As in legislative sessions past, The Nevada Independent is publishing a series of profiles featuring the new lawmakers in the state. Check back in coming days for additional stories on new legislators' backgrounds, interests and policy positions.

Sen. John Steinbeck

• The freshman Las Vegas Republican succeeds termed-out Sen. Scott Hammond (R-Las Vegas), who resigned from his seat in 2023 to lead the Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation.
• He represents a district in the northwestern Las Vegas Valley.
• District 18 has a Republican lean (33 percent Republicans, 29 percent Democrats and 38 percent registered as nonpartisans or to other political parties as of January 2025).
• Steinbeck defeated Democrat Ronald Bilodeau in the general election, carrying 58 percent of the vote.
• He sits on the commerce and labor, revenue and economic development and legislative operations and elections committees.

Profile

John Steinbeck, 53, knew from an early age that he wanted to pursue a career in public service.

“I found early that having something that I was passionate about, and that was challenging, that I could help people and work on a team, really mattered to me a lot,” he said.

Born in Southern California, Steinbeck moved to Las Vegas when he was young and attended Western High School. He has been married to his high school sweetheart for 34 years and has four children and one grandchild. And yes — he is related to the author John Steinbeck, who was his grandfather’s cousin. 

His favorite Steinbeck book? “Definitely Of Mice and Men,” he said.

When entering the workforce, he applied to become a police officer and firefighter.  The Clark County Fire Department was the first to offer him a job — and the rest is history.

Since being hired in 1990, Steinbeck, who has degrees in fire science and emergency management from the College of Southern Nevada and Purdue Global, has risen through the ranks of the fire department, starting as a firefighter and most recently becoming the chief of the department in 2020, one week before the first COVID case was reported in Las Vegas.

He has worked as a fire engineer (where he operated the fire engine), a captain working on technical rescues (which spans everything from confined space rescues to trench rescue), a battalion chief and the county’s emergency manager.

He’s also been dispatched to disaster zones, including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City.

“Those shaped me,” Steinbeck said. “To be on those rubble piles [after 9/11], and to see that destruction, it was very humbling and very sad … You really saw, after just standing on the top of what represented the worst of humanity a block away was the best of humanity, where people were there that just wanted to help in any way they could.

“It really drove home why we do this … there are great people that will rise up when you have some of the hardest moments.”

After the 1 October shooting in Las Vegas in 2017, Steinbeck was the incident commander for the emergency operations and family assistance centers and helped coordinate response efforts at the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center.

“That was the biggest thing that I've ever done in my career, by far, with the largest impact,” he said. “It was totally different than anything that I expected [when I joined the department].”

As a senator, he wants to build off his work leading the fire department by bringing forward bills related to public safety. He has sponsored SB153, which specifies that if someone’s death has been “proximately caused” by fentanyl, it would carry a first degree murder charge of the person who distributed the drug.

After his victory last year, Steinbeck decided he couldn’t hold both positions at the same time and decided to retire from the fire department — the only place he’s ever worked.

His last day was Jan. 24.

“It’s a mess of emotions,” he said. “Gratitude and joy to be moving on to something else, but also just a lot of just reflection and nostalgia.”

On the Issues

Education

Steinbeck said he did not have “a hard stance yet” on legislation to bring back a pandemic-era program providing universal free school meals to K-12 students.

“I'm ready to listen to the testimony, I'm excited about it,” Steinbeck said. “We shouldn't have hungry children — that’s what it comes down to.”

Asked whether there should be an increase in enrollment caps for Opportunity Scholarships — the school choice program that provides students from low- and middle-income households with scholarships to private schools — Steinbeck said he did not have enough information, but that “I do believe in the scholarships and everything we can do to promote school choice.”

Housing

Nevada’s summary eviction process requires tenants, rather than the landlord, to make the first filing in an eviction case, which is different from almost every state.

Steinbeck said he is “open minded” about changes to the process — and that if Nevada has a different policy than most other states, “we need to be better.”

“We don't want people evicted that should not be — that's terrible,” Steinbeck said. “On the other hand, we don't want to make it so that landlords that aren't receiving their rents can't take the appropriate actions.”

Lombardo vetoed a bill in 2023 to amend the process, but he said following his State of the State address this year that he was “open to consideration” of something similar this year.

Elections

Steinbeck supports SB103, a bill from Sen. Lisa Krasner (R-Reno) proposing that officials only count mail ballots received by the end of the early voting period. Current law allows a ballot to be counted up to four days after Election Day, as long as it is postmarked by Election Day.

He is also joining other Senate Republicans in sponsoring SB195, which would make several changes to election law, including shortening the time frame for voters to cure their mail ballot signatures. 

Gun control

Steinbeck described himself as “fairly moderate” when it comes to gun control. For example, he’s a proponent of background checks, a stance that was solidified through his role assisting people after the 1 October shooting.

“I think that it's very important for us to be able to know who's getting some of these semiautomatic and very dangerous weapons,” Steinbeck said.

However, he said he is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and would not have supported a bill vetoed by Lombardo last year to raise the buying age for certain semiautomatic rifles and shotguns from 18 to 21.

Environment

Steinbeck said Nevada “should lead our nation” in renewable energy — and that lawmakers could do more to encourage use of renewable energy, but that it needs to be driven by the market.

“Let’s go for it,” Steinbeck said. “Let's become the nation's premier alternative energy producer.”

However, he said the Legislature should not make new laws to meet its goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“If we move towards the renewables and let the market do that, it is more what I would like to see,” he said. “I don't want to put unnecessary burdens on the economy and consumers.”

Film tax credit

Democratic legislators have introduced two bills to provide tax credits to the film industry.

Steinbeck said he is “excited” about the proposals.

“We need to diversify our economy, and I'm looking at all options for that,” he said. “It's all in the details. It all comes down to the details and what that looks like for Nevada.”

He said he has some concerns that the tax credits, as proposed, would be transferable — meaning they can be sold to other companies, as well as what it could mean for businesses already located in Nevada. But he added that tax credits are “a tool that we need to still have available and utilize.”

Health care

Asked what the Legislature could do to decrease the state’s uninsured rate, Steinbeck called for an open-minded approach to solve a “very complex problem.”

“Good jobs with good private insurance is best,” he said. “Everybody doesn't have that — we need to make sure that we have the failsafes.”

Line-item vetoes

Assm. Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas) has pushed for a gubernatorial line-item veto for budget items.

Steinbeck said he would have to hear testimony about the proposal. He added that “a line item for Gov. Lombardo sounds amazing, a line item for another governor might have more concerns for me … You're not making laws for one single cycle.”