And now, the end is near.
There are less than 24 hours left in Nevada’s 83rd legislative session, and hundreds of bills and last minute surprises could be waiting in the wings.
But there were significant developments on Sunday evening, with Gov. Joe Lombardo’s heavily amended crime bill passing out of committee, and the Senate’s approval of an education bill that combined elements of proposals brought by the governor and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas). The capital improvement budget bill has also passed out of both chambers, significantly decreasing the chances of a special session.
Lombardo has signed about 170 bills into law, and about 200 others are awaiting his signature or veto.
If you haven’t had the time to catch up on the latest, The Indy has got you covered. We’ll be posting updates here until midnight.
In the meantime, check out The Indy’s public bill tracker and follow our legislative team’s posts on X. Their handles are: @tabitha_mueller, @eric_neugeboren and @bella_tweetss.
Click the links below to access a specific live blog entry:
Proposed amendment would gut film tax credit expansion proposal, turn it into a study — 8:32 p.m.
With less than four hours to go in the legislative session, Sen. Roberta Lange (D-Las Vegas) is proposing an amendment that would gut the film tax credit expansion bill sponsored by Assm. Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas) and backed by Sony and Warner Bros. and turn it into a study.
The proposed amendment to AB238, which was posted to the Nevada Legislature’s website Monday evening, still needs approval from the Senate.
“The Legislature hereby finds and declares that a comprehensive analysis of Nevada’s potential to develop and support a sustainable film and creative media industry is in the public interest and necessary to inform future policymaking,” the amendment says.
There are many ways the situation could play out. If the Senate passes the bill as amended, it would return to the Assembly (which would likely decide to not concur with the changes). Then, it would be up to the Senate whether it would recede the proposal. If it doesn’t, lawmakers from both parties would convene a conference committee to work out differences — with only hours left until the end of the session.
Lange is the sponsor of another film tax credit bill (SB220) that has stalled in the Legislature. She proposed merging the two bills — which would decrease the tax credits given to each project — but the sponsors of the other bill said that their proposal “stands on its own.”
Lange and Jauregui did not immediately respond to phone calls and text messages requesting comment.
— Eric Neugeboren and Tabitha Mueller
Election omnibus, drug price cap proposals among latest bills to pass Senate — 7:42 p.m.
The Senate passed about 15 more bills during its latest floor session, including these ones that caught our eye:
Bill to track public utility shutoffs passes out of both chambers with bipartisan support — 6:24 p.m.
A bill that would require more reporting around how often utilities disconnect customers advanced to the governor’s desk after passing the Senate on a 17-4 vote, without a possible amendment that may have weakened the bill.
SB442, backed by Sen. Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas), would require public utility companies such as NV Energy to publish quarterly data broken down by ZIP code on the number of customers it disconnects each month because of nonpayment. It comes weeks after a state investigation found that NV Energy has overcharged tens of thousands of customers over more than two decades.
A possible amendment sponsored by Assm. Max Carter (D-Las Vegas) on behalf of labor that would have curtailed the number of utility shutoffs to only those lasting more than 48 hours was pulled at the last minute, according to a source.
— Isabella Aldrete, Amy Alonzo
Paid family leave among nearly 30 bills passed by Senate in early evening session — 6:19 p.m.
Senators on Monday evening passed a bill that would significantly expand paid family leave.
AB388, sponsored by Assm. Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno), passed the Senate on an 11-9 vote, with Sen. Roberta Lange (D-Las Vegas) voting alongside all Republicans in opposition.
The bill, which would require public and private employers with at least 50 workers to guarantee 12 weeks of paid family leave, is a likely candidate for a veto from Gov. Joe Lombardo because all Republican lawmakers voted against it.
Another bill that passed during the Senate’s evening session was AB475, a committee bill that would provide more than $20 million for eviction diversion programs across the state. Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus (R-Wellington) was the only vote against.
— Eric Neugeboren
Assembly committee approves Cannizzaro-Lombardo ‘big, beautiful education bill’ — 6:02 p.m.
The Assembly Committee on Education passed out Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro’s (D-Las Vegas) SB460 on a nearly unanimous vote Monday afternoon, which Assm. Alexis Hansen (R-Sparks) referred to as the “big, beautiful education bill,” (a play on President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill). The vote came a day after it was amended to incorporate elements from Gov. Joe Lombardo’s separate education bill, AB584.
A conceptual amendment reduces the bill’s funding request from $135.5 million to $42.6 million, which includes decreasing funding for early childhood literacy and readiness from $50 million to $12 million and removing an additional $50 million for grants for pre-K programs altogether. Legislative sources said that the removal of the $50 million occurred because it was inadvertently included in the drafting process.
The bill calls for a statewide rating system for school districts and the sponsors of a charter school and a ramped-up implementation of tiered interventions and support for individual schools, school districts and the sponsors of a charter school deemed as low-performing and underperforming. Currently, the state provides ratings of individual traditional public schools, but not districts or charter sponsors overall.
Interim State Superintendent of Public Instruction Steve Canavero told lawmakers Monday he estimates 53 percent of schools are currently rated as a 1- or 2-star, but could not say how many would be moved into “underperforming” status if the bill passed. Schools designated as persistently underperforming could face the replacement of their principal or key personnel or be placed under the control of the Nevada Department of Education (NDE). The corrective measure would be implemented for at least six years, but could be extended and made indefinite.
Assm. Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno) voted against the bill along with the committee’s Vice Chair Rueben D’Silva (D-North Las Vegas).
“I have a lot of concerns, most especially about the state takeover of schools, schools being controlled by a five-member board, one of which is the governor, who is not an educator, and punishing our schools rather than preemptively helping them,” La Rue Hatch said.
Before the vote, Assm. Tanya Flanagan (D-Las Vegas) questioned why it was necessary to remove school personnel who knew the school and the students’ it serves best.
“I just don’t see how that’s the solution,” she said.
La Rue Hatch (D-Reno) asked whether the state has enough resources to take over potentially as many as half of the state’s schools indefinitely. Canavero said that wasn’t the intention of the bill.
“Our goal is that not all schools move through probation to become underperforming,” Canavero said. “The goal is to support them in place and to have improved and increased student outcomes.”
Supporters included the Clark County Education Association, the Nevada System of Higher Education, Vegas Chamber and the Charter School Association of Nevada.
Nevada State Education Association (NSEA), the statewide union for teachers and support staff, opposed the bill. NSEA lobbyist Alexander Marks said it was rushed and doesn’t address the state’s per pupil funding, which remains $4,000 behind the national average.
The Clark County and Washoe County school districts, the Nevada Association of School Boards and Nevada Association of School Superintendents testified neutral on the bill.
— Rocío Hernández
Senate committee approves voter ID proposal — 5:20 p.m.
The Senate Committee on Finance gave the first legislative approval to the amended bill that would bring voter ID in Nevada.
During a behind the bar committee meeting on Monday afternoon, the amended version of AB499 advanced on a 6-2 vote, with Sens. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas) and Angela Taylor (D-Reno) voting against.
The measure now heads to the Senate floor. If approved, it would go to the Assembly, which must concur on the amendment (which is extremely likely because it was brought by the chamber’s top Democrat).
The proposal, the result of a deal between Gov. Joe Lombardo and Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas), would require voter ID beginning in next year’s elections in addition to adding ballot drop boxes in the days leading up to Election Day.
Yeager said he amended the bill to get ahead of what he viewed as the inevitable approval of voter ID during the 2026 election via a ballot question, which initially passed during last year’s elections after receiving the support of more than 70 percent of voters. The earliest rollout of that proposal would be in 2028 — timing Yeager said he hoped to avoid considering the competitive nature of that election cycle.
However, it received significant opposition during a Saturday hearing, with those against arguing that it is no sure thing that the 2026 ballot question will pass (citing the lack of an opposition campaign related to last year’s question) and criticizing supporters for seeking to move the bill forward in the final days of the legislative session.
— Eric Neugeboren
Assembly, Senate pass dozens of bills, including ones on freestanding ERs and nursing ratios — 4:01 p.m.
During mid-afternoon floor sessions, the Assembly and Senate passed more than 30 bills before recessing.
See the highlights below.
Lombardo crime bill passes out of Senate with bipartisan support — 2:34 p.m.
The Senate on Monday afternoon passed out a heavily amended version of Gov. Joe Lombardo’s wide-ranging crime bill, which would crack down on smash-and-grab burglaries, expand the definition of domestic violence and more.
The Senate waived rules on the proposal, allowing it to receive a floor vote after passing out of committee last night. It now heads to the Assembly with less than 10 hours left of the session.
Sen. James Ohrenschall (D-Las Vegas) was the only vote against the bill. He declined to comment.
New details emerged about the crime bill earlier Monday afternoon after a fleshed-out version of Sunday night’s conceptual amendment was posted. The amended bill does not include Lombardo’s marquee priority of lowering the felony theft threshold, which would have made it easier for a theft to trigger a felony charge. It would also prohibit people who committed certain crimes on the Strip from the area for a maximum of two years.
The amended bill would establish hospitality workers as a protected class, meaning that additional penalties will apply to someone who committed assault or battery against them — which criminal justice reform advocates said was not included in Sunday’s conceptual amendment.
During a floor speech ahead of Monday’s Senate vote, Senate Judiciary Chair Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas) touted the measure as a way to crack down on retail crime and improve school safety.
“It ensures that we have safety for people who work in our schools, for people who shop at our businesses, and for people who drive on our roads,” she said.
— Isabella Aldrete, Eric Neugeboren
Lombardo says, “no comment” on whether he’ll call a special session, Speaker expresses optimism — 1:05 p.m.
Gov. Joe Lombardo said “no comment” Monday as to whether he would call a special session if his priority legislation does not pass.
The governor’s comments followed a closed-door meeting with his Chief of Staff Ryan Cherry, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) and Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) in the Senate leadership office on Monday afternoon.
It arrives as the governor’s five priority bills are still in various stages of the legislative process, and have led to questions about whether they’ll make it out in time before the legislative session ends at midnight.
Following the meeting, Yeager told press that there were “productive conversations” about a game plan to move forward and wrap up the session on time.
Yeager said the discussion did not touch on the potential for a special session if Lombardo’s priority legislation does not pass, but there is a “clear plan of action of what needs to happen in the next few hours to get us out of here.”
Yeager said he “thinks we’re in a good place” to be able to accomplish everything that needs to be done.
Here’s where the governor’s legislation stands as of 1:05 p.m.:
- The governor’s housing bill (AB540) passed out of the Assembly unanimously Wednesday. It has yet to receive a vote in the Senate.
- Lombardo’s health care bill, SB495, is still awaiting a vote in the Senate before it heads to the Assembly.
- His heavily amended crime bill, SB457, passed out of committee but still needs a vote in the Senate before it heads to the Assembly
- As part of a compromise with Cannizzaro, portions of Lombardo’s education bill are being folded into Cannizzaro’s education bill. The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate, received a committee hearing Monday and awaits a vote in the Assembly.
- Lombardo’s economic development bill (SB461) appears unlikely to move forward.
— Tabitha Mueller
After amendments, will Senate concur in CIP bill amendments? — 12:51 p.m.
The capital improvement program (CIP) budget bill (SB502) — one of the five budget bills that are constitutionally mandated to pass to end the session — moved out of the Assembly on Sunday evening.
However, an amendment to the bill appropriating up to $75 million in bonds to the Nevada State Infrastructure Bank that the Assembly adopted on Sunday is raising questions as to whether the Senate will concur and send the bill to the governor’s desk. There is no cap on bonds that can go into the bank — which was seeded with $75 million in bonds — and the funds are used to help finance infrastructure projects for local governments, tribes and nonprofits to build infrastructure projects.
Though there are no clear details on what might happen with the concurrence, the upcoming 2026 election lends the amended bill a political undercurrent.
The State Infrastructure Bank is housed in the treasurer’s office. Treasurer Zach Conine, a Democrat, announced his intention to run for attorney general, a race that Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) is also widely considered to be entering.
The CIP bill — which requires a two-thirds vote to pass — has previously been used as a political bargaining chip, sending the Legislature into a special session in 2023 after Republicans rejected the measure amid debates about charter school teacher raises.
As amended, the bill also includes up to $50 million in bonds for a new state account for attainable housing — a more expansive version of traditional affordable housing — that is located in a special improvement district or special assessment district.
— Eric Neugeboren, Tabitha Mueller, Isabella Aldrete
Final boards and commissions bill dead, killing chances of reforms — 11:02 a.m.
SB507, a bill that would have added new staff to the office overseeing Nevada’s boards and commissions and allowed the office to prescribe a fee for certain services, is not moving forward, legislative sources said.
The bill’s death almost assuredly means that there will not be any changes coming to the boards and commission system — a significant blow to what has been one of Gov. Joe Lombardo’s priorities since he took office.
There are more than 300 boards and commissions, which are groups of civilians who provide recommendations or oversee professional licensing requirements, but state officials have said that there are insufficient ways to hold the boards accountable. Lombardo said in his State of the State address this year that the system should be “smart, lean and productive.”
SB507 would have allowed the Department of Business and Industry (B&I) to hire 11 new positions to help oversee the boards.
“This is a lean staff that will be able to provide that assistance and make sure that we have more insight into the operations of the boards, address any gaps that may be existing in operations,” B&I Director Kris Sanchez said at a bill hearing Sunday.
It’s been a contentious session on the boards and commissions front.
B&I proposed significantly increasing oversight of the boards through SB78, a proposal that drew widespread outrage from the boards for its attempt to merge and consolidate many of the bodies. Then, an amended version of SB425 — sponsored by Sen. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas) — would have stripped B&I of any oversight.
Assembly Minority Leader Greg Hafen (R-Pahrump) rolled out his own proposal last week (AB601) that sought to be a compromise between all parties, but it never received a hearing.
The Legislature created the B&I office to oversee the boards in 2023, and the state eyed changes this session to increase its ability to hold boards accountable. But officials tied to the groups said the proposals would lead to more inefficiency and unfairly target boards that are already in compliance with state law.
During Sunday’s bill hearing, Sanchez lamented the lack of oversight that his department has over the boards.
“This is a challenge. I can watch the train leave the station. I know there’s an impending train wreck,” he said. “But I don’t have the authorities necessary to just go in and solve the problem.”
— Eric Neugeboren
Senate advances film tax credit bill without a committee hearing or vote — 10:58 a.m.
A film tax credit expansion measure, AB238, moved forward late Sunday in an unusual procedural move.
Senators removed the bill from its committee, and ordered it onto the general file, the legislative stage where a bill is debated and voted on by the full house. Strangely, the bill did not receive a committee hearing or committee vote, which is the standard legislative procedure for almost all bills.
However, under Senate standing rule 50, the Senate can withdraw a bill from committee as long as there’s a majority vote by the chamber’s members and a day’s notice. But per the rules, there doesn’t need to be a vote on the final day or the second-to-last day of the legislative session.
The rule was not cited on the floor because no one objected to the motion.
— Tabitha Mueller
Senate, Assembly resolve their differences on 3 bills in conference committees — 10:14 a.m.
Lawmakers added technical amendments to three relatively low-profile bills in conference committees to kick off the final day of the legislative session.
Conference committees are ad hoc panels consisting of three representatives each from the Senate and Assembly that are formed to resolve disagreements between the chambers over amendments to a particular bill. These meetings are not broadcast and usually happen with little notice — the three on Monday were not listed on legislative agendas until shortly before they took place.
Here’s what happened:
- AB301, which relates to general improvement districts, was amended to increase the transparency of the board of trustees of the districts.
- It now requires each board to provide an annual report to county commissioners about its operations and whether the district should continue. The board must also publish all information about its activity online, and officials must keep all of its audits, financial statements and budgets — but not in a “well-bound book,” as was previously required.
- The bill also now includes section 1 of AB62, which makes certain changes to the process for receiving transferable tax credits for housing projects.
- SB352 would prohibit public and private health insurance, including Medicaid, from discriminating against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. It would also prohibit health care providers from discriminating against those characteristics.
- The amendment adopted by the conference committee would change the covered policies from “policy of health insurance” to “health benefit plan” to clarify that the bill “does not preclude appropriate underwriting of disability, long-term care and supplemental benefit policies.”
- SB15 modifies deadlines related to delinquent tax notices and how county commissioners grant franchises.
- The amendment makes some minor tweaks to how county commissioners can assess a fee on the grading of land in unincorporated areas of the county to support endangered species.
Only one additional bill — AB487, which would create a study on the banning of puppy mills — is currently set for a conference committee.
— Tabitha Mueller, Eric Neugeboren, Isabella Aldrete
Where we stand — 8 a.m.
This initially appeared in The Indy’s Behind the Bar newsletter.
On Saturday, The Nevada Independent published a list of what to watch in the final 72 hours of the Nevada Legislature. With less than 24 hours to go in the legislative session, here’s an update on where we stand:
- Education policies:
- We reported on Sunday the first details of a compromise between Gov. Joe Lombardo and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas).
- Lawmakers and Lombardo’s team have reached an agreement on charter school teacher raises — Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager’s (D-Las Vegas) AB398, which allocates $38.6 million for those raises, passed out of both chambers almost unanimously.
- Lombardo’s priority bills:
- The governor’s housing bill (AB540) passed out of the Assembly unanimously on Wednesday. It has yet to pass out of committee in the Senate.
- That measure allocates $133 million toward attainable housing projects — a new tier of affordable housing for middle-income earners who struggle to break into the housing market.
- A significantly amended version of Lombardo’s crime bill (SB457) passed out of committee on Sunday. See our coverage here on the changes, including the removal of Lombardo’s marquee proposal to lower the felony theft threshold.
- Lombardo’s health care bill, SB495, is awaiting a vote in the Senate before it heads to the Assembly.
- His economic development bill (SB461) appears unlikely to move forward. It faced pushback from lawmakers who suggested it was fiscally unsound.
- The governor’s housing bill (AB540) passed out of the Assembly unanimously on Wednesday. It has yet to pass out of committee in the Senate.
- Film tax credit proposal:
- Assms. Sandra Jauregui’s (D-Las Vegas) and Daniele Monroe-Moreno’s (D-North Las Vegas) AB238, one of this session’s two major film tax credit expansion proposals, passed 22-20 out of the Assembly late Friday. It has yet to be heard in the Senate.
- The other proposal from Sen. Roberta Lange (D-Las Vegas), SB220, has stalled in the Senate Finance Committee.
- Though Lange offered to merge the two bills, Jauregui and Monroe-Moreno said their proposal “stands on its own merits.”
- Vetoes:
- So far, Lombardo has only vetoed one bill to expand ballot drop box access, which has been resurrected in the form of an amendment that would also implement voter ID. The amendment represents a potential deal between Lombardo and Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas)
- Boards and commissions reforms:
- It appears that the only boards and commissions bill with a chance of survival is SB507, a budget implementation bill that also allows the office that oversees the groups to prescribe a fee for services offered.
- The bill unanimously passed the Senate and received a hearing in the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs on Sunday morning, but it has not yet passed out of a committee yet.
- Legislative sources indicated that the most recent boards and commissions proposal — AB601, proposed by Assembly Minority Leader Greg Hafen (R-Pahrump) — is dead, along with two competing bills.
- It appears that the only boards and commissions bill with a chance of survival is SB507, a budget implementation bill that also allows the office that oversees the groups to prescribe a fee for services offered.
— Isabella Aldrete, Eric Neugeboren, Tabitha Mueller
