Live Updates: The Nevada Legislature’s 2025 second house deadline
Nevada lawmakers are heading into Friday’s second house passage deadline with dozens of bills queued up for a vote as the end of the 120-day session nears.
The deadline is the final major one ahead of the constitutionally mandated end of session on June 2. By the time lawmakers wrap up, any bills not voted out of both chambers of the Legislature or granted an exemption will not move forward in the legislative process.
In the 2023 session, just seven bills met their demise at the second house passage deadline.
There are about 400 still-alive bills that have not been exempt from legislative deadlines, and roughly 100 of those must pass out on Friday to survive. So far, nearly 300 bills have passed out of both houses, only a handful of which are exempt from deadlines.
But we’ll likely have to wait much longer to learn the fate of some of the most consequential proposals, almost all of which have received exemptions. Those include the budget, Gov. Joe Lombardo’s five policy bills, dueling film tax credit proposals, the multiple efforts to reform Nevada’s boards and commissions and the measure to significantly expand paid family leave policies.
To keep track of the status of each piece of legislation, check out The Indy’s public bill tracker and follow our legislative team’s posts on X. Their handles are: @tabitha_mueller, @eric_neugeboren, @bella_tweetss and @lizzierezz.
What happened in first batch of Senate floor votes — 1:23 p.m.
The Senate recessed at around 1 p.m. after passing dozens of bills. Here are some highlights from Indy reporters.
Here’s a look at major developments leading up to, and during, the deadline day.
A “constitutional oopsie” — 12:21 p.m.
Lawmakers in the Senate committed what one observant lobbyist referred to as a “constitutional oopsie” — not passing the K-12 education budget first, as required under the state Constitution.
The Senate rescinded votes in approval of two budget implementation bills, AB592, the state worker pay bill, and AB591, the appropriations act, that both passed unanimously. The Senate only needed to rescind the appropriations act vote since that is the only one with funding.
The education bill, SB500, awaits a vote in the Assembly, which has not yet convened.
— Tabitha Mueller and Eric Neugeboren
Bills we’re watching today — 10:55 a.m.
There are about 40 Senate and more than 60 Assembly bills without exemptions — meaning that they must pass out of the opposite chamber Friday or die.
Here are the ones we’re watching most closely. All of these are, as of this writing, on the agendas for a vote, though that is no guarantee they will pass.
- A bill brought by Storey County (SB69), which would require certain large-scale projects seeking tax abatements to partner with local governments and fire protection districts to chip into public service costs.
- Sen. Skip Daly’s (D-Sparks) proposal (SB116) to revise the compensation structure for county elected officials. It sets a new base salary for the upcoming fiscal year and allows a board of county commissioners to provide a 2 percent annual cost-of-living pay increase.
- SB128, sponsored by Sen. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas), which would ban health insurers from solely using artificial intelligence to deny prior authorization requests for medical and dental care.
- SB179, a proposal from Sen. James Ohrenschall (D-Las Vegas), that would require the Nevada Equal Rights Commission to determine if antisemitism was the reason behind instances of discrimination in housing, employment or public accommodations.
- Two bills that aim to crack down on fraud in the solar industry. SB379, sponsored by Sen. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas), would strengthen protections for solar buyers to opt out of their contract and prohibit sellers from providing false information on public utility costs. The other, the Nevada Solar Association’s SB440, would increase disclosure requirements for solar companies, among other reforms.
- SB295, also sponsored by Doñate, would require local health boards in Clark and Washoe counties to adopt regulations for sidewalk vendors and exempt certain vendors, selling items from a narrow list of food, from certain regulations.
- AB79, the secretary of state office’s campaign finance bill, that changes the penalty process related to campaign finance reporting violations. It also allows elected officials to use unspent campaign finance donations to cover ordinary expenses incurred in connection with their role.
- Assm. Duy Nguyen’s (D-Las Vegas) AB112, which allows employees to use sick leave for immediate family care if they are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
- AB148, from Assembly Minority Leader Greg Hafen (R-Pahrump), which would require mail ballots be sent to voters between the fourth and fifth Monday before an election, unless a voter requests one for earlier.
— Eric Neuegboren and Isabella Aldrete
Notable bills that passed Thursday with non-party-line votes — 8 a.m.
Lawmakers in the Assembly and Senate passed more than 100 measures Thursday, most of which were unanimous or along a party-line vote, with Republicans in opposition.
However, votes on several measures caught our attention:
- Assm. Lisa Cole (R-Las Vegas) joined Democrats to pass SB350, a bill sponsored by Sen. James Ohrenschall (D-Las Vegas) that, as amended, would double the pre-execution wait time after an execution is approved by a judge. She didn’t discuss on the floor why she voted the way she did, but the bill passed on a 28-14 vote.
- Members of the Assembly unanimously passed Sen. Melanie Scheible’s (D-Las Vegas) SB141, which would adopt regulations for the supervision, custody, care, security, housing and medical and mental health treatment of transgender, gender non-conforming, gender non-binary and intersex offenders. However, Sen. James Ohrenschall’s bill to shield gender-affirming care providers from other states’ crackdowns, SB171, passed along a party-line vote of 27-15, with all Republicans in opposition.
- Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus (R-Wellington) was the only Republican to vote in support of AB209, a proposal from Assm. David Orentlicher (D-Las Vegas) that would protect people engaging in prostitution from criminal liability if they report being victims or witnesses of violent crime.
- Sen. Lori Rogich (R-Las Vegas) voted for AJR9, which urges Congress to pass a law to prohibit Immigration and U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement from entering schools and places of worship, after President Donald Trump threw out a policy limiting where migrant arrests could happen.
—- Tabitha Mueller, Eric Neugeboren and Isabella Aldrete
Assembly places four measures on the chief clerk’s desk — 8 a.m.
On Thursday afternoon, legislators in the Assembly placed four bills on the chief clerk’s desk, a procedural purgatory that temporarily holds a bill before it’s formally considered or acted upon by the chamber.
The move doesn’t necessarily mean a bill is dead, but it could be a way to pause for review or to strategize on how to gain support, delay action on a bill without killing it or hold it as part of a negotiating strategy.
The four measures set aside were:
- SB305, sponsored by Sen. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas), which would require the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) to adopt a process for designating new sanctioned sports. As amended, the measure would require the NIAA to adopt regulations designating lacrosse as a sanctioned sport beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.
- SB306, sponsored by Sen. Michelee Cruz-Crawford (D-Las Vegas), whi h would require the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a task force to develop recommendations to offer housing and other services to children discharged from a psychiatric treatment facility or a state detention facility whose parents or guardians cannot take back into their home.
- SB414, sponsored by Sen. Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas), which would require elected officials’ financial disclosure reports to include any business where they have a stock valued at $5,000 or more and require 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.
- SB443, sponsored by the Senate Committee on Growth and Infrastructure, that declares legislators’ intent to pay prevailing wages to workers employed by a contractor or subcontractor.
— Tabitha Mueller