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Office of New Americans, prevailing wage for school construction and penalizing stunt drivers all pass legislative hurdles

Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
Megan Messerly
Megan Messerly
Taylor Avery
Taylor Avery
Legislature
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The Nevada Legislature building

With less than a week to go before the next legislative deadline, state lawmakers moved quickly Monday to pass nearly four dozen bills, including a reversal on 2015 limits on prevailing wage for school construction and creating a statewide Office of New Americans.

After a bustling Friday committee deadline last week, legislators largely canceled most committee meetings and began working through the backlog of bills that need to be passed out of their second legislative house by Friday.

In addition to passing bills, legislators on Monday also moved to introduce two potentially major pieces of legislation — one raising taxes on wholesale sellers of tobacco and another allocating more than $33 million toward the state’s Millenium Scholarship program, amid a decision last week by state lawmakers to move previously earmarked marijuana tax money away from the program and toward K-12 education.

Looking ahead, extended floor sessions aren’t the only thing state lawmakers have to worry about — two major hearings are scheduled on bills creating a Cannabis Control Board and another overhauling the state’s antiquated and complex K-12 funding formula.

Here’s a look at what passed the Senate and Assembly on Monday:

SB538: Office for New Americans

One of Gov. Steve Sisolak’s top legislative priorities — to create a statewide office devoted to providing information and services to immigrants — has cleared another legislative hurdle, passing the Senate on a 17-3 vote.

The bill, which is funded by nearly $400,000 in Sisolak’s budget over the next two years, creates the office which is charged with advising other state entities and agencies on how certain policies affect immigrants, as well as settng up a website with information on how immigrants can obtain occupational licenses.

The bill was opposed by a handful of Republican senators including Pete Goiceochea, Joe Hardy and Ira Hansen.

AB10: Nonverified ID cards for prisoners

A bill loosening up requirements on identification cards for prisoners, which aimed to fix the lingering issue of more than half of prisoners being released without any sort of identification, passed the Senate on a unanimous vote. If signed into law, the bill would require the Department of Corrections to offer a photo identification card to offenders being released from prison without requiring original documentation, such as a birth certificate.

This bill alters a 2017 law that required the IDs issued by prisons to be fully verified, which caused issues for inmates without original documentation. The bill passed the Assembly on April 16 on a vote of 36-4.

AB59: Free park admission for seniors

After passing the Assembly unanimously in March, members of the Senate unanimously passed a bill that will allow any Nevada resident over the age of 65 to access any state park for free.

The bill, AB59, removes the requirement that persons 65 years or older must live in Nevada for five years before being able to apply for the permit that allows for free use of recreational areas and state parks.

AB78: Abolishes Achievement School District

A handful of Republican senators voted in opposition to AB78, a wide-ranging charter school bill that abolishes the Achievement School District, a statewide initiative that transfers operation of low-performing schools to charter school organizations.

The bill requires the Nevada Department of Education to conduct a review of each approved charter school sponsor at least once every three years, and adds two members to the State Public Charter School Authority appointed by the state Board of Education.

The bill also repeals the 2015 law creating the Achievement School District, but allows any school that has transferred under the provisions of the law to remain under the operation of a charter organization.

Although the bill passed unanimously in the Assembly, it was opposed by several Republican senators — Joe Hardy, Ben Kieckhefer, Keith Pickard and James Settelmeyer — who raised concerns about the abolition of the Achievement School District model only four years after it was first put into place.

AB136: Prevailing wage for school construction

On a party-line 12-8 vote, members of the Senate granted approval to a proposal by Democratic Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson to reverse many of the changes made in 2015 to requirements for prevailing wage on school construction projects.

The bill removes existing provisions in law that allow public schools and the Nevada System of Higher Education to pay only 90 percent of a prevailing wage, a quasi-minimum wage based on the average amount of compensation for a certain profession in a given geographic area.

The measure would also lower the cost threshold of a construction project subject to the prevailing wage from $250,000 to $100,000 and require charter schools to pay prevailing wage on construction projects.

The measure was staunchly opposed by legislative Republicans, including Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, who cited a fiscal note from the Clark County School District saying the bill would cost the district an estimated $7.5 million a year in additional labor costs.

“Put very simply, this is going to make taxpayers pay much more money for the exact thing,” he said.

AB122: Study on establishing adult day care in rural Nevada

Sponsored by the Committee to Study the Needs Related to the Behavioral and Cognitive Care of Older Persons, this bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to study the feasibility of establishing and operating adult day care facilities in rural Nevada. The initial version of the bill would have established a pilot program for such adult day care facilities but was amended into a study.

The bill cleared the Senate unanimously last month and passed the Assembly unanimously on Monday.

AB152: Penalty for disturbing graves, historic sites

A bill that would increase the penalties for harming or destroying the grave of a Native American or damaging a historic site passed through the Senate unanimously.

The bill, proposed by Democratic Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, changes the penalties stated in the current law, including increasing the punishment for disturbing a grave or historic site for a second time offense from a fine of no more than $4,500 to a low-level felony offense. In addition, the offender would also be required to pay for the cost to restore the artifacts or the site.

The sale of cultural property without a permit would also face more severe penalties, raising the penalty for a repeat offender from a gross misdemeanor to a felony.

AB201: Penalties for trick driving

A bill by Republican Assemblyman Tom Roberts criminalizing trick or stunt driving on public roads easily passed the Senate with no opposition and will now head to Gov. Steve Sisolak for a signature.

The bill makes it unlawful to engage or arrange in an unauthorized “trick” driving display while on public roads, categorizing it as reckless driving and punishable by a gross misdemeanor with graduated penalties, starting at a fine between $1,500 and $1,000. The bill passed on a 40-1 vote in the Assembly, with Democrat Dina Neal casting the lone vote against the bill.

AB267: Compensation for wrongful convictions

Democratic Assemblyman Steve Yeager’s bill to allow individuals wrongfully convicted in Nevada to receive monetary compensation from the state, with payment varying depending on how long they have been incarcerated, cleared the Assembly on Monday with unanimous support and will head to the Senate.

To qualify, a person must first bring a civil action for damages against the state for being wrongfully convicted. If a court decides the case in their favor, those who have been wrongfully convicted would be required to submit a claim to the State Board of Examiners for payment from the state’s Reserve for Statutory Contingency Account.

The bill prescribes the amount that those wrongfully convicted can be awarded: $50,000 for each year of imprisonment if the person was incarcerated for one to 10 years, $75,000 for each year if the person was incarcerated for 11 to 20 years, and $100,000 for each year of imprisonment if the person was incarcerated for 21 years or more. It also allows an additional sum of no less than $25,000 per year the person was sentenced to probation or parole or required to register as a sex offender.

SB231: Labor agreements for public works projects

This bill, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Chris Brooks, eliminates several existing provisions of law relating to labor agreements for public works projects.

The legislation repeals existing statues that bar public bodies from requiring bidders on public works projects to enter into labor contracts or discriminating against bidders for not entering into labor agreements. It also gets rid of an existing law blocking public bodies from awarding grants, tax abatements, tax credits or tax exemptions conditioned upon the awardee entering into a labor agreement for the project.

The bill passed the Assembly on Monday in a 28-12 party line vote. It was met with a similar reception in the Senate, where it passed 13-8 on party lines last month.

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