say the measure, which passed out of the Assembly with a unanimous vote, could also prevent stalking, abuse and harassment.
The bill passed with an amendment granting exemptions to law enforcement agencies.
Expanding protections for sexual assault survivors
During Thursday’s Assembly Judiciary Committee meeting, lawmakers advanced several measures meant to provide greater protections for survivors of sexual assault.
SB321, sponsored by Sen. Lisa Krasner (R-Reno), would expand the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights by prohibiting law enforcement from using a sexual assault survivor’s forensic evidence kit to prosecute the survivor for any crime or to search for evidence of any other crime the survivor may have committed.
SB129, also sponsored by Krasner, would allow a sexual assault survivor to bring a civil lawsuit against an alleged perpetrator at any time after the assault occurred. The provisions would also apply retroactively to any act constituting sexual assault, regardless of any previous statute of limitations. Existing state law puts no statute of limitations on similar cases for sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a minor.
Members of the committee also passed SB309, a bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) that would create the crime of fertility fraud as a category B felony punishable by two to 15 years imprisonment. Under the bill, fertility fraud refers to the crime of implanting reproductive material in a patient without their consent.
Higher penalties for catalytic converter theft
A measure that would implement higher penalties for catalytic converter theft, SB243, passed unanimously out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
As written, the bill stipulates that anyone who steals a catalytic converter, purchases a used catalytic converter from a non-licensed facility or seller or possesses two or more used converters without a license or authorization to possess multiple converters is guilty of a felony, with higher penalties depending on the number of converters involved in the crime.
Though the bill passed out of committee unanimously, Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen (D-Henderson) said the severity of criminal provisions within the bill concern her.
“There are people that just have a lot of junk and do a lot of tinkering and end up with things over the years,” Cohen said.
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY
Lawmakers hear Dem school safety bill, give Lombardo bill the boot
On Wednesday, the Senate Education Committee heard AB285 — a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Angie Taylor (D-Reno) that would repeal the state’s 2019 restorative justice school discipline law, in effect making it easier both for teachers and administrators to remove disruptive or violent students and suspend or expel those students.
The bill comes after criticism of the 2019 bill from across the state’s K-12 system — but has also emerged as yet another political hot potato in the growing battle between a Legislature controlled by Democrats and the Republican governor.
Democrats announced this week that they would kill a similar bill sponsored by Lombardo’s office, AB330, and instead offer the governor a chance to amend his proposals into Taylor’s bill. But a spokesperson for Taylor’s office told The Nevada Independent after Wednesday’s meeting that no such amendment came ahead of the hearing.
Some version of an amendment from the governor’s office could still be attached to the bill before it heads to a full floor vote ahead of next week’s bill deadline. But the move all but assures the governor’s bill will die Friday.
However, an extended proposed amendment presented by Taylor during the Wednesday hearing would make nearly two dozen technical adjustments to the bill. Among the biggest: a change that would prevent the expulsion of any students under 11, reversing course on previous language that allowed permanent expulsions for students as young as 6 years old.
That provision had generated friction among several Assembly Democrats who voted against the prior version of the bill, including Assemblywoman Clara Thomas (D-North Las Vegas) who testified in her personal capacity against AB285 on Wednesday over the expulsion age limit.
Protecting out-of-state abortion providers
Members of the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee voted along party lines Wednesday (with all Republicans opposed) to pass SB131, a bill from Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) that seeks to codify former Gov. Steve Sisolak’s executive order protecting out-of-state abortion seekers.
If passed, it would prohibit health care licensing boards from disqualifying or disciplining health care professionals from providing reproductive care services, and prohibit the governor and state agencies from assisting another state in investigating or capturing someone guilty of a crime involving reproductive services in that state.
After previously passing out of the Senate in a 15-6 vote that saw Sens. Heidi Seevers Gansert (R-Reno) and Carrie Buck (R-Henderson) cross party lines to join Democrats in support, the bill will next go before the Assembly for a vote and is then expected to go to the governor’s desk. On the campaign trail, Lombardo said on his campaign website that he would not “repeal that executive order until the Legislature can make clear that Nevada is not going to prosecute women who seek an abortion or medical providers that perform legal abortions.”
Temporary rent caps for seniors, Social Security recipients
While some efforts to rein in skyrocketing rental prices have stalled at the Legislature — including a Culinary Union-backed effort to cap all annual rent increases statewide — members of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee voted along party lines Monday to move forward with a bill to temporarily cap rents for some older and vulnerable populations.
AB298, sponsored by Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas), would cap rent increases at 10 percent from July 2023 to December 2024 for those who are 62 or older or who rely on payments from Social Security. The bill passed out of the Assembly on a 36-6 vote, with all Democrats and some Republicans in support.
Sen. Jeff Stone (R-Henderson) opposed the bill over concern that the rent cap would lead to “disinvestment” in rental properties.
Minors consent to STI treatment and prevention services
A measure that would allow minors without parental permission to consent to examination, treatment and prevention services for sexually transmitted infections passed out of the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday.
SB172, sponsored by Sen. Dallas Harris (D-Las Vegas), passed out of the Senate on a 14-7 vote with Sen. Heidi Seevers Gansert (R-Reno) joining Democrats in support. Under the bill, minors would also be able to consent to receive contraception.
The bill passed through the Assembly committee with all Republicans in opposition.
Health care for substitute teachers, adding non-voting members to school boards
A pair of education bills cleared committee votes in the Senate on Wednesday, including AB282, a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong (D-Las Vegas) that would give full-time, long-term substitute teachers a monthly $450 subsidy to help pay for health insurance coverage. It would also prevent school districts from limiting substitutes from working the 30 consecutive days needed in order to qualify for the subsidy.
Separately, the Senate Education Committee OK’d AB175, the remnants of a bill that at one point would have added appointed members to local school boards. The bill has since been significantly pared back, instead adding four non-voting members to only the Clark County School District board.
The committee also approved an additional amendment that would ensure those non-voting members cannot serve as officers on the board of trustees, as well as ensuring votes to replace vacant seats on the board come only from elected members.
The post Live updates: Nevada Legislature’s second house committee passage deadline appeared first on The Nevada Independent.