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Lawmakers pass 54 bills including paid sick leave, ID cards for felons ahead of next week's deadline

Megan Messerly
Megan Messerly
Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
Michelle Rindels
Michelle Rindels
Criminal JusticeLegislature
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The Nevada Legislature building as seen in Carson City on Feb. 6, 2017.

Tuesday marked another busy day for Nevada lawmakers, with members of the Assembly and Senate voting out 54 pieces of legislation ahead of next week’s deadline for bills to be out of the originating house.

Assembly members voted out 13 bills, and senators approved 41 bills over the course of the day, with only a handful of measures passed on party-line votes. Republicans were largely unified in opposition to measures that would require large employers to offer paid sick leave, ID cards for felons, and allowing for early release and residential confinement of certain elderly offenders, though a combined 45 of the measures passed unanimously through both houses.

Unless a piece of legislation has been granted a waiver or exemption from deadlines, it must be out of the house of origin by April 25.

For a full list of bills that were up for a vote, whether they were voted on, and how the vote panned out, click here. (Party line votes are highlighted in purple.)

Here are a few highlights of bills that were passed on Tuesday:

SB140: Residential confinement for certain older offenders

The Senate passed legislation on Tuesday that would allow for residential confinement of certain older offenders on a 13-8 vote, with Democrats, Independent Sen. Patricia Farley and Republican Sen. Joe Hardy, who sponsored the bill, in support.

The legislation would allow the director of the Department of Corrections to assign any offenders to residential confinement or other appropriate supervision for the remainder of the person’s sentence if he or she is physically incapacitated or in ill health to such a degree that the individual is unlikely to pose a public safety threat or is in poor health and expected to die within 12 months. The bill would also apply to offenders who are at least 65 years old, have not been convicted of certain offenses and have served at least a majority of a maximum term of their sentences.

The director would be required to notify the Division of Parole and Probation and the board of county commissioners of the county in which the individual will reside at least 45 days before the offender’s expected date of release, in addition to notifying the victim of the crime if he or she has requested to be notified of consideration of the prisoner for parole.

SB196: Paid sick leave for employees

A bill that would require certain employers to provide paid sick leave to their employees passed the Senate on Tuesday in a 12-9 vote on party lines.

The legislation, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, requires private employers who have 50 or more employees in Nevada to provide at least 1 hour of sick leave per 30 hours worked by an employee, which may be used by an employee beginning on his or her 90th calendar day of employment.

The bill allows employers to limit the use of paid sick leave to 24 hours per year, to limit the accrual of paid sick leave to a maximum of 48 hours per year, require employees who use paid sick leave for three or more consecutive days to provide “reasonable certification of the need for the leave” and set a minimum increment that an employee may use the accrued sick leave at any one time, not to exceed two hours.

The bill also requires employers to maintain records of the accrual and use of paid sick leave for a three-year period and to make those records available for inspection by the Labor Commissioner.

SB310: Revised credit hours for the Silver State Opportunity Grant

The Senate passed a bill that changes certain credit-hour requirements for students to be eligible to receive the Silver State Opportunity Grant unanimously Tuesday afternoon.

The legislation, sponsored by Republican Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, makes an exception to the minimum requirement of 15 credit hours during a semester to be eligible for the grant if the student is in the final semester of his or her program of study. The bill also allows the credit hours from a course a student takes at a university in the Nevada System of Higher Education to be counted toward the 15-credit hour requirement for eligibility if the course is required for a student’s program of study but is not offered at or does not have any space at a community college or state college within the system during a semester.

The Legislature created the program, the state’s first need-based grant, during the 2015 legislative session.

AB396: Lobbyists can give gifts again

An extensive ban on lobbyist gifts could get some wiggle room after the Assembly voted unanimously on a bill allowing for minor gifts.

Under AB396, which is sponsored by Democratic Assemblyman Skip Daly, state law would be amended allowing lobbyists to gift “de minimis “ gifts to lawmakers, defined as a food or beverage under $20 or any other gift under $10. Such gifts would need to be regularly reported by the lobbyist, and couldn’t be used as a get-around of the existing gift ban.

It would also allow lawmakers to avoid reporting paid-for trips or educational events on their financial disclosure reports if they’re paid for as part of their employment outside the legislature or if the event doesn’t include a formal presentation.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, who pushed for the initial lobbying gift ban in 2015, tweeted that Assembly members should be “embarrassed” by the vote.

Republican Assembly Minority Leader Paul Anderson told reporters he thought the ban on meals offered a “facade” of transparency, and argued that such nominal gifts are unlikely to sway a legislator, while regular campaign contributions of thousands of dollars each were more likely to.

AB451: Trustee training

A measure unanimously approved by Assembly members would require school board trustees undergo professional development or risk public embarrassment.

AB451, which is sponsored by Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, would require members of school boards to undergo at least six hours of training in the first and third years of their terms, in areas ranging from Open Meeting Law to financial management to public record law. Trustees who fail to complete the training would have their noncompliance posted on the school district’s website.

SB268: ID cards for felons

Senators were split on a bill that requires the Nevada Department of Corrections to provide inmates, upon their release, a photo identification card with personal details that have been formally verified. Existing law didn’t require the department to find backup information before issuing the cards.

The bill also requires the DMV to accept such ID cards as proof of offenders’ name and age so they can apply for a regular driver’s license.

The measure passed the Senate 14-7, with all Democrats, Independent Patty Farley and Republicans Becky Harris and Heidi Gansert voting in favor.

AB461: Peace Week

Lawmakers unanimously supported a bill declaring the week following Martin Luther King Jr. Day as “Peace Week.”

Democratic Assemblyman Tyrone Thompson’s bill calls on the governor to issue a proclamation of Peace Week each January. The goal is to teach children how to manage conflict in their own life and foster peace in the world around them.

The Assembly voted 41-0 in favor.

SB493: Collective bargaining for school administrators

A bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. David Parks and others would undo a ban on collective bargaining for school administrators who make more than $120,000 a year.

Instead of the numerical cap, the measure would exclude administrators who are above the rank of principal from bargaining. That includes superintendents, central office administrators and chiefs.

The bill received a unanimous vote of 21-0.

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