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2-Minute Preview: Pharmaceutical transparency, renewable portfolio standard bills up for committee votes

Megan Messerly
Megan Messerly
Health CareLegislature
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The Nevada Legislature building as seen in Carson City on Feb. 6, 2017.

The final three weeks of the legislative session are here.

This week, lawmakers will focus on passing bills out of committee ahead of the Friday deadline for bills to pass out of committee in their second house — in other words, for Assembly bills to pass out of the Senate and vice versa. Hearings and votes are scheduled on a number of important bills today, from a diabetes transparency bill to raising the amount of renewable energy drawn into Nevada.

Here’s what to watch out for:

SB305: Appointing attorneys in child welfare proceedings

A bill that would require a court to appoint an attorney to represent a child in certain abuse or neglect proceedings is up for another committee hearing today.

The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Julia Ratti, would require that a court appoint an attorney to represent children who are alleged to have been abused or neglected in certain civil child proceedings and proceedings to terminate parental rights. The bill also provides for the compensation of attorneys who are appointed and prohibits the court from appointing an attorney representing the child to also serve as a guardian ad litem, responsible for investigating what solutions are in the best interest of a child.

The bill also allows county commissioners to impose a fee of not more than $6 for recording certain documents to fund the legal services. The bill passed the Senate last month on a 17-4 vote.

Watch the hearing in Assembly Judiciary at 8:30 a.m.

SB265: Pharmaceutical transparency bill

Democratic Sen. Yvanna Cancela’s pharmaceutical transparency bill is up for a vote today in Senate Finance.

The bill would require manufacturers of certain diabetes drugs to report certain financial information relating the cost of the drug, mandate pharmaceutical representatives to annually report which doctors they visited and what samples they handed out and ensure certain health care nonprofit organizations report contributions they receive from the pharmaceutical industry.

The bill has yet to receive its first floor vote and passed out of Senate Health and Human Services 4-1 last week. It was exempted from legislative deadlines and referred to Senate Finance to consider a possible financial impact.

Watch the vote in Senate Finance at 9 a.m.

AB206: Raising Renewable Portfolio Standard to 50 percent by 2030

Democratic Assemblyman Chris Brooks’ bill to require 50 percent of the energy drawn into Nevada be produced by renewable sources by 2030 is up for a committee vote tomorrow.

The bill would set a goal that Nevada reach 80 percent by 2040. In 2015, Nevada’s goal, called a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), was 20 percent.

Watch the vote in Assembly Commerce and Labor at 1:30 p.m.

AB384: “Ban the box” for government jobs:

The bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblyman Tyrone Thompson, would provide that the criminal history of an applicant under consideration for a state, county, city or unincorporated town job may be considered only after the applicant has been certified by human resources. During the certification process, the criminal history of the applicant would not be allowed to be considered.

The bill passed out of the Assembly on a 27-14 party line vote last month.

Watch the hearing at 3:30 p.m. in Senate Legislative Operations and Elections.

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