In today’s edition: 

• Gov. Joe Lombardo says he will only sign legislation that “protects school choice and expands opportunity.”
• An effort to punish death threats on the campaign trail
• A new measure from Democrats seeks to address high teacher vacancy rates.

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From the Capital Bureau Chief:

On Monday, Gov. Joe Lombardo made his first public announcement about his veto stance for this session in the following social media post: he would “only sign legislation that protects school choice and expands opportunity - nothing less.”

A reminder — Lombardo set a single-session record for vetoes in 2023. He’s running for re-election in 2026. Democrats still control the Legislature. You do the math on what that means for vetoes this session.

As you’ll see lower in this newsletter, Democratic lawmakers aren’t afraid to bring back concepts Lombardo rejected in 2023. The problem is that Lombardo hasn’t said much publicly about bills winding their way through the legislative process — a complaint echoed privately and publicly by legislators. 

There are some concepts — such as changes to summary eviction — where the governor has expressed an openness to signing previously vetoed policies if tweaks are made. Beyond that vague framing, we don’t have much to go on right now.

Our requests for comment about Lombardo’s stance on various pieces of legislation, such as an effort to legalize medical aid in dying, have gone unanswered or we’ve received murky replies. Though negotiating through the press probably isn’t the preferred route, it’s a tension worth watching as we continue through the legislative session.

As always, please send us your questions, thoughts and suggestions. You can reach me at [email protected]. 

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Inaugural committee transparency bill on deck (again)

Sen. Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas) is expected to introduce a bill on Thursday that would increase stock reporting requirements for public officials, as well as bring back an effort to increase financial transparency of inaugural committees.

Here’s the gist:

• Parts of the bill mirror a proposal vetoed by Lombardo in the 2023 session that would have required the disclosure of finances related to the inaugural committees of constitutional officers. This would include all contributions and expenses exceeding $1,000, as well as any entity that collectively gave or received more than $1,000.
  • In his veto message, Lombardo said “if transparency is truly a priority for the Legislature, it should pass legislation requiring disclosure of activities beyond a single office.”
    • “I’m not deterred by one veto,” Scheible said in an interview. “I think that when legislation is worth doing, that we ought to pursue it.”
• Ahead of Lombardo’s inauguration in 2023, he created a nonprofit to run the events — called the Nevada Inaugural Committee — meaning it did not have to disclose its donors, as a PAC would have been required to do.
  • Months later, the nonprofit was rebranded as the Service First Fund, which has since become an arm of Lombardo’s political machine, launching a website last year outlining his political agenda.
    • In 2023, the group raised $1.6 million in revenue, up from $1.3 million in 2022, tax documents show.
• The proposal would also require elected officials’ financial disclosure reports to include any business where they have a stock valued at $5,000 or more.
  • Existing law requires officials to disclose any business where they have a stock valued at 1 percent or more of the total stock issued by the business.
    • “The law as is written right now has not kept pace with modern investing technology, with modern investing practices,” Scheible said. “I think you do have elected officials with thousands, tens of thousands, millions of dollars worth of stocks in larger corporations that they’re not being required to report.”

— Eric Neugeboren

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What we’re reading and writing

How Nevada’s attempt to clarify immigration enforcement rules turned political by Isabella Aldrete

Welcome to the start of the 2026 gubernatorial election.

Illegal online gambling sites could face stiffer penalties under Nevada bill by Howard Stutz

You better you bet (legally).

Nevada’s mental health nonprofits warn of ‘devastating’ potential federal funding cuts by Eric Neugeboren

To sum up: Cuts would not help Nevada’s not-great mental health rankings.

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Bill Spotlight: Addressing teacher vacancy rates

A new bill (AB398) by Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) follows efforts to improve teacher pay across the state and increase teacher recruitment and retention. 

• Background: In 2023, lawmakers passed SB231, which established a $250 million matching fund to help school districts provide pay raises of upwards of 20 percent to teachers and support staff at Nevada school districts (excluding charters). 
• In the Clark County School District, the Clark County Education Association (CCEA) negotiated with the district to use a portion of the SB231 dollars to provide extra pay to attract teachers to special education positions and Title I schools with several vacancies.
  • Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) said during a Tuesday press conference in Carson City that Title I school vacancies dropped from 92 percent to 53 percent after SB231 passed.
  • Earlier this month, the district announced that funding dedicated for the extra teacher pay would soon run out. 
• Yeager’s AB398 would provide funding to continue that pay incentive. Yeager said it will be heard next Friday in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.
  • The bill sets up the legal and budgetary structure to make the payments, but doesn’t actually make the appropriations. Those funding decisions will be made later in the legislative session as part of the budget process.
• Yeager told The Nevada Independent last week that the cost would be known toward the end of session when lawmakers have a better sense of the budget and how many hard-to-fill positions there are.
  • He added only school districts would be eligible for this funding. 

— Rocio Hernandez

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 Keeping Tabs

📱 Death threats against assemblymember spurs legislation — When Assm. Hanadi Nadeem (D-Las Vegas) was campaigning last year, she said she was subjected to threats to her life that she described as “truly a horrific experience.” That led to her sponsoring AB123, which was heard Tuesday in the Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections with bipartisan testimony in support.

• Nadeem, a practicing Muslim, was subjected to campaign attacks last year stating that she supports and admires Taliban sympathizers. 

The amended bill would expand existing harassment statutes pertaining to public officials to apply to political candidates. It would outlaw any threat that communicates the intent to cause or prompt another to either injure a candidate or a family member or damage property owned by the candidate or a family member. 

🥍 Lax in the Leg — Dozens of lacrosse bros descended upon the Legislature this week for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee on SB305, a bill that would sanction lacrosse as a sport in Nevada’s public high schools. Lacrosse is currently only a club sport. The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, which oversees school sports in the state, opposed the bill, arguing that it should have complete authority over high school sport sanctioning rather than the Legislature.

😡 “Vexatious” records requesters — Assm. Ken Gray (R-Dayton) said that he felt real “angst” introducing AB152 during a hearing Tuesday. The bill that would exempt state and local governments from providing access to copies of public records that have been authorized for disposal. Gray said that the measure would increase transparency by preventing personnel from “chasing rabbits down holes that they may never catch” and instead “allowing them to focus on the real records.”

Supporters of the bill, such as Cameron Gresh, Carson City government affairs liaison, said there was a fiscal cost to digging up historical records, especially for smaller jurisdictions. 

— Eric Neugeboren, Bella Aldrete 

Looking Ahead

• Thursday, March 20, 3:30 p.m.: Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) is presenting her IVF measure, SB217, to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services.
• Friday, March 21, 8 a.m.: Sen. James Ohrenschall (D-Las Vegas) is presenting his provider shield law measure, SB171, in the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor.
• Tuesday, March 25, 6:30 p.m.: The Indy is hosting a panel focused on Nevada’s Changing Health Care Landscape at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. Speakers are Nevada Medicaid Administrator Stacie Weeks, consultant Mike Willden and President and CEO of the Nevada Hospital Association Patrick Kelly.

Days until: 

• Last day for bill introductions: 5
• First house passage deadline: 34
• Sine die: 75

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And to ease you into the weekend, a few social media posts that caught our eye: 

• X: We love public transportation.
• Instagram: Kilts for days.
• X: Et tu Kelli and Elliot.

We’ll see you next week.

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