And just like that, the 83rd legislative session is over. 

In its wake, Nevada lawmakers have passed bills authorizing the state to join not one but two interstate wildfire compacts, increasing protections for utility customers who are overcharged and banning Styrofoam. 

Lawmakers also balked at the opportunity to ban the sale of plastic water bottles around Lake Tahoe, protect certain Nevada insects and create a wildfire insurance plan.

Monday’s close of session means dozens of bills now await Gov. Joe Lombardo’s signature. Since entering office, Lombardo has generally stayed quiet on environmental issues, and it will be interesting to watch what bills he signs or gives a silent sign of approval to and which bills he kills. 

Here’s a (far from comprehensive) rundown of some of the environmental and energy bills that stood out to me this session, and where they are as of Wednesday. 

Bills Lombardo has taken action on

Wildfire — Championed by Sen. Julie Pazina (D-Las Vegas) and signed into law by Lombardo on May 26, SB19 allows the state to enter into the Great Plains Wildland Fire Protection Compact and the Northwest Wildland Fire Protection Agreement, allowing Nevada to more easily transfer resources across state lines during emergencies. It passed unanimously out of both houses. 

Styrofoam — AB244, which was introduced by Assm. Venicia Considine (D-Las Vegas) and received bipartisan support, would have phased out Styrofoam, which is not recycled in Nevada, over the next five years, starting with large restaurant chains and expanding to smaller businesses. Lombardo vetoed the bill. 

Headed to Lombardo’s desk

Heat — Two years ago, Lombardo vetoed a bill that would have required local governments to address extreme heat; the following summer, more than 500 people died in Clark County from heat-related illness. Now, Lombardo is again being asked to sign a bill, AB96, requiring Washoe and Clark counties to create formal heat plans. All Democrats and a handful of Republicans supported the bill.

Water — After lawmakers failed to pass a 2023 bill to buy back and retire water rights in some of the state’s most over-appropriated basins, they passed two bills this session addressing the matter — SB36, a standalone water rights retirement bill, and AB104, a similar bill that tacks on some odds-and-ends amendments from the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the state’s division of environmental protection. Both passed unanimously.

Solar — AB458, sponsored by Assm. Howard Watts (D-Las Vegas), will enable property owners to install rooftop solar on affordable housing properties with five or more units, expanding net metering access — a process that allows homes with solar panels to offset or transfer excess power back to the electricity grid — to low-income renters. It passed on mostly party lines, with some Republicans and all Democrats in support.

Utility accountability — Sponsored by Assm. Tracy Brown-May (D-Las Vegas), AB452 directs state energy regulators to investigate how fuel and purchased power costs are passed on to ratepayers and to potentially adopt what’s called fuel cost sharing, a move that could lead to NV Energy bearing some of the financial risk when natural gas price spike. The bill, which passed out of the Assembly 35-7 and received unanimous support in the Senate, also gives state energy regulators more time to scrutinize utility rate hike requests and guarantees full refunds for overcharged customers. 

Additional accountability — SB442, a bill requiring public utility companies such as NV Energy to publish quarterly data broken down by ZIP codes on the number of customers it disconnects each month because of nonpayment, squeaked through with just hours left in the session, receiving overwhelming Senate support after passing the Assembly on party lines. The bill’s passage coincides with an ongoing investigation into how NV Energy overcharged tens of thousands of customers, resulting in disconnections for some of those who were overbilled. 

Outdoor worker protection — SB260, championed by Sen. Edgar Flores (D-Las Vegas), tackled the issue of protections for outdoor workers when air quality is poor due to wildfire smoke. A series of amendments shifted the bill to establishing protections through regulation.

Maybe next session? 

Bills I covered … — Throughout the session, I wrote about bills that would have created a healthy soils initiative, categorized certain insects as wildlife so the Nevada Department of Wildlife could manage them and banned the sale of plastic water bottles in the Lake Tahoe watershed. They all failed to make it over the finish line, as did AJR10, a resolution with initial overwhelming bipartisan support backing a federal bill releasing land in Southern Nevada that died in a somewhat surprising manner (more on that later.) 

… and bills I didn’t — SB173, a wide-ranging environmental and health bill sponsored by Sen. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas), failed to receive a final vote despite an extensive series of amendments through the weekend. The omnibus bill addressed a variety of issues ranging from the selling of certain products containing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS or “forever chemicals”); requiring emergency management plans to include heat mitigation measures; and requiring redevelopment agencies to work with arborists to plant drought-tolerant trees.

And, AB437, which would have established the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan — failed to make it out of the Assembly. Presented by Assm. Jill Dickman (R-Reno), the bill would have offered basic wildfire insurance to property owners who have been denied coverage under the open market, something nearly three dozen other states offer. 

During hearings for the bill, advocates pointed out that Nevadans saw a 459 percent increase in the number of wildfire insurance policies that were cancelled between 2022 and 2024, and that thousands of applications are denied each year. The plan would have offered less than $1 million in coverage to “people who absolutely cannot get insurance anywhere else,” Dickman said. “We have a crisis brewing … Time is of the essence.”

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In the weeds
New trail alert — The Carson Ranger District is accepting public comment on phase two of the Sierra Front Trail in Reno. The newest segment will span from the Michael D. Thompson (Hunter Creek) Trailhead to the new Sierra Front Trail in southwest Reno. The 13 miles of new single-track trail, expected to be completed next year, will be open to all non-motorized users including hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. 

Rushed environmental review — Three proposed Nevada geothermal projects will undergo rushed environmental reviews by the federal government under President Donald Trump’s national energy emergency declaration.

Nevada-based Ormat’s Diamond Flat, McGinness Hills and Pinto geothermal projects will all undergo 14-day environmental assessments, making them among the first geothermal projects covered under the Department of Interior’s new emergency permitting procedures. Assessments previously would take a year or longer. Diamond Flat includes test wells near Fallon, McGinness Hills would involve upgrades and expansions to an existing plant in Lander County, and Pinto would involve drilling and exploring near Denio. 

Testing for algae blooms — Following a viral video last year claiming a dog died after swimming in Lake Tahoe, testing for harmful algae blooms will take place at El Dorado, Regan, Kiva and Kings beaches prior to the Fourth of July and Labor Day holidays. At the Tahoe Keys, testing will occur before the Fourth of July, Labor Day and in late September. Harmful algal blooms can look like thick paint floating along the shorelines of lakes and can pose public health risks. Current algae conditions can be found here.  

Toad tribulations — The Center for Biological Diversity is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect the Railroad Valley toad under its Endangered Species Act. The amphibians live in a single, spring-fed, 445-acre wetland in central Nevada and are threatened by energy and mineral exploration and development near their habitat. Railroad Valley is the site of dozens of oil wells and a refinery, and the federal government is considering expanding the refinery and leasing more adjacent parcels.

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ICYMI: 
Will the release of federal land help Nevada’s affordable housing crisis? It depends

Enviro groups sue to halt construction of NV Energy’s massive transmission line

Amodei explains how Nevada public land sale got axed from reconciliation

Will a $7,600 price tag derail a bill to better track utility shutoffs in Nevada?

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Here’s what else I’m reading (and listening to) this week: 
Recommended by my former colleague Daniel Rothberg and reported by MIT Technology Review: The data center boom in the desert

From The Associated Press: Trump plans to merge wildland firefighting efforts into one agency, but ex-officials warn of chaos

The Guardian describes how the Colorado River basin has lost nearly the equivalent of an underground Lake Mead

From the Los Angeles Times: California turns on water to create new wetlands on the shore of the shrinking Salton Sea

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Editor's note: This story was updated at 9:30 a.m. on 6/5/25 to correct that SB260 advanced to the governor's desk.