Gov. Steve Sisolak criticized the Nevada Department of Corrections for the low vaccination rate among its staff, calling the rate “atrocious,” during Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Prison Commissioners.

The lawsuit argues that the state violates the First Amendment by interfering with the media’s ability to observe Zane Floyd’s execution in its entirety and without obstruction.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson is suggesting that Nevada citizens should voice their opinions on capital punishment through a referendum.

The judge said that because the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) had three months to establish protocols for Floyd’s execution, Floyd should have at least that much time to consider whether the process violates the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

Although there is a provision in the bill to cancel all bench warrants for minor traffic infractions in 2023, the bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen (D-Las Vegas), said that people with unpaid traffic tickets should still seek to pay and clear them or risk arrest.

Across the state, there have long been issues with the legal defense provided to indigent defendants — people with low incomes who are unable to obtain qualified, competent legal counsel on their own without substantial hardship. The state has been sued in the past over its sparse public defender system in its rural counties and has dealt with disparities in indigent defense from county to county.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) at first indicated that the bill would cost the agency an estimated $22.6 million for the biennium to implement, but Harris said the agency informally, through emails, had submitted an updated fiscal note that would bring down that amount to about $7 million after the bill was amended to only include traffic stops, not all kinds of stops. All other police agencies that had submitted fiscal notes on the bill withdrew them after the amendment was adopted.

AB358, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson (D-Las Vegas), would in theory help alleviate medical expenses that the Nevada Department of Corrections currently covers with general fund dollars by signing up eligible members for Medicaid before release, Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen said as she presented the bill Tuesday during an Assembly Ways and Means Committee meeting.

Lawmakers this session are seeking to further separate the juvenile justice system from the adult criminal justice system at nearly every level, with legislation aimed at reducing referrals into the system, promoting rehabilitation programs and housing young offenders separately.

Gov. Steve Sisolak said there is “no path forward” for efforts by Democratic lawmakers to move forward on abolishing capital punishment, striking a blow to the hopes of criminal justice reform advocates that the state’s Democratic trifecta in the Legislature and governor’s office would finally take steps to end the death penalty.

The most recent case that challenges the creative use of title loan refinancing as a way to circumvent the 210-day loan term limit allowed by the state.

The bill has attracted the typical amount of partisan fervor and impassioned testimony on firearm-related legislation — attracting the most opinions of any bill this legislative session and passing out of the Assembly on a party-line 26-16 vote in April. Still, Jauregui said the legislation was a necessary step to address the “rising epidemic of unmarked untraceable guns, also known as ghost guns.”

Restoration of program funding will cost about $228,000 annually for the program housed within the Division of Parole and Probation. Though lawmakers didn’t comment on the funding restoration during their Thursday meeting, leaders of the state parole division have previously touted the program as an extremely helpful tool in reducing recidivism.

The department reopened visitation for inmates on May 1, with significant safety restrictions in place, including limits on the age of visitors, number of allowed visitors per inmate and physical contact between inmates and visitors. Those restrictions have left some Nevadans feeling reluctant to visit their incarcerated loved ones.

“The lingering question about AB395 is whether the governor is going to be supportive, and so I know that he’s expressed publicly some concerns about it,” Scheible said in an interview on Wednesday. “If the sponsor can work with him to address those concerns and bring me an amendment, that would be an important step in the process, otherwise I’m still evaluating it.”

The Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) on Wednesday announced a phased approach for reopening visitation for inmates, beginning on May 1 with COVID-19 safety restrictions in place and then dependent on vaccination levels at individual facilities.

Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) Director Charles Daniels announced Tuesday that the department is planning to reopen visitation for inmates starting on May 1. The department originally suspended visitation on March 7, 2020, when there were growing concerns that COVID-19 could be spread to the state’s prison population.

Attorney General Aaron Ford warned Nevadans Monday about scammers selling fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards and said “awareness” is the first line of defense against those scams.

Members of the state Senate voted Wednesday to advance a trio of criminal justice reform bills sponsored by Sen. Dallas Harris (D-Las Vegas) that would add more limits on police use of deadly force, require additional recordkeeping on hate crimes and place rate caps on calls made to and from inmates.

The bill faces a more uncertain climate in the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas), who is a prosecutor, would not commit on Tuesday to giving the bill a hearing.