It’s another deadline day at the Nevada Legislature.

The pressure for bills to move comes as the constitutionally mandated end of the 120-day legislative session, June 2, is just two and a half weeks away. Lawmakers are feeling the pressure — as one said while walking into the building today, “I think this is going to be the hardest day of the session for me.”

As of Friday, the 103rd day of the session, lawmakers have passed fewer than 10 measures out of both houses — a tiny fraction of the roughly 800 bills left alive in the Legislature. Many of those proposals have been exempted from deadlines as money-focused committees assess their potential financial effect on the state. 

To keep track of the status of each piece of legislation, check out The Indy’s public bill tracker.

Here’s a look at major developments on deadline day.

More than 30 bills die on second committee passage deadline — 5:18 p.m.

The Legislature’s second committee passage deadline brought 34 bills to their demise Friday. 

It’s on par with the 38 bills that failed to meet the second committee deadline in the 2023 session. However, aspects of these proposals could still make their way into other measures that remain alive. 

The most prominent bills that missed their deadline include Assm. Joe Dalia’s (D-Henderson) proposal to legalize medical aid in dying in Nevada, which faced an uphill battle after Gov. Joe Lombardo indicated that he would veto the proposal, as he did two years ago. Assm. Erica Mosca (D-Las Vegas) also had a proposal (AB156) to raise Clark County School Board trustees’ salaries to the level of county commissioners’ pay, but it never received a second hearing. 

Assm. Heather Goulding’s (D-Reno) proposal to require bicyclists to yield at stop signs and red lights to reduce fatal bike collisions (AB168) also failed to pass out of committee, as did one from Assm. Brittney Miller (D-Las Vegas) to prevent school boards from barring lessons about genocides (AB464).

Legislators also scrapped a bill (SB324) from Sen. Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas) to prohibit the sale or distribution of plastic bottles up to 4 liters in communities bordering the Lake Tahoe Watershed. The bill was originally set for a vote today before being taken off the agenda.

Click here for a look at all the bills that died.

— Eric Neugeboren

Lombardo’s housing bill becomes first of governor’s bills to pass committee, with major changes — 5:18 p.m.

Gov. Joe Lombardo’s housing proposal (AB540) was significantly amended Friday before being unanimously approved in the Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor.

Assm. Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas) brought the amendment after working with the governor’s office and the Nevada Housing Division. An additional amendment is forthcoming based on consultation with labor groups, Jauregui said Friday.

Here are the main changes:

• The $200 million that was set to be put into a new account for affordable housing projects was lowered to $150 million.
• Added a requirement that the Nevada Housing Division provide annual reports to the Interim Finance Committee on that account.
• The original bill allowed the housing division to create a program to report rental payments to a credit reporting agency — the amended version would require these programs be free to landlords and tenants. 
• The original proposal required that housing projects funded by this account did not have to provide the prevailing wage (a kind of minimum wage skilled labor must be paid based on similar wage rates for that profession in the region) to their employees, but that exemption — strongly opposed by labor groups — was removed in the amendment. 
• It also eliminated a state exception to pay prevailing wages to construction workers for attainable housing projects that address “a need for critical infrastructure in an area with a shortage of attainable housing.”
• The amendment also restricts the issuance of provisional licenses by endorsement or provisional ones to only contractors working on attainable housing projects in rural areas.
  • The original proposal included this provision to make it easier to find workers to build attainable housing projects, but did not include restrictions on who would be eligible.

This is the first of Lombardo’s five bills to pass out of committee. Democratic leadership said at a Nevada Independent IndyTalks event earlier this week that they supported certain parts of the proposal, which they echoed Friday.

“We’ve still got a little bit of work to do, but I think this is a bill right now that we can be really proud of,” Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) said during the hearing.

— Eric Neugeboren

Health care bill gutted — 3:49 p.m.

Lawmakers in the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services gutted Assm. David Orentlicher’s (D-Las Vegas) bill, AB461, which sought to implement a framework for individuals to make advanced health care decisions.

A conceptual amendment approved Friday removed all sections of the bill except for a requirement for the state’s health department to conduct a program educating and informing Nevada residents about the need to plan for long-term care. 

It also added a requirement to require the state’s guardianship commission submit recommendations in the interim surrounding advanced health care decisions.

Sens. Robin Titus (R-Wellington) and  Jeff Stone (R-Henderson) were the only committee members to vote against passing the measure, reserving the right to change their minds on the floor.

The committee passed five measures in total.

— Tabitha Mueller

Tweaks made to AI ban in health insurance process — 3:08 p.m.

Sen. Dina Neal’s (D-North Las Vegas) measure to ban medical and dental insurers from using artificial intelligence (AI) to deny medical insurance requests, SB128, passed out of the Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor with all Republicans on the committee voting against it.

A conceptual amendment proposed by Neal on Friday tweaks the bill's wording to make it so insurers shall not “solely” use or rely upon an AI system or automated decision tool to deny a prior authorization request (a request to have insurance cover certain medical services) or modify a request for medical or dental care, among other requirements.

The bill also requires that insurers approve a prior authorization request for covered care unless a qualified, licensed health care professional determines the care is not necessary, experimental or investigational.

— Tabitha Mueller

Cindy Lou’s bill relegated to a study, outraging animal advocates — 2:31 p.m.

Outraged Nevadans took to social media to oppose changes to AB487, also known as Cindy Lou’s bill, which would functionally ban puppy mills in Nevada. Instead, the bill will be turned into a research study conducted by the state. 

The bill’s intent was to ban retail stores from selling, bartering, auctioning and transferring ownership of cats or dogs to customers. It was inspired by a puppy named Cindy Lou who suffered alone in Puppy Heaven’s backroom and later died from liver failure. 

Rebecca Goff, Nevada State Director for Humane World for Animals, told The Nevada Independent Friday she’s “disappointed” the effort turned into a study and that a similar effort will come back in the 2027 legislative session.

“We don't want to give up on Cindy Lou and all the other puppies that are suffering in the pipeline,” Goff said in an interview. “This is an issue that matters to Nevadans. It's an issue that protects animals. It's [a] very straightforward and simple policy.”

According to a report from Humane World For Animals, 45 pet stores in Nevada supported the bill. 

— Lizzie Ramirez

Lawmakers advance bill for a commission to determine their pay — 2:20 p.m.

For decades, Nevada legislators’ relatively paltry pay has essentially been stagnant, and efforts to revamp how lawmakers are paid have continuously stalled.

But the issue is gaining the most traction in years after AJR7 received surprise approval from its second committee Friday, after not being listed on the committee agenda at the start of the day. The proposed constitutional amendment would establish a citizen-composed commission to determine legislators’ and the state’s constitutional officers’ pay.

Read more about the bill here.

The proposal, sponsored by Assm. Howard Watts (D-Las Vegas), passed out of the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections on a 4-1 vote, with Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) as the lone opposition vote. She said that legislators should not vote on measures that could increase their pay, and that an initiative petition would have been more appropriate.

The proposal had not received a hearing until Friday, when it received support from groups including Southwest Gas and the Vegas Chamber.

— Eric Neugeboren

Bike safety, daylight saving bills among those at risk of death — 2:20 p.m.

Several notable bills have not been scheduled for a committee vote as of mid-Friday, signaling their likely demise barring a last-minute addition to the legislative calendar.

AB81, sponsored by Assm. Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno), would have eliminated daylight saving time in Nevada, meaning the state would be under Pacific Standard Time year round. The bill never received a hearing in the Senate after passing the Assembly 27-15, with a mix of Republicans and Democrats voting in opposition.

Asked about the bill’s status, La Rue Hatch said she did not know why the bill has not moved forward — saying it’s up to the Senate  —  but that she would continue proposing the bill in future sessions.

Assm. Heather Goulding’s AB168 is also not set for a vote on Friday. The bill would require bicyclists to yield at stop signs and red lights in an effort to reduce fatal bike collisions.  

Goulding told The Nevada Independent Friday she didn’t know why the bill wasn’t scheduled for a work session. Sen. Rochelle Nguyen (D-Las Vegas), the chair of the Senate Committee on Growth and Infrastructure said the committee hadn’t yet met.

“It’s unfortunate because I think AB168 is good policy, it’s good public safety,” Goulding told The Nevada Independent. “It’s a little counterintuitive when you read the bill, but studies show that stop as yield laws reduce accidents and reduce harm to cyclists.”

One proposal that advanced at the last minute was AJR1, a constitutional amendment sponsored by Assm. Natha Anderson (D-Reno) that would overhaul the state’s property tax system by resetting a property’s tax valuation upon sale instead of allowing property tax discounts to stay with the home.

The bill received a hearing Thursday in the Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee. After not being listed on the committee’s agenda for a vote on Friday, it was passed without recommendation, meaning legislators approved it moving forward in the legislative process but did not necessarily support it.

— Eric Neugeboren and Tabitha Mueller

Medical aid in dying meets untimely end — 2 p.m.

The sixth legislative effort to legalize medical aid in dying, AB346, will again not make it across the finish line after it failed to pass its second committee.

Gov. Joe Lombardo, who vetoed a similar effort in 2023, said in a social media post earlier this year that he would not sign the legislation if it came across his desk.

Assm. Joe Dalia (D-Henderson), the bill’s sponsor, told The Nevada Independent he knew passing the legislation would be a “longer shot” but had wanted to keep it alive as long as possible to see if it was possible to negotiate a deal with the governor.

“Our goal from the beginning was to get a bipartisan bill on the governor's desk in a format he could sign,” Dalia said. “As we approached this deadline, it was just clear we weren't going to get there. So out of respect to everybody in the process and the activists who worked so hard on this, we just couldn't, in good conscience, proceed.”

The bill passed out of the Assembly on a 23-19 vote, with three Republicans in support — the most any medical aid in dying effort has ever received in Nevada.

— Tabitha Mueller

GOED backs tax abatement bill after amendment — 2 p.m.

Ten days after a tense hearing regarding the Governor’s Office of Economic Development’s opposition to a bill changing tax abatement structure, the office is now supporting the measure after its amendment was adopted.

The Assembly Committee on Revenue approved SB69, a bill that modifies tax abatement processes for high-dollar projects by requiring the recipients to partner with local governments and fire protection districts to chip into public service costs.

At last week’s hearing, Storey County officials — who are behind the proposal — said they had not adopted an amendment offered by GOED that would have lowered the cap on what businesses must pay while requesting an abatement for a project that will provide a $3.5 billion capital investment. The rejection prompted opposition from groups including the City of Fernley and some legislators, who said they were led to believe that GOED supported the measure.

But Storey County officials ultimately adopted the amendment, placating GOED’s concerns.

— Eric Neugeboren

Banning the use of AI in mental health school services — 2 p.m.

Lawmakers advanced with some changes a measure that originally attempted to ban the use of artificial intelligence (AI) from taking over the duties of school counselors, psychologists and social workers in helping students with mental health concerns. 

An amendment to AB406, sponsored by Assm. Jovan Jackson (D-Las Vegas), the National Association of Social Workers would align the definition of AI to follow the other definitions used in SB199 and AB73 to “have consistency in NRS.”

The amendment would also allow for limited use of AI policies for therapy or behavioral health for children in conjunction with educational personnel. It’d also require a provider to manually review any billing or notes related to patient sessions supported by AI systems.

Sen. Robin Titus (R-Wellington) was the only no vote because she is “concerned” of the billing component, saying providers often don’t deal with billing. 

— Lizzie Ramirez

Reba’s Law animal cruelty bill moves forward — 1:08 p.m.

Action in the Legislature was not limited to committees on Friday. Members of the Assembly gaveled in and unanimously voted out AB381, which would increase penalties for animal cruelty, extending the amount of time spent in prison from one to four years to one to six years in prison.

Also called Reba’s Law, the bill sponsored by Assm. Melissa Hardy (R-Henderson) was named after an English bulldog who was found taped inside of a packing container and died from the extreme heat in Las Vegas. AB381 originally died after the first committee deadline on April 11, but after an uproar from animal advocates on social media, it was resurrected and moved forward. 

— Lizzie Ramirez

Garnishment bill advances — 12:18 p.m.

A measure that seeks to protect more wages from debt collection passed out of the Assembly Committee on Judiciary along party lines.

SB142, sponsored by Sen. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas), would increase the amount of wages protected from garnishment — when wages are withheld to pay off debts such as child support  —  from $400 to $850. An amendment introduced Friday would adjust the amount exempted from garnishment based on the Consumer Price Index every three years. 

The committee approved nearly 20 others bills on Friday morning, among them measures to increase protections for transgender people in jails and extending the pre-execution timeline. 

The committee called a recess — meaning that it could still come back and vote on bills. 

— Isabella Aldrete

Youth social media restrictions bill heavily amended, but passes — 11:20 a.m.

Key provisions of Attorney General Aaron Ford’s SB63, including a requirement for social media companies to implement an age verification system, were axed before it passed out of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor. 

The bill, aimed at improving online safety for youth, met heavy opposition from big tech companies such as Meta and various LGBTQ+ advocacy groups that raised concerns about strict guardrails that could violate freedom of expression and raise privacy concerns. Ford said Friday that the amendments moved multiple of the more of the 12 groups in opposition to neutral, including the Trevor Project and Silver State Equality.

But the bill would still require social media platforms to disable features such as infinite scrolling or likes if a legal guardian requests it. Sections of the Virginia 2024 Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits the collection of a child’s personal data for purposes of targeted advertising or the sale of their data, were also amended into the bill. 

The bill passed out of the committee on a 7-1 vote, with Sen. John Ellison (R-Elko) opposed.

“I’m trying to get through it and find out who is going to be responsible and who is going to track this,” Ellison testified, who reserved the right to change his vote. 

— Isabella Aldrete

Holocaust bill amended, approved to reflect Jewish groups’ criticisms — 10:34 a.m.

After Jewish groups opposed it, SB179, a bill to address antisemitism in housing, was amended to include the definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance that’s been adopted by dozens of other states.

The groups said they have always supported the intent of Sen. James Ohrenschall’s (D-Las Vegas) bill — which calls for investigations into discrimination to consider whether antisemitism was a motivation — but disliked the definition of antisemitism in the original version and preferred a definition that “includes clear examples of antisemitism while making an important distinction between criticism of Israel as a nation-state and antisemitism rhetoric.”

SB179 passed nearly unanimously out of the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs, with only Assm. Max Carter (D-Las Vegas) voting against it. Carter told The Nevada Independent he voted “no” because of the “extremism” that revolved around the bill when it was first presented. 

— Lizzie Ramirez

Lawmakers advance AG's price fixing bill after increasing burden of proof – 10:32 a.m.

Attorney General Aaron Ford’s price-fixing bill, AB44, has moved forward after lawmakers put a more specific definition on what it means to fix the price of essential goods, such as food, shelter and medication.

The amendment — proposed by Sen. Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas) — would ensure that a price increase of an essential good would not be considered a deceptive trade practice unless there is a preponderance of evidence that the seller was trying to mislead customers or intentionally manipulated the market to the detriment of the public. It also clarifies that price decreases would not be subject to the legislation.

The proposal passed with opposition from the committee’s three Republicans, but Sens. John Ellison (R-Elko) and John Steinbeck (R-Las Vegas) reserved their right to change their vote.

 — Eric Neugeboren