It’s the final two weeks of the Nevada Legislature, and state lawmakers still have hundreds of bills to vet and move through the legislative process.

While much of the action this week will be focused on Assembly and Senate floor votes ahead of Friday’s deadline for second house passage, committee schedules are still busy, with hearings scheduled on measures limiting use of private prisons, higher recycling mandates and minimum wage increases.

Here’s what to watch for on Monday:

AB303: Limiting private prisons

A measure aiming to limit Nevada from contracting with private prisons is set for another vetting from a state budget committee.

AB303, which is sponsored by Democratic Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe Moreno, initially would have prohibited the state from using or contracting with private correctional facilities.  

But the measure was amended to allow state prison officials to contract with private prisons until 2022 to address overcrowding in existing state prisons, and sets out minimum requirements on housing, medical and other services for private facilities that house Nevada prisoners. It also requires state officials to conduct biannual inspections of private prisons with which the state contracts.

A state budget committee approved spending $11.4 million to transfer 200 prisoners to out-of-state private prisons over the next two years, but prison officials still project overcrowding at state correctional facilities in 2019.

Watch the hearing on the bill at 5 p.m. in the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means.

SB315 - More recycling/de-monopolize Republic services

A Senate budget panel will take up a controversial proposal that aims to prohibit municipalities from granting exclusive rights to dealing with commercial waste and recycling and would raise mandated recycling levels in Washoe and Clark counties.

SB315, which is sponsored by Independent Senator Patricia Farley, would set more restrictions and regulations on franchise contracts between counties or municipalities and waste management businesses, including public disclosure of rates and billing information. It would also require the state environmental commission to study trash management agreements and issue nonbinding recommendations, and prohibit exclusive contracts dealing with commercial waste or recycling.

Republic Services, which has held a monopoly on waste management in southern Nevada since the early 1990s, strongly opposed the bill.

Watch the hearing on the bill at 8 a.m. in the Senate Committee on Finance.

SB106: Minimum wage increases

A legislative proposal gradually raising the state’s minimum wage to a tiered $11 or $12 an hour is up for a hearing on Monday.

SB106 would raise Nevada’s constitutionally set minimum wage by 75 cents a year for five years until the wage floor hits $11 an hour if the employer offers health care, or $12 an hour if they don’t. The state’s current minimum wage is at a similar tiered $7.25 and $8.25 per hour structure.

It’s one of several minimum wage proposals making their way through the Legislature, which also include a proposed constitutional change raising the wage and a measure that would raise the minimum standards for health insurance offered by employers at the lower minimum wage tier.

Watch the hearing on the bill at 1:30 p.m. in the Assembly Commerce and Labor committee.