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Renewable energy ramp-up, mandatory paid sick leave, opt-out sex education among bills introduced on deadline day

Michelle Rindels
Michelle Rindels
Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
Megan Messerly
Megan Messerly
Legislature
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The first major deadline for Nevada lawmakers came and went with the introduction of more than 140 bills dealing with a range of subjects, from mandating paid sick leave to raising renewable energy standards.

Monday marked the deadline for individual lawmakers to introduce bills, which meant multiple floor sessions and a late night for lawmakers and staff. Next Monday marks the deadline for bills introduced by legislative committees.

But lawmakers still have work to complete; a last-minute resolution approved by both chambers gives legislators more clarity and time on what to do with pending bill draft requests submitted by former legislators Kelvin Atkinson and Mike Sprinkle, both of whom resigned in the midst of session. The resolution is also designed to give lawmakers an extra day to introduce bills due to “certain internal organizational issues” related to a slowdown in the bill drafting process.

Here’s a look at which bills were released on Monday.

SB358: 50 percent Renewable Portfolio Standard by 2030

Two years after the measure was vetoed by Gov. Brian Sandoval, Democratic Sen. Chris Brooks is again introducing a bill that would require the state reach a 50 percent Renewable Portfolio Standard by 2030.

The measure, SB358, would gradually increase the state’s current RPS goal of 25 percent by 2025 to 50 percent by 2030. The bill also would remove sections of state law that exempted small rural electric cooperatives and entities that have left NV Energy’s service from having to meet the higher RPS, and instead would require them to meet the increased renewable standard.

The bill also includes hydro power in the calculation for renewable portfolio credits, which were previously not counted towards the required standard. It also would allow for utilities to acquire a renewable energy facility without state regulatory approval under certain conditions, including not counting the cost of the facility in its base electric rates.

SB312: Paid sick leave

This bill, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, would require employers in the private sector who have at least 25 workers to offer paid sick leave to employees that would be earned at the rate of no less than 1 hour per 30 hours worked.

The bill would allow employers to limit the use of paid sick leave to 24 hours per year, and limit the accrual of sick leave to 48 hours per year. Violations of the sick leave provision could be fined by up to $5,000 for each incident.

Lawmakers in 2017 passed a watered-down version of the bill, but Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed it.

AB295: Comprehensive sex education

This bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod, would change the way Nevada offers sex education.

Existing law requires boards to teach about “sexual responsibility,” but the bill would require that teaching to be “evidence-based, factual instruction in sexuality education.” That must include age-appropriate instruction, suited to students of any sexual orientation and gender identity, in:

  • Reproductive and sexual anatomy
  • Benefits, risks and proper use of contraceptives and methods of preventing STDs
  • How to access contraceptives
  • Legal age of consent
  • Sexting

While Nevada currently has an opt-in system by which students must turn in a permission slip to participate in sex ed, the bill would make the system opt-out — parents would have to proactively refuse the course on behalf of their child.

AB289: No mandatory retention in Read by Grade Three

This bill, sponsored by Assembly Education Committee Chair Tyrone Thompson, makes major changes to Nevada’s four-year-old Read by Grade 3 law.

Existing law specifies that children who are not reading proficiently at the end of their third-grade year must be automatically retained, with some exceptions. This bill would only allow retentions if the child’s parents give their informed consent.

The bill also expands the program, requiring a plan to improve literacy in all elementary grades — not just through third grade. And it changes the program from a competitive grant program to a noncompetitive grant that can be used for school-based literacy programs.

SB354: Appointed board of regents members

This bill, backed by Democratic Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, would reduce the number of regents governing the Nevada System of Higher Education from 13 to 9. It would also make four of those regents appointees of the governor and five elected.

The measure is contingent on lawmakers passing AJR5 of the 2017 session, which removes the regents from the constitution. AJR5 must then pass a statewide vote.

SB290: Payments for out-of-network emergency room bills

This bill, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Joe Hardy, would require insurance companies to pay at least 80 percent of a “usual and customary rate” as determined by a benchmark from a non-profit organization, such as FAIR Health. The legislation is based off of a model bill put forward by the National Council of Insurance Legislators.

AB304: Mandatory class size reduction

This bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblywoman Brittney Miller, would strengthen state law on student-teacher ratios. Existing law calls for nonbinding recommendations about student-teacher ratios, while AB304 would require the state school board to set maximum ratios that are achieved by the 2028-2029 school year.

Schools that don’t adhere to the ratios would have to pay teachers more if they’re teaching in a larger-than-allowable class. The bill also requires districts and the state report the average class size to the Legislature on an annual basis.

SB339: More government records deemed confidential

This bill would allow governmental agencies to declare records confidential if they’re deemed to pose a privacy risk because the information could be linked to a specific person or a specific person’s device.

It requires governmental agencies to report to the Legislature which records it has deemed confidential.

SB349: Education Savings Accounts

This bill seeks to fund the dormant Education Savings Account program, which allows parents to use public education funds for private school tuition or other qualifying education expenses.

The measure, sponsored by Republican Sen. Scott Hammond, allocates about $60 million to the program. Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s mansion, have been staunchly opposed to the concept.

SB350: Removing barriers for Nevada Promise Scholarship

Students would have fewer barriers to receiving the Nevada Promise Scholarship, which seeks to make community college free, under SB350.

The bill would reduce the community service requirement to receive the award from 20 hours before the student receives it to eight hours before receiving the scholarship and eight hours each semester a student received it.

The measure, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Mo Denis, also reduced the number of trainings a potential recipient must attend from two to one.

SB346: Marijuana intoxication study

Nevada’s legal limit for operating a vehicle under the influence of marijuana would be raised substantially under SB346, a bill proposed by Democratic Sen. Dallas Harris.

The measure would raise the legal limit of marijuana concentrate in a bloodstream while operating a vehicle to 100 nanograms per milliliter of blood, above the current limit of 2 nanograms per milliliter of blood.

The bill also would require the Nevada Commission on Minority Affairs to study whether unlawful discrimination or racial disparity exists in marijuana dispensary ownership or in employment. It also would create an interim study on marijuana intoxication levels established in state law.

SB310: Recycling reimbursement

People could collect a 5-cent reimbursement for every recyclable can and bottle they turn in, if lawmakers pass SB310, which is sponsored by Democratic Sen. Melanie Scheible.

The bill calls for recyclable beverage containers sold in Nevada to be marked with the state name and the refund amount. It also calls for a fund that could be tapped for recycling promotion and education programs.

SB307: Physicians aiding in executions

This bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Joe Hardy — a doctor — would remove requirements that doctors participate in executions. Existing law requires their advice on designing a lethal injection drug combination and requires they be present at an execution.

AB307: Nevada database of gangs

The Central Repository — the agency that runs background checks in Nevada — would maintain a database about people’s gang affiliations under AB307.

The bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblyman Edgar Flores, would only be available to law enforcement and would not be a public record. People added to the database would have an opportunity to dispute their inclusion in the registry.

SB300: Utility profit-sharing

Proposed by Democratic Sen. Chris Brooks, SB300 would require state energy regulators adopt regulations requiring electric utilities share any profits earned above their authorized rate of return with their customers.

Typically, state law allows an electric utility such as NV Energy to earn a certain percentage of profit (currently set at 9.4 percent) as part of a balance between rate stability for customers and an incentive for the utility to provide service and attract investment capital. The bill would require the utility share any earnings over the authorized rate of return with its customers.

SB301: Electric cooperatives

Nevada’s rural electric cooperatives — which primarily serve sparsely populated rural areas throughout the state and operate independent from state energy regulators  — could be required to obtain permission from the state Public Utilities Commission before expanding outside their service territory.

SB301, proposed by Democratic Sen. Chris Brooks, would require any electric cooperatives to obtain a certificate of “public convenience” prior to constructing any line or plant unless it is within the boundaries of its established service territory. The bill also would make it unlawful for cooperatives to end or restrict service to a community or area unless it first notified and received permission from regulators. It also would require every electric nonprofit to create and submit to energy regulators a report of their business conducted in the state.

SB305: Sales tax for education and social programs

Proposed by Democratic Sen. Dallas Harris, SB305 would authorize county commissions to authorize a ballot question adding a 1 percent sales tax designed to support designated social support programs including pre-kindergarten, programs to assist homeless persons, specialty court programs or diversion programs, affordable housing or any combination of those.

The bill also requires that 25 percent of funds collected from a 10 percent excise tax on recreational marijuana be diverted to a new account required to support public school funding and funding of the collegiate Millennium Scholarship.

SB321: Abolishes the Achievement School District

This bill, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop, would abolish the controversial Achievement School District that was launched in 2015. The program turns underperforming public schools into charter schools.

SB325: Adoption assistance tax credit program

Families could get up to $50,000 to cover the costs of adoption under SB325 — a bill backed by Republican Sen. James Settelmeyer. The measure would give businesses a credit on their modified business tax liability if they donated to the adoption assistance fund.

The program would offer about $1 million in the coming biennium to help with adoptions.

SB328: Annoying phone calls

Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to make a threatening, obscene or intentionally annoying phone call. SB328, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro, expands the law to all electronic communications coming from a computer or phone.

SB333: Campaign finance transparency

Proposed by Republican Senate Leader James Settelmeyer, SB333 would require any individual who contributes more than $1,000 to a political candidate to report contributions with the secretary of state.

The bill also would require individuals who make the contributions to do so electronically under the state’s quarterly campaign finance reporting requirements with exceptions for a few limited cases, such as if the individual made less than $10,000 in total contributions in the previous years or has an affidavit declaring they cannot access the electronic reporting because of “financial ability.”

The bill also would require lawmakers to only accept campaign contributions from credit cards or written financial instruments such as checks or money orders.

AB338: Student driver signs

Republican Assemblyman Jim Wheeler’s bill would require people driving using an instructional permit or who have had a license for less than six months to display a placard on their back window indicating they’re an inexperienced driver.

SB344: Medicaid reimbursement for family planning services

This bill, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Melanie Scheible, would require the State Medicaid Plan to provide reimbursement rates for family planning services provided family planning clinics that are greater than or equal to either the reimbursement rates currently paid for such services or 105 percent of the reimbursement rates based on the Medicare fee schedule, whichever rate is greater.

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