New Nevada boards and commissions bill strikes back at Lombardo-backed streamlining effort
In today’s edition:
- B&I big mad about new boards and commissions bill.
- Does it matter who gets credit for passing legislation?
- Bill proposes cutting back the number of bills lawmakers can propose
From the Capital Bureau Chief:
If Gov. Joe Lombardo’s late-arriving major health care measure seems familiar, that’s because it is — it contains many proposals already in other bills making their way through the legislative process.
“Whoever that comes from, that's not important to him,” said Lindsey Miller, the governor’s health policy adviser, in an earlier interview
But how important is credit when it comes to legislation that’s passed out this session?
We spoke to several people familiar with the legislative process and campaign cycle who were granted anonymity to talk freely about the matter — and opinions differed.
“It doesn’t matter in the slightest,” said one Republican consultant. “The only people that it matters to are legislators who think people care.”
Saying that you wrote a bill is not a good descriptor on campaign materials, the consultant said, adding that there are much better adjectives, such as championed and fought for, that a legislator can claim even if they just voted it out of a chamber.
A veteran legislative strategist disagreed. A photo of a bill signing means more than a qualified adjective alluding to support, demonstrating your ability to get things done, they said.
“There’s some premium attached to, ‘I wrote, I sponsored, I authored,” the strategist said. “Those are different words than I voted for, I championed, I led the fight on.”
A Democratic operative noted that anytime there are duplicative bills, the one from the majority party will move forward.
“Whether it truly matters at the end of the day or not, there's always a little bit … of ego involved,” the operative said.
Sponsoring or co-sponsoring a bill is something that advocacy groups note on scorecards that can also influence voters, the Democrat said, adding that smart leaders in the caucus will try to make sure that wins are distributed all around.
The veteran legislative strategist and Republican campaign consultant said the last two or three weeks of the legislative session is where policy and politics collide, with decisions on what legislation to pass filtered through questions of how it benefits the state, how it benefits the caucus, how it benefits the majority and who gets the credit.
“You're sort of demonstrating your legislative efficacy or your skill, that actually, I get things done. That's the whole point,” the strategist said.
In the last week, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) and Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) pushed forward competing proposals to fund raises for charter school teachers that Lombardo originally had in his budget.
The strategist said that by the end of the session, the governor and majority leaders are negotiating about who gets the credit on what, even if it’s not always that blunt.
“A lot of it will be, ‘Was that part of that person's agenda? Is it shared credit?’ and usually shared credit wins out more,” they said. “I think in the end … there’s going to be some shared credit … that is what people strive for. Let’s create a win-win-win.”
Suffice it to say, whatever happens over the next two weeks will be revisited again (and again and again) in the 2026 election cycle.
P.S. Why was the internet in the legislative building and the Legislature’s website down on Tuesday? Acting Director of the Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau Diane Thornton told The Nevada Independent that it stemmed from service providers having connectivity issues, which have since been resolved. Asked about what caused the connectivity issues, Thornton said, “Hell, you would have to reach out to ATT and Spectrum for that answer.”
As always, please send us your questions, thoughts and suggestions. You can reach me at [email protected].
What we’re reading and writing
What’s in the 5 Nevada budget bills of the 2025 legislative session? by Isabella Aldrete, Tabitha Mueller, Eric Neugeboren and Lizzie Ramirez
Lots o’ money, but not lots o’ drama. [Editor’s Note: So far…]
Rosen gets Senate to pass no tax on tips using unlikely procedural maneuver by Gabby Birenbaum
#WeMatter
NV Energy CEO departs after 6 years; switch comes after news of utility overcharging by Howard Stutz and Eric Neugeboren
The company’s general counsel will serve as its new leader.
A new boards and commissions bill — with major changes
The Department of Business and Industry’s (B&I) long-running effort to reform Nevada’s boards and commissions is facing its biggest setback to date.
SB425, heard Wednesday, would remove the agency’s oversight of the more than 300 state boards and commissions, in favor of a new office within the Department of Administration. This office’s services would be opt-in for boards and commissions, and the bill would include accountability measures, even for those that do not opt in.
The amended bill would also roll back a law enacted during the 2023 legislative session (SB431) that created the new office under B&I to oversee the boards, many of which are responsible for occupational licensing in Nevada.
B&I pursued further reforms through a bill this legislative session (SB78) that included consolidating many of the licensing boards. The agency argued that the bill was necessary to reform the system — which it has likened to a “de facto fourth branch of government, operating with minimal oversight.”
But it received widespread opposition from board officials and their hired lobbyists, who argued the bill would create more inefficiency.
During Wednesday’s hearing in the Senate Committee on Finance, B&I Director Kris Sanchez said SB425 would undo the progress made by his department since 2023.
“The amendment as written recreates the framework that already exists within Business and Industry and delays implementation,” Sanchez said. “An optional system for oversight, compliance and efficiency replicates the status quo.”
Officials representing occupational licensing boards testified in support of the proposal.
Here’s what to know about the changes.
- SB425, a committee bill, would have originally created a new office regulating licensing of health professionals, but that language was entirely removed and replaced with the new proposal. It seeks to strike a balance between ensuring board compliance — state officials have long said that there is insufficient accountability — while giving boards flexibility.
- “I had a lot of discussions with many of our boards in terms of what it would mean to improve our infrastructure, given the governance issues that have occurred,” Sen. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas), who presented the bill, said during Wednesday's hearing. “We believe that this proposal is sound.”
- The new proposal would create the Office of Shared Services within the Department of Administration.
- It would provide administrative services, which could include human resources services (including hiring and onboarding) and services related to standardizing occupational licensing requirements.
- The office would be available to any regulatory body that is not part of the state’s executive branch and the state’s Commission on Postsecondary Education.
- Boards or commissions that opt into the program would pay yet-to-be-determined fees to cover costs.
- Even groups that do not opt into the office would be subject to accountability. The office is supposed to “periodically review” boards and commissions’ speed of licensing and compliance with state law, and any board will have to cooperate with any review.
- Sanchez was critical of this setup: “What Nevada needs in 2025 is real accountability, transparency and consistent oversight of its occupational licensing boards, not periodic reviews, optional compliance and another inefficient framework for studying our boards.” He added that these proposed accountability measures are not new.
- It appears that this new proposal will supplant SB78, which has yet to pass out of either house and was set to be significantly amended already.
- The media push: The Reno Gazette-Journal published an op-ed by Sanchez on Tuesday touting the bill.
— Eric Neugeboren
Keeping Tabs
🖐️📚💲Republicans reject education funding bill — Senate Republicans on Wednesday unanimously voted against SB500, which would fund K-12 education over the next biennium. Republicans remain upset that Democrats axed a budget request from Gov. Joe Lombardo to include teacher raises for charter schools, while continuing raises to other public educators that passed during the 2023 session.
- Democratic leaders have introduced their own proposals for charter school raises, but Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus (R-Wellington) said that she remains against them, as she would be "forced to support an otherwise bad bill.”
- All senators supported the authorization act (SB501) but the Capital Improvement Program (SB502) passed 17-4, with some Republicans opposed.
- In the Assembly, all members supporting the appropriations (AB591) and state worker pay (AB592) budget bills.
🧑⚖️Bill requiring fewer bills? — AB585, set to be heard Thursday in the Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections Committee, would significantly cut back on the number of bills legislators and statewide elected officials can introduce.
- It’d reduce the number of bill draft requests Assembly members can submit from nine to six, and for senators, from 18 to 12.
- It also reduces the number of bills that offices such as the attorney general or lieutenant governor can file.
- The measure creates a deadline for the submission of a bill draft request from the governor’s office — Aug. 1 of the year before the session in years without a gubernatorial election, and between Jan. 1 and the first day of session during election years.
⚕️Insulin cap bill passes unanimously out of committee — Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager’s (D-Las Vegas) bill to cap the monthly price of insulin to $35 for people on private insurance, AB555, passed unanimously out of the joint Assembly and Senate Commerce and Labor Committee after its first hearing Wednesday. Americans for Prosperity-Nevada testified in opposition to the measure, citing concerns about “a top-down mandate that distorts the free market.” Shelly Capurro, representing the Nevada Association of Health Plans, testified in neutral, saying that the association supports the legislation’s goal but that the bill does not address the underlying price of insulin set by drug manufacturers, shifting the cost of the drugs to health plans, which may lead to higher premiums.
— Isabella Aldrete and Tabitha Mueller
Looking Ahead
- Thursday, May 22: Gov. Joe Lombardo’s education measure, AB584, and economic development bill (SB461) are up for hearings.
- Tuesday, May 27, at 5 p.m.: The legislative press corps is performing its Third House show.
Days until:
- Second house passage deadline: 2
- Sine die: 12
And to get you going into the week, a few social media posts that caught our eye:
- X: Rough times for all.
- X: Where is the Geek Squad when you need it?
- X: Looking forward to the long public comment sessions …
We’ll see you next week.