Sen. Pat Spearman spoke about her passion for equality under the law. Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno talked about banning private prisons. And Assemblyman Howard Watts recalled how he had helped guarantee voting access for Native Americans. 

At a Nevada Legislative Black Caucus meeting with constituents Thursday, Spearman said equality was the basis of at least two bills she introduced and that became law this past session. Among them was SB166, guaranteeing equal pay regardless of gender — a measure that was vetoed by former Gov. Brian Sandoval in 2017 — as well as protections for sexual assault victims in the military.

"As a veteran, people who go through this feel like they're alone and they're invisible," Spearman said.  

Spearman also mentioned the passage of AB169, which established the Maternal Mortality Review Committee. This bill was passed in response to the rising number of black mothers who die during childbirth.

Monroe-Moreno pointed to her work on AB183, which essentially bans Nevada from the use of for-profit prisons.

"It is a form of modern slavery," Monroe-Moreno said.  "We have a responsibility to bring that person back a better person coming out than when they were coming in."

Watts said he introduced AB137 in order to guarantee polling locations on Native American reservations.

"It is critical in any democracy that, no matter what race or color you are, you have access to the polls," Watts said.

In addition to Spearman, Monroe-Moreno and Watts, Assembly members Will McCurdy II, Brittney Miller and Dina Neal attended the legislative townhall in the North Las Vegas City Hall chambers.

Three aspects of justice — social, economic and criminal — were the focus of McCurdy's bills during the session. He cosponsored AB259, which expunges criminal charges for the use and possession of marijuana, as well as AB267, which seeks to compensate wrongfully convicted prisoners.

McCurdy told those in attendance the story of DeMarlo Berry, a man convicted of murder in 1994 but released in 2017 after the killer confessed to the crime years later.

"Berry spent 23 years of his life behind bars for something that he didn't even do," McCurdy said. "As a state, if we know we've gotten it wrong, we need to right that wrong,"