As the 82nd session of the Legislature came to a close, there were signs that legislative leadership and Gov. Joe Lombardo might be able to work out a compromise and avoid a special session.
On the last day of the session, legislators held behind the bar meetings late into the night in conference rooms and hallways throughout the building, with lobbyists and reporters crowded around them.
But a major budget bill’s failure to pass in the final hour of the session ended up being just the first in a series of tense moments of legislative endgame leading to two special sessions and some disgruntled lawmakers.
Less than 24 hours after the Legislature adjourned sine die, Lombardo called for a special session to pass the final budget bill, which lawmakers did in less than two hours after a few Republican holdouts came on board. Then, the governor threw legislators a curve ball and called for another special session — this time to discuss a bill that failed to pass in the regular session and would allocate public funds for a baseball stadium in Las Vegas for the Oakland A’s.
During a tense initial hearing in the Senate, a number of lawmakers raised objections to spending money on a stadium after the governor vetoed measures calling on districts to plan for summer school programs and the state to provide more oversight of mental health care for children, citing a lack of funding.
After nearly a week with little public movement and one final hearing in the Assembly, the Legislature passed a heavily amended SB1, paving the way for incentives to attract the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas and bringing back a pair of Democrat-sponsored measures the governor vetoed in the regular session.
Photographers David Calvert and Trevor Bexon captured the legislative whirlwind for The Nevada Independent.
Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) leaving the Assembly floor prior to Gov. Joe Lombardo’s signing of two of the five major budget bills in Carson City on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Gov. Joe Lombardo signs SB406, introduced by Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, which would make it a felony for any person to threaten election workers, in Carson City on May 30, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)From left, Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas), Gov. Joe Lombardo and Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno (D-North Las Vegas) during a bill signing ceremony for SB503, the K-12 education funding bill, inside the Capitol in Carson City on May 31, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) and Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) return to the Legislature after leaving the Capitol following Gov. Joe Lombardo's veto of AB 520, the Appropriations Act, in Carson City on June 1, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) outside the Legislature in Carson City on June 4, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Agenda for the Assembly Ways and Means Committee four days prior to the end of the session at the Legislature in Carson City on Thursday, June 1, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Lobbyists, staffers and journalists observe a behind the bar Senate Finance Committee meeting inside the Legislature in Carson City on June 4, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Lobbyist Brooke Maylath votes in the Nevada press corps' informal "will there be a special session?" poll inside the Legislature in Carson City on June 4, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Lobbyist Stacey Shinn wearing a sine die sash outside the Legislature during the final day of the 82nd legislative session in Carson City on June 5, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Sen. Pete Goicoechea (R-Eureka) during a behind the bar meeting of the Senate Committee on Government Affairs inside the Legislature during the 82nd legislative session at the in Carson City on June 5, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Assemblywoman Angie Taylor (D-Reno) during a media interview inside the Legislature during the final day of the 82nd legislative session at the Legislature in Carson City on June 5, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Assemblywomen Danielle Gallant (R-Las Vegas) and Jill Dickman (R-Sparks) greet Paws4Love therapy dogs inside the Legislature on the final day of the 82nd legislative session in Carson City on June 5, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)From left, Assembly members Michelle Gorelow (D-Las Vegas), Greg Hafen (R-Pahrump) and Shea Backus (D-Las Vegas) during a conference committee meeting inside the Legislature during the 82nd legislative session at the in Carson City on June 5, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Sen. Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas), right, before a conference committee meeting in a hallway inside the Legislature during the 82nd legislative session in Carson City on June 5, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Sens. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas) and Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas) outside the Nevada Capitol on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, the morning before Gov. Joe Lombardo called for a special session to pass the final budget bill. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Lobbyist Greg Esposito sits in the Senate gallery at the Legislature in Carson City on the morning of Tuesday, June 6, 2023. Lawmakers the night before worked until midnight but were unable to pass a required budget bill. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)The Assembly Committee on Ways and Means meets behind the bar to introduce a budget bill during the 34th special session of the Legislature in Carson City on June 6, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Troy Stansbury, an Oakland A’s fan from Carson City, stands outside the Legislature before the start of the 34th special session on June 6, 2023. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)From left, analyst Jeremy Aguero, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill and Oakland A's President Dave Kaval during a presentation to the Senate Committee of the Whole on the team's proposed stadium funding during the 35th special session of the Legislature on June 7, 2023, in Carson City. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)Assemblyman Duy Nguyen (D-Las Vegas) asks questions, directed to Steve Hill and Jeremy Aguero, about an A's incentive bill during the 35th special session of the Legislature on June 13, 2023, in Carson City. (Trevor Bexon/The Nevada Independent)Steve Hill and Jeremy Aguero answer questions about an A's incentive bill during the 35th special session of the Legislature on June 13, 2023, in Carson City. (Trevor Bexon/The Nevada Independent)Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) awaits the return of the special committee tasked with informing the governor of adjournment sine die during the 35th special session of the Legislature on June 14, 2023, in Carson City. (Trevor Bexon/The Nevada Independent)
