Nevada Legislature 2025

2-Minute Preview: Medicaid for all, net metering and marijuana cafes on tap for lawmakers

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By Riley Snyder and Michelle Rindels

There's a week left before the next big committee deadline for Nevada lawmakers, and agendas are continuing to stay busy.

Legislators are set to take up several major policies on Friday, including a revival of net metering rates for rooftop solar customers, requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave and a measure expanding enrollment in the state's Medicaid system to anyone.

Here's what to watch for on Friday:

AB405: Net Metering and solar bill of rights

After a contentious year-long battle over net metering rates for rooftop solar customers, Nevada legislators are set to move on a compromise measure they believe will jump start the moribund industry.

Members of the Assembly Commerce and Labor committee are scheduled to vote on an amended version of AB405, which initially created a "solar bill of rights" and laid out disclosure requirements for rooftop solar installers. But Democratic Assemblyman Justin Watkins, who sponsored a separate net metering bill, told The Nevada Independent over the weekend that the two bills were being merged.

The proposed bill would allow rooftop solar customers to "sell back" excess energy at 98 percent of the retail rate of electricity. Once the number of net metering customers increases to hit 6 percent of the historic electric peak load, the reimbursement rate would drop to 95 percent. This tiered system would continue until the reimbursement rate is decreased to 85 percent once market penetration hits 10 percent.

Watkins said the amendment was "better than a Band-Aid," and would help the rooftop solar industry despite ongoing questions of how the policy would work if Question 3, a proposed constitutional amendment requiring the state to adopt a retail energy market, is passed in 2018.

Watch the committee vote on the bill after the Assembly floor session in the Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor.

SB196: Paid sick leave

A measure championed by Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford requiring large employers to provide paid sick leave to their employees is up again for a hearing.

SB196, which passed out of the Senate on a party-line 12-9 vote, would require private employers with more than 50 employees to provide a set amount of paid sick time off to their employees. The amount of sick leave that could be taken by an employee would be limited to 24 hours per year, and couldn't be accrued past 48 hours. Employees who take more than three sick days off would need to provide a "reasonable certification" for leave upon their return to work.

Exemptions would be provided for employers that offer an equivalent amount of paid time off that can be used for the same purposes, and for churches, nonprofit organizations, and other tax-exempt groups. The bill requires the state labor commissioner to enforce the provisions, and failure to comply would be punishable by a misdemeanor and a penalty up to $5,000.

Watch the hearing on the bill after the Assembly floor session in the Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor.

SB236: Marijuana cafes

Question 2 legalized recreational marijuana consumption but generally bars its

use in public places. SB236 authorizes county commissioners to allow businesses where marijuana can be used, or to issue permits to organizers so marijuana is allowed at special events. It would limit those permits to businesses and events that are restricted to people 21 and older.

Democratic bill sponsor Sen. Tick Segerblom has said he thinks he could get the bill out of both houses of the Legislature, but is doubtful about its chances with Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, who opposed Question 2 before it passed a statewide vote.

Even Colorado, which has a mature recreational marijuana industry, has a tenuous relationship with marijuana clubs. The few that exist cannot sell marijuana on site and exist in a regulatory gray area; efforts to regulate them this year have faltered amid fears of a federal crackdown on marijuana.

Watch the hearing at 8:30 a.m. in the Assembly Government Affairs Committee.

AB374: State Medicaid for all

A Nevada Democrat's ambitious proposal to expand the state's Medicaid program to all residents — regardless of income — is set for its first hearing.

AB374, which is sponsored by Democratic Assemblyman Mike Sprinkle, would remove the income limits on enrolling in the state's Medicaid program and allow anyone to enroll. Medicaid enrollees are generally limited to people who earn up to 138 percent of the poverty level, which works out to an income lower than $33,600 for a family of four. The bill would allow anyone to purchase a "Medicaid" option on the insurance market with the cost limited to 50 percent above the median spending on individual Medicaid enrollees in the previous fiscal year.

Watch the hearing on the bill after the Assembly floor session in the Assembly Health and Human Services.

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