In his 2025 State of the State address, Gov. Joe Lombardo promised to take action on dozens of issues ranging from education to health care, adding to the growing list of pledges the Republican governor has made on the campaign trail and in his first years in office.

As we did for his first legislative session, The Nevada Independent is tracking the progress and outcomes of Lombardo’s most significant pledges and promises to “get shit done.” 

We evaluate each promise on verifiable outcomes, not on the governor’s intentions or efforts to enact his agenda. We previously tracked the promises of Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak.

Since entering office, Lombardo has completed more than 46 percent of his 65 promises that we are tracking, while nearly a third are marked as failed. More than 13 percent are demarcated as compromised, and the others are categorized as either not addressed or in progress. The tally includes several of his promises made ahead of the 2023 legislative session that he failed to fulfill.

With Democratic majorities in both chambers, Lombardo has faced an uphill battle to enact his priorities. His most significant actions so far may be his defensive moves — he again set a veto record this session, fulfilling campaign promises to be a check on Democratic power.

We think the fairest way to track promises is to label the ones that have been completed and point out the ones that have not been addressed. Some promises may be considered in progress, especially before the end of the governor’s first term. They may also be characterized as a compromise if fulfilled only in part, or as failed if abandoned or not achieved during his time in office. The Nevada Independent will update a rating if the status of a pledge changes in the future.

The promises below were last updated June 29, and represent where each stands at the end of the 2025 legislative session. Where applicable, we’ve updated or provided more context in promises that the governor made on the 2022 campaign trail or during the 2023 and 2025 legislative session. 

If you have questions or suggestions, or if something doesn’t look right, feel free to reach out through our contact page or by emailing Capital Bureau Chief Tabitha Mueller. 

STATE GOVERNMENT

Promise: Said the state’s new human resources system “is on track to be fully implemented this summer, on time and within budget!”

Status: Compromised

Explanation: When Lombardo gave his State of the State address, the state’s new human resources platform — part of the CORE.NV project — was slated to be rolled out July 1. However, during a June 2025 meeting of the Interim Finance Committee, Administrator for the Office of Project Management Brady Phillips said that the implementation timeline for the base system of the human resources component is “scheduled and on track for an October 2025 release.”

Officials with the governor’s office said the rollout was slated for July 1. On April 29, they said the CORE.NV executive committee cautioned the governor’s office that proceeding with the human resources platform launch as planned “presented a confluence of significant operation considerations that warranted a revised timeline,” pushing the rollout to October 2025.

Specifically, officials pointed to concerns surrounding a blackout period to facilitate the deployment at the end of the state’s fiscal year, complexities with the first-time closing and the simultaneous loading of the legislative budget into the system along with new positions largely related to the Department of Corrections and the new Nevada Health Authority.

Though Lombardo touted the project as “within budget,” there were some financial concerns raised during the Interim Finance Committee meeting in June. Project leaders said they had used almost $5 million from a contingency account associated with the project to meet its goals. Director Brian Bowles said this was cut from their budget, and the project would have failed if they had not used the money.

State lawmakers expressed frustration surrounding the use of the money. Assm. Shea Backus (D-Las Vegas) noted that a contingency account is not for discretionary spending but rather a need that arises that requires a change to programming.

“The goal was to obviously hold those [funds] out in case something unexpected came up,” Backus said.

Because this promise stated that the new system was “on track” to launch on time and under budget, we’re rating this as a compromise and will update the status based on the project’s future rollout.

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Pledged to have $1.3 billion in the state’s rainy day reserve fund for the 2025-2027 budget cycle.

Status: Completed

Explanation: Nevada’s rainy day fund — a reserve account for times of emergency — stands at $1.294 billion as of June 2025.

The 2025 Appropriations Act (AB591) suspended all transfers to the rainy day fund during the 2025-27 budget cycle, which means that the fund’s current balance of almost $1.3 billion will remain static, unless there’s a special session to amend the act or another legislative measure approved to transfer money into the account.

Interest earned on the fund goes into the state’s general fund and does not contribute to the rainy day fund’s growth. Lawmakers and officials have said that suspending statutory transfers allows the Legislature to commit more money to state spending than it otherwise would have if transfers to the rainy day fund were ongoing in the upcoming two-year budget cycle.

With the fund within a rounding error of $1.3 billion, Lombardo has fulfilled the intention of his pledge.

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Pledged “to streamline” and “to consolidate” state boards and commissions.

Status: Failed

Explanation: SB78, proposed by the Department of Business and Industry (B&I), would have overhauled the state’s regulatory approach to its many occupational licensing boards. However, the bill, along with several related proposals, including a comprehensive reform package brought by B&I and other last-minute deals, failed to garner enough legislative support before the session ended June 2.

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said his 2023-2025 budget “will reserve more than $1 in savings for every new dollar in general fund spending.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: State lawmakers in 2023 approved increases to the caps on the state’s main budget reserve accounts (the rainy day fund and education stabilization account, a separate reserve account for education spending) that will result in more funds being stored in state savings than the legislatively approved $1.8 billion increase in general fund spending over the biennium. Lombardo’s office said that “as of July 1, there is $1.73 billion combined in the two savings accounts,” and that the office “expects total savings to grow far beyond $1.8 billion over the biennium” with the increased caps.

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Said “not a penny of the state’s one-time surplus will be used to fund any recurring programs.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Under the 2023-2025 budget Lombardo approved, ongoing government programs and services were funded by ongoing state revenue sources (tax revenues collected over the two-year budget period), while surplus revenues went strictly toward one-time expenditures. When it comes to employee compensation, for example, salaries and pay raises are included in ongoing expenses, while quarterly bonuses approved for all state workers are considered one-time expenditures. A spokesperson for Lombardo said the governor signed a budget that “was structurally balanced against the state’s projected revenue for the upcoming biennium.” 

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Said his 2023-2025 budget would increase “savings in the rainy day fund from 20 percent to 30 percent … We will place another $630 million dollars in the rainy day fund to be used when dark clouds again gather on the horizon.”

Status: Compromised

Explanation: Though Lombardo proposed increasing the cap on the rainy day fund — an emergency state savings account — from 20 percent of general fund appropriations in a year to 30 percent, that initial proposal did not succeed. He ultimately reached an agreement with Democratic lawmakers through SB431 to raise the cap to 26 percent, still pushing the projected cap well above $1 billion during the biennium. 

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Said his budget would set aside $315 million for “the Nevada Way Fund, a new sub-account to be used for transformational economic development projects and critical infrastructure needs,” with the fund overseen by the governor and legislative leaders of both parties.

Status: Failed

Explanation: Creation of the Nevada Way Fund was included as part of the governor’s proposed sweeping government modernization bill, SB431. However, the bill faced pushback from Democratic lawmakers, some of whom expressed concern that the bill would strip power from the Legislature, which is responsible for approving state spending. The measure was substantially pared down on the final day of the 2023 legislative session, with the proposed Nevada Way Fund and its funding removed from the bill. 

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Provide “an 8 percent [pay] increase for all state workers next year and an additional 4 percent increase the year after,” as well as “$2,000 annual bonuses for every executive branch state employee, to be paid quarterly.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Though the state employee pay bill Lombardo signed in 2023 (AB522) did not carry out the proposal exactly — the quarterly bonuses were lower than he proposed — The Nevada Independent is rating this promise as completed because Lombardo approved raises that increase employee compensation above his initial proposal. For the fiscal year ending in June 2024, state employees are receiving raises ranging from 10 percent to 13 percent, and in the following fiscal year, raises of more than 11 percent — the largest pay raises in decades.

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: “At the end of my first term, there'll be less regulation than when I started.”

Status: In progress

Explanation: During his first month in office, Lombardo signed an executive order requiring all executive branch agencies to review existing state regulations and freeze the adoption of new regulations. At the end of June 2023, he lifted the freeze, while giving agencies the green light to begin “repealing, streamlining, clarifying, reducing, or otherwise improving” regulations. 

A spokesperson for the governor’s office, Elizabeth Ray, said in an email that, as of March 12, 2025, 72 agencies proposed streamlining or repealing 1,149 regulations.  Of those proposals, she said that approximately 79 percent were approved by the Legislative Commission and enacted.

One example of a bill that addressed Lombardo’s call for less regulation is AB352, a bill by Assm. Natha Anderson (D-Sparks) that streamlined and reduced regulatory burdens for Nevada’s homemade or “cottage” food laws, including allowing producers to take orders over the phone and use various delivery models.

It’s unclear, however, if there is a net decrease in the number of regulations overall. Ray said the office isn’t keeping track of how many new regulations have come onto the books since Lombardo took the governor role, because the intent was to remove antiquated regulations and newer ones are presumably more relevant.

Our rating of this promise will be ongoing throughout Lombardo’s term.

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Promised to “never” raise taxes, also specifying that he is open to tax reform, but not in a way that would increase revenue. He reiterated this in his 2025 State of the State address, adding that the state budget is “centered and balanced on the promise of not raising taxes on hard-working Nevada families.”

Status: Compromised 

Explanation: By and large, Gov. Joe Lombardo has abided by his promise to never raise taxes to create new revenue.

Some critics, however, have suggested he may have compromised on that pledge after he approved two bills in 2025 extending taxes that were set to expire.

Lombardo signed SB451, which will renew an expiring 0.2 percent property tax used to fund the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and AB530, which will allow Clark County to adjust fuel taxes to ensure transportation funding keeps pace with rising costs. The permissive language of AB530 means that the Clark County Commission will be the body to vote on the tax, but there are questions about SB451.

In 2021, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that extending a set-to-expire tax is essentially the same thing as raising tax revenue — at least for purposes of triggering a constitutional requirement for two-thirds support of lawmakers. SB451 also required a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

Lombardo has pushed back and said that it’s not a new tax.

“SB451 is not a new tax or a tax increase,” Lombardo, who previously presided over Metro as sheriff, said in a statement. “The extension of this voter-approved measure is critical for ongoing public safety efforts in Southern Nevada.”

In 2025, Lombardo signed 36 bills that required a two-thirds majority to pass (a constitutional requirement for any bill that “creates, generates or increases any public revenue in any form,” such as new fees or taxes). Most of these measures tweaked fees or made changes to tax exemptions.

During the 2023 legislative session, Lombardo did not approve any tax increases. 

For the purpose of evaluating this promise, The Nevada Independent is not considering the licensing of a profession — which typically comes with the collection of new fees — as a tax increase.

In 2023, Lombardo signed more than two dozen bills that required a two-thirds majority to pass. The majority of those measures adjusted fees or tweaked tax exemptions but did not explicitly raise taxes. They included multiple bills that allow for certain state agencies to prescribe fees for a newly licensed profession, as well as a bill that expanded the scope of an existing hospital provider tax adopted in 2017. 

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said his budget would suspend “the state motor vehicle fuel tax for the next 12 months, immediately reducing the price of gasoline and saving consumers and businesses approximately $250 million dollars.”

Status: Failed

Explanation: Lombardo’s recommended budget proposed a yearlong suspension of the state’s 23-cent-per-gallon tax on all motor vehicle fuel. However, the proposal (SB502) did not receive a hearing in the Democrat-controlled Legislature. Lombardo did not address the proposal publicly during the 2023 legislative session.

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Said his budget would raise “the exemption for businesses subject to the commerce tax by 50 percent from $4 million to $6 million.”

Status: Failed

Explanation: In his recommended budget, Lombardo proposed raising the threshold for the commerce tax — a tax on businesses with annual gross revenue of more than $4 million — to $6 million, which would reduce the number of businesses required to pay the tax. However, the proposal (SB502) did not receive a hearing in the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: “While Nevadans are back to work, Steve Sisolak has allowed government agencies to work from home. Joe will get the state back to work full-time so the government can serve its taxpayers as it should.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: In December 2023, Lombardo issued a memo that, effective immediately, remote work would be a “limited discretionary privilege” that would be approved “on a case-by-case basis, and may be revoked or amended at any time.”

Source: Campaign 2022

EDUCATION

Promise: Said his 2025-27 budget would “make teacher pay raises permanent” and extend those pay raises to all charter school teachers.

Status: Completed

Explanation: During the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers appropriated $250 million for pay raises for teachers and support staff at school districts in the K-12 education budget bill, SB500. The governor’s recommended education budget had also included $38 million to fund charter school pay raises, but lawmakers removed the funding because of concerns about how the appropriations should be calculated and approved. The $38 million was later added to a bill (AB398) by Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) that was passed out of the Legislature and signed by Lombardo. 

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said his education legislation would impose “stricter” accountability measures on schools, districts and school boards.

Status: Completed

Explanation: A bill from Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas), SB460, included provisions that will create a system to track achievement metrics at a district level, similar to the current rating system for individual schools, and interventions for poor-performing school districts such as probation and state takeover. Those concepts came from Lombardo’s own education bill, AB584, and were amended into Cannizzaro’s bill as part of a compromise deal reached in the final days of the 2025 session. But other interventions proposed in Lombardo’s AB584 were left out, such as converting failing schools into charter schools or handing control over to local governments. 

Promise: During his 2025 State of the State address, he said his bill proposes taking “decisive action” against a school that is found to be consistently underperforming.

Source: State of the State 2025

Status: Completed

Explanation: Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro’s (D-Las Vegas) SB460 includes provisions taken from Lombardo’s education bill, AB584, on intervention measures for public schools found to be “persistently underperforming,” such as replacing the school’s principal or other key personnel or placing the school under the direct management of the Nevada Department of Education. 

Promise: Said his education legislation would expand open enrollment policies for schools.

Status: Completed

Explanation: Language from Lombardo’s education bill, AB584, which requires open enrollment policies that give priority to students trying to leave underperforming one- or two-star schools, and proposed appropriating $7 million to fund transportation for these students, was added to two separate bills — Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro’s (D-Las Vegas) SB460 and Assm. Selena Torres-Fossett’s (D-Las Vegas) AB533. 

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said his education legislation would dedicate “targeted resources” to support early literacy in struggling schools. 

Status: Completed

Explanation: In collaboration with Lombardo, the final version of Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro’s (D-Las Vegas) SB460 included $12 million in 2026 for early childhood literacy and readiness, $1 million per year for a K-3 science, technology, engineering and math literacy pilot program and $1 million per year to provide grant funding for literacy interventionist and tutoring programs for K-5 students with priority for low-performing schools. 

Additionally, SB460 appropriated $6.5 million to the Nevada Department of Education for the two-year budget cycle. NDE said a portion of these funds will be dedicated to “support school improvement initiatives, the development of the (Nevada School Performance Framework) and district performance framework, and the robust accountability mechanisms outlined in the Governor's education agenda.”

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said he would establish a fund to reward Nevada’s highest-performing teachers and administrators.

Status: Failed

Explanation: Lombardo’s education bill, AB584 would have created the Excellence in Education Account within the state education fund. It would been funded through surplus dollars from the education stabilization account (a rainy day fund) and provided bonuses or financial awards for teachers, administrators and other school personnel “who demonstrate high performance and significant contributions to pupil achievement and school improvement.” That provision was not amended into another bill that passed the Legislature, and no such fund was created. 

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said he would use “all of the state’s authority to investigate the [Clark County School District’s] budget and help determine corrective next steps.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: In November 2024, Lombardo and the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) appointed a compliance monitor to oversee the district following a series of budget errors. Lombardo also directed a state committee under the Nevada Department of Taxation to evaluate the budget problems at the district. In December 2024, the district submitted a corrective action plan that outlines steps being taken to get into compliance with state regulations around schools budgetary practices. NDE approved the plan in January 2025. 

Source: Statement 2024

Promise: “Increase school choice options by expanding access to charter schools, opportunity scholarships and education saving accounts.”

Status: Compromised

Explanation: In 2023, Lombardo did not succeed in getting legislation passed to expand Opportunity Scholarships or reestablish Education Savings Accounts. As part of his wide-ranging education bill, AB400, Lombardo initially proposed increased funding and expanded eligibility for Opportunity Scholarships, a tax credit-funded school choice program that families can use to pay for their children’s private school tuition, but those provisions were taken out of the final version of the bill. 

Still, a part of AB400 that was signed into law expanded access to charter schools by allowing county and city governments to sponsor new public charter schools, and setting aside $14 million for transportation options for students attending charter schools. 

A provision from Lombardo’s 2025 education bill, AB584, amended into Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro’s (D-Las Vegas) SB460, will appropriate $7 million to provide transportation for students from low-performing schools to attend a different school within their district. 

A separate 2025 bill, SB468, appropriates $17 million for charter school transportation. Lombardo’s AB584 would have created a new program that would have used state funds to cover certain educational expenses to support students leaving a low-performing school — including the option of paying for their private school tuition, but that provision was not added to Cannizzaro’s bill and did not become law.

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said he would increase the threshold for students who qualify for Opportunity Scholarships from those whose household incomes are at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty line to those at or below 500 percent of the federal poverty line.

Status: Failed

Explanation: Though Lombardo proposed this change as a part of his omnibus 2023 education bill (AB400), Democratic legislative leaders remained staunchly opposed to expanding the Opportunity Scholarship program. Lombardo’s proposed program changes were ultimately removed from the bill. Other bills introduced in 2025 related to boosting Opportunity Scholarship funding failed to make headway in the 2025 legislative session.

Source: IndyTalks January 2023

Promise: Create the Office of School Choice within the Department of Education.

Status: Failed

Explanation: Though Lombardo proposed this change as a part of his omnibus education bill (AB400), Democratic lawmakers removed language creating the proposed new office before passing the bill and sending it to Lombardo. The concept was not brought up in the 2025 legislative session.

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Said he would “work with the Legislature to immediately repeal the changes made” by a 2019 bill (AB168) that established restorative justice policies for school discipline, which he described as “a disaster for our students and teachers.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: After a lengthy push and pull between Democratic and Republican lawmakers over the specifics of a proposed bill overhauling the 2019 restorative justice law, Lombardo ultimately signed a pair of complementary school discipline bills amending that 2019 law. The two bills, AB285 and AB330, make it easier for school officials to suspend or expel students who are younger than 11, including allowing for students age 8 and older to be “expelled and permanently expelled” for committing battery against a school employee. 

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said he would restore “funding for Read by Grade 3, a crucial program that was deemed unimportant and, ultimately, was defunded by the Sisolak administration.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Though funding for the original program was not eliminated — it was instead commingled with other money in 2021 through the Pupil-Centered Funding Plan, a sweeping change to the state’s K-12 funding formula — Lombardo’s AB400 as enacted included $140 million for a new fund to address early childhood literacy and readiness. In 2025, lawmakers approved SB460, which appropriates $12 million for the fund for next year. 

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said he would impose “a new five-year rule: Schools have five years to improve literacy scores and to ensure that students who are not proficient in reading do not advance beyond third grade, until they are brought up to grade level.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Lombardo’s AB400 reinstates a retention requirement — originally implemented in 2017 and repealed in 2019, before students were affected — beginning in the 2028-29 school year. Though that timing gives schools five years to address literacy scores, the new law still mandates that by 2029, third grade students who do not achieve a passing score on a standardized reading exam will be held back if they are not granted a good-cause exemption to advance to fourth grade.

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Said he would prevent “social-reform curriculum from being taught in our schools and [remove] explicit, age-inappropriate books and materials currently being taught in Nevada's classrooms.”

Status: Compromised

Explanation: Lombardo did not address this issue in any of his education-focused legislation in 2023, nor has he acted to remove any books or materials from Nevada schools. A spokesperson for Lombardo said in a July 2023 statement that “this issue has not been presented to our office yet.” In 2025, Lombardo vetoed a pair of bills that would have added protections for school libraries against efforts to ban books that some conservative groups believe are inappropriate for students. 

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said he would evaluate “potential ballot initiatives that would allow for the break-up of the Clark County School District and other school districts that are underperforming and failing Nevada's students.”

Status: Not yet addressed

Explanation: During his 2023 State of the State address, Lombardo said he expects to see better results and more accountability from schools, adding that if he does not, he plans to “be standing here in two years calling for systematic changes to the governance and leadership in K-12 education.” Separate from any breakup of a school district, Lombardo signed a 2023 bill (AB175) to expand the size of the Clark County school board by adding four nonvoting members. A provision in the final version of Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro’s (D-Las Vegas) bill, SB460, would give the appointed trustees voting rights starting in 2027. 

A proposed ballot initiative led by Henderson City Councilman Dan Stewart to allow municipalities to opt out of their local school district and form their own failed to qualify for the 2024 ballot, though Stewart said the group is seeking to pursue the initiative again in the future.

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said he would hold “Nevada’s school board members accountable by requiring school board members to have proper qualifications, obtain adequate training and be required to spearhead community engagement efforts to better listen to the communities they serve.”

Status: Compromised

Explanation: Lombardo did not address this proposal through his own legislation or by signing any other legislation in the 2023 session. Though the Clark County School District requested a bill (SB65) that proposed requiring professional development training for school board candidates — matching the training sitting members receive during their terms — the bill did not receive a vote in the Legislature. 

A provision from Lombardo’s 2025 education bill, AB584, that was later added to Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro’s (D-Las Vegas) SB460, allows the state superintendent to designate a school district or charter school sponsor if there are multiple vacancies on a school board because of resignations or removals and if those vacancies are disrupting the board’s ability to effectively govern the school district. 

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Boost per-pupil education spending by more than $2,000 with a budget that “fully funds the targeted weights in the Pupil-Centered Funding Plan.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: During the 2023 legislative session, Lombardo and state lawmakers approved a historic $2 billion increase in K-12 spending — an increase of about 26 percent from the previous budget cycle that will raise the base per-pupil funding amount from $7,074 in the fiscal year that ended in June 2023 to $9,414 by the end of the two-year budget period. The per-pupil funding includes additional weights for English language learners, at-risk students and gifted and talented students. 

Under the 2025 education budget bill, the statewide base per-pupil funding amount will be essentially flat for the 2025-26 school year, $9,416, and will go up to $9,486 for the 2026-27 school year. 

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: “Allocate over $730 million to the education stabilization account, which is a rainy day fund solely dedicated to K-12.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: The education stabilization account included more than $800 million as of July 2023, in part because excess tax revenues for school funding over the last two-year budget period resulted in reserve funds being directed into the account. Under state law, certain budget surpluses are required to be deposited into the account. Lombardo also approved a bill in 2023 (AB523) that increased the cap on the account. 

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Said about education funding, “We need to do a complete audit of the system. Day one, when I’m elected governor … we go into the system and determine whether the funds are being allocated appropriately and where they need to be allocated.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: One month into his first term, Lombardo issued an executive order directing the Governor’s Finance Office and Division of Internal Audits to review all existing, external, third-party audits of the state’s 17 public school districts and the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority conducted in 2022. A review of those audits released in 2024 called for widespread accountability and transparency changes for school districts. 

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said his budget would restore the Nevada System of Higher Education’s (NSHE) “operating budget to pre-pandemic levels and [set] aside $5 million to pay for a study of the higher education funding formula.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Lombardo approved a 2023-2025 state budget that gave NSHE its largest budget boost since 2019 — including restoring more than $75 million in COVID-era cuts and boosting graduate student stipends. He also approved AB493, setting aside $2 million for a funding formula study in the interim. Though that amount is lower than the $5 million originally proposed and included in the original version of AB493, this promise is being rated as “completed” because the study was conducted.

Source: State of the State 2023

HEALTH CARE

Promise: Said the state “will be splitting up the Department of Health and Human Services” and creating the Nevada Health Authority, which would oversee Medicaid, the state health insurance exchange and state employee benefits.

Status: Completed

Explanation: Lombardo included the split agency in his proposed budget, which came to lawmakers as a budget implementation bill (SB494). Lawmakers unanimously passed the legislation, applauding the reorganization’s intent to improve health care service delivery and give the state more leverage — and hopefully better deals —when negotiating with insurers.

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said “by 2028, all health insurance plans in Nevada will be required to adopt standardized and digitized prior authorization plans, thus reducing delays for patients and providers.”

Status: Failed

Explanation: The proposal introduced in the governor’s health care bill, SB495, did not pass out of the Legislature. The one prior authorization-related bill that succeeded this session, AB463, focused on requiring health insurers to respond to prior authorization requests within a set time frame and did not require digitized prior authorization plans.

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said he would double the investment in graduate medical education.

Status: Compromised

Explanation: Lombardo’s bill overhauling the state’s health care system, SB495, initially called for $50 million for an expanded grant program for graduate medical education over the two-year budget cycle and an additional transfer of $10 million from the prescription rebate budget account, but the bill was later amended to remove sections that either cost money or were similar to other measures. SB495 ultimately did not pass out of the Legislature.

His proposed changes to the state’s graduate medical education program were amended into a nearly identical proposal from Sen. Julie Pazina (D-Las Vegas), SB262. The bill allocates $9 million to the medical education grant program over the two-year budget cycle. However, there was not a doubled investment in graduate medical education as initially proposed in his State of the State address.

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said the state would establish an Office of Mental Health.

Status: In progress

Explanation: The proposal was formally introduced in the form of the governor’s health care bill, SB495, and another bill brought on behalf of the joint interim standing committee on health and human services, AB339. Neither measure passed out of the Legislature. 

Officials with the governor’s office said Lombardo has directed the Nevada Health Authority to establish the office under its purview to coordinate and centralize mental health resources statewide.

Based on that, we’re marking this promise as “in progress” and will update if and when the office is created.

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said his “first priority” for spending remaining American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act funds is mental health.

Status: Completed

Explanation: Mental health projects made up the highest share of ARP allocations since Lombardo took office in January 2023, with $67 million in new allocations. As of January 2025, the state no longer has unallocated ARP funds.

Source: IndyTalks 2024

ECONOMY

Promise: Said he would establish targeted tax credits for child care facilities.

Status: Failed

Explanation: Lombardo’s proposed 2025-2027 budget included $24 million in tax credits for child care facilities. When he introduced his economic development proposal, SB461, it included up to $12 million in tax credits to child care facilities across the two years of the budget cycle. 

However, neither proposal passed out of the Legislature.

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said Nevada needs to “diversify” its economy, adding that “it’s time for the rest of the state to look at new industries like manufacturing and technology,” and that he “plans to invest in more workforce development programs in our education system and to partner with the private sector to enhance existing training programs.”

Status: In progress

Explanation: Though Lombardo’s administration has outlined an aggressive approach to economic diversification — including a push to grow lithium mining and manufacturing in the state, as well as approving tax abatements for Tesla’s multibillion-dollar expansion in Northern Nevada — the state’s economy remains heavily reliant on the hospitality and leisure industry in Southern Nevada. 

As of December 2024, the state’s manufacturing industry grew at among the highest rates nationwide in the year prior, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, May 2025 updates from the bureau show a slight decrease in the manufacturing industry (-0.1 percent change) from the previous year. The same data, however, showed notable growth in the education and health services industry and “other services.” 

Under Lombardo’s time in office, the biggest growth in employment in Nevada has been in non-hospitality sectors, but leisure and hospitality remains the top industry by employment in Nevada as of May 2025.

In 2025, Lombardo also signed AB461 which made significant changes to statute regarding the efficacy of inland ports in Nevada, which officials with the governor’s office said has the potential to dramatically improve the way goods are moved to and from the state. They noted that this change increases the future industrial capacity of the state and takes advantage of Nevada’s strategic proximity to large Pacific ports such as Los Angeles and Oakland.

Officials with the governor’s office also noted that the Governor’s Office of Economic Development Board, chaired by the governor, approved various workforce training programs across the state through the Workforce Innovations for a New Nevada fund in fields such as advanced manufacturing, nursing, operations and logistics and data science. 

In 2025, Lombardo signed a graduate medical education grant program expansion measure, SB262, into law. He also introduced an economic development proposal targeting child care, high-tech business and rural housing, SB461, but the bill did not advance out of the Legislature amid cost concerns. In 2023, Lombardo also signed AB428 to create teacher training programs for high school students. 

This will be continuously monitored throughout Lombardo’s time in office and updated as needed.

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said he would repeal SB231, a 2019 bill approved by Gov. Steve Sisolak that lifted a prohibition on project-labor agreements in government-managed public works projects.

Status: Failed

Explanation: There was no bill language to address this promise during the 2023 legislative session, and no such bill was proposed in the 2025 session. 

We’re marking this promise as “failed,” but if circumstances change between now and the end of his term, we’ll revisit our rating.

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Create an Office of Workforce to “oversee the 17 revenue streams sourced to the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act” and align services provided to the state’s workforce.

Status: Failed

Explanation: Despite proposing the creation of a new workforce agency through the governor’s 2023 sweeping government modernization bill, SB431, Democratic lawmakers amended the bill significantly in the final days of the session — cutting out the provision that would have reorganized and renamed the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation as the Department of Workforce, while also bringing other workforce-related agencies under the umbrella of the new department. 

The effort did not come up again in the 2025 legislative session.

Source: State of the State 2023

HOUSING

Promise: Said his priority affordable housing legislation would include funding for $1 billion in new attainable housing units across Nevada, while creating “pathways to homeownership for essential workers like teachers, nurses, and first responders, and [support] transitional housing for those starting over.”

Status: Compromised

Explanation: Though Lombardo had initially proposed the fund be $250 million in his housing legislation (AB540), state lawmakers whittled it down to $133 million. Nevada Housing Division officials said the $133 million fund is estimated to generate more than $800 million in new attainable housing investments. Housing Division Administrator Steve Aichroth has said that about half of the funds in the account will turn over every 1 1/2 to four years to create a revolving loan fund, providing a continuous source of capital. 

With the bill’s addition of $50 million to the attainable housing infrastructure account, officials said the bill will help fund more than $1 billion worth of new attainable housing units.

The final version of the bill did not include any preferences for essential workers such as teachers, nurses or first responders seeking to purchase a house. 

Teri Williams, a spokesperson for the Nevada Housing Division, said the addition of the higher income tier to target homeownership programming and the funding made available through the attainable housing account would grant greater access to homeownership. 

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said he would “eliminate red tape and cumbersome land restrictions so that developers can fast-track new affordable housing developments,” and said he “will also work with our congressional delegation to free up more land from the federal government for smart community development.”

Status: Completed

Explanation:  Lombardo’s 2025 housing legislation, AB540, set forward requirements to adopt an expedited process for considering and approving attainable housing projects during a time of skilled laborer shortage, allow the state contractors board to issue a provisional contractor licenses to certain applicants who will work on attainable housing projects in rural areas and exempts applications for new contractor’s licenses in rural areas from any fee related to the license during a time of shortage. 

Lombardo’s office also said he supports the Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act — a bill known as the Clark County Lands Bill from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and the state’s congressional delegation, meant to expand housing development in Southern Nevada, while also preserving federal land for conservation.

During the 2025 legislative session, Lombardo called on the Legislature to draft a resolution supporting the issue; on March 4, Assm. Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas) introduced AJR10, a resolution expressing the Nevada Legislature’s support for Cortez Masto’s major public lands bill in Congress. However, the proposal failed to advance in the Legislature.

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: “Direct the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Nevada Housing Division to provide incentives and defer payments on land to be paid after development, so that we can get more affordable housing inventory built and ready for families.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Officials with the Nevada Housing Division said through the Home Means Nevada program, the division provided nearly $12 million of American Rescue Plan Act recovery funds for land acquisition for future affordable housing development. 

They noted that the attainable housing fund established through the governor’s 2025 housing bill (AB540) will create a more formal process to support housing development across income levels, including for-sale homes.

Source: Campaign 2022

CRIME AND PUBLIC SAFETY

Promise: Said his criminal justice legislation would reduce the felony theft threshold and “implements enhanced penalties for repeat offenders, regardless of the value involved.” 

Status: Failed

Explanation: Lombardo’s criminal justice package (SB457), introduced in early April, did include provisions to crack down on repeat offenders and to lower the felony theft threshold, but the measure — despite being heavily amended — died on the last day of session amid a series of procedural delays and last-minute changes. 

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said his criminal justice legislation would prohibit the use of diversion courts for offenders who commit crimes against children and the elderly.

Status: Failed

Explanation: Lombardo’s crime bill, SB457, also included a section to prohibit the use of diversion courts for offenders who commit crimes against children and the elderly, but those sections were softened in later amendments. The bill ultimately died. 

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said his criminal justice legislation would reduce drug trafficking thresholds.

Status: Failed

Explanation: Lombardo’s crime bill, SB457, did include a section to lower the amount of fentanyl needed to trigger trafficking charges, but those sections were amended out before the bill ultimately died.

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said he would “repeal Steve Sisolak’s soft-on-crime policies and replace them with common-sense legislation focused on keeping our communities safe and violent criminals off our streets and out of our schools. Joe will get rid of reduced sentences for drug traffickers and burglars, eliminate leniency for career criminals, and end Sisolak’s anti-police practices.”

Status: Compromised

Explanation: Though Lombardo in 2023 introduced a wide-ranging criminal justice bill (SB412) meant to accomplish this pledge, the measure faced stiff opposition from Democratic legislative leaders who signaled an unwillingness to roll back Democrat-supported criminal justice policies passed in recent sessions. The bill did not receive an initial hearing until the final day of the 2023 session, when lawmakers passed out a significantly amended version of the measure that included just five provisions, including prohibiting early discharge from probation for someone convicted of home invasion, creating an enhanced penalty for drug crimes carried out with a firearm and changing the definition of strangulation in the context of domestic violence. 

Separately, Lombardo signed a bill (SB35) to increase penalties for fentanyl trafficking and lower thresholds for prosecuting the crime — though the bill fell short of his proposal to increase felony penalties for possession of fentanyl in any amount.

Lombardo’s crime bill from the 2025 session attempted to tackle fentanyl trafficking and crime, but died on the last day of session. The governor, however, did veto some bills that would have placed additional guardrails on police, such as SB85 that would have mandated that law enforcement officers record and retain traffic stop data permanently.

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Provide “a two-grade increase for all public safety employees above what is recommended for all public employees to help bring them closer to parity with local agencies, and to ensure we are no longer the training ground for local government police forces.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: On top of historically large pay raises for state employees, Lombardo also approved a range of one-, two- and three-grade increases for state public safety employees as part of the 2023 state employee pay bill (AB522). Each grade increase typically amounts to a 5 percent difference.

Source: State of the State 2023

IMMIGRATION

Promise: If the state deploys the Nevada National Guard to the border at the federal government’s request, Lombardo pledged that there would be two requirements: that the state would be able to recall the National Guard in a time of need, and that the federal government would pay for the deployment.

Status: Not yet addressed

Explanation: There has yet to be a request from the federal government to deploy the Nevada National Guard to the border. 

Source: IndyTalks 2025

GUNS

Promise: Said he “will always look for ways to streamline government and remove antiquated laws, including Nevada’s Red Flag law.”

Status: Failed

Explanation: Lombardo’s 2025 crime bill (SB457) included a provision to change the state’s “red flag” law — which allows police and family members to petition a court to temporarily take away an individual’s firearms if they pose a threat to themselves or others. Changes proposed in the bill would have required a compliance hearing to be held after orders to surrender a firearm were issued. Lombardo’s bill ultimately failed to pass.

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said he “would not sign any law restricting manufacturer limits on firearm magazines.”

Status: Completed.

Explanation: Democratic lawmakers did not seek any legislation limiting magazine sizes during the 2023 session and did not introduce such legislation in 2025.

Source: Campaign 2022

ELECTIONS

Promise: Said he would support a ballot question prohibiting ballots from being counted after Election Day if the Legislature did not act on the issue in 2025.

Status: In progress

Explanation: Though bills (including SB103) were introduced in the 2025 Legislature to require all mail ballots be counted by Election Day, the policy did not pass out of the Democrat-controlled Legislature. 

We'll monitor this pledge to see if Lombardo backs a question for the 2026 ballot.

Source: State of the State 2025

Promise: Said he would introduce an “Election Integrity Reform Package” that “requires an ID to vote” and that he would “also eliminate ballot harvesting, end universal mail ballots and create a bipartisan panel to oversee our elections system.”

Status: Failed

Explanation: Democratic lawmakers rejected Lombardo’s efforts to overhaul Nevada’s election administration during the 2023 session, with Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) describing Lombardo’s proposal as a “non-starter” prior to the start of the session. Lombardo’s elections bill (SB405) attempted to end universal mail-in voting, move up the deadline to submit ballots and require people to show identification to vote. But the bill did not receive a single hearing and died without a vote. 

Instead, a ballot initiative backed by Lombardo to require voter ID passed overwhelmingly in 2024. It will need to pass again in 2026 to take effect.

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said “all mail-in ballots should be received by the time polls close on Election Day, as opposed to 5 p.m. four days following an election.”

Status: Failed

Explanation: Lombardo’s 2023 elections bill (SB405) sought to move up the deadline so mail-in ballots would only be counted if they were received by the time the polls close on Election Day. The proposal did not move forward.

In his 2025 State of the State address, Lombardo once again called for all votes to be received and counted by Election Day, though lawmakers did not pass any bills creating that change.

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Create “an independent, nonpartisan commission that is subject to the Open Meeting Law to redraw districts every 10 years.”

Status: Failed

Explanation: Though Lombardo’s 2023 elections bill (SB405) did not address this proposal, Assm. Gregory Hafen (R-Pahrump) and 21 other Republican lawmakers that session sponsored AJR4, a proposed constitutional amendment to create an independent redistricting commission. The proposal did not receive a hearing and died without a vote.

In the 2025 session, Sen. Ira Hansen (R-Sparks) sponsored SJR6, a proposed constitutional amendment to establish an independent redistricting commission. Assm. Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas) also sponsored AJR5 to require that redistricting proceedings be included under the open meeting law and subject to public records requests. Neither measure was passed by the Legislature.

Source: State of the State 2023

ABORTION

Promise: Said he does “not support an abortion ban in Nevada,” adding that “Nevada is unique in that our state law is already set, and that only you, the voters, can change it. I support that because I trust the voters of this state to make good decisions.”

Status: In progress

Explanation: This will continue to be monitored throughout Lombardo’s term, reflecting whether the governor expresses support for any bans on abortion stricter than the limit in Nevada law, which bars the procedure after 24 weeks of pregnancy, unless necessary to preserve life or health of the pregnant person.

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said the state “won’t prosecute women from another state that seek a legal abortion in Nevada.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Lombardo in 2023 signed SB131, a bill from Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) that codifies Democratic former Gov. Steve Sisolak’s executive order protecting out-of-state abortion patients seeking care in Nevada from prosecution, regardless of other states’ laws.

In the 2025 legislative session, Lombardo also signed AB235, a measure aimed at protecting reproductive health care providers and their families from harassment by allowing them to keep their addresses out of certain public records. 

Source: Campaign 2022

WATER/ENVIRONMENT

Promise: Said he is “committed to developing innovative plans to ensure Nevada has the water it needs for its current residents and for future growth,” adding that “he recognizes that many people in rural Nevada have water rights for the purpose of ranching and farming, and it is essential to keep those water rights as is.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Lombardo signed two notable water bills following the 2025 session — SB36 and AB104. The similar bills authorize the state to create a statewide water buyback program from voluntary sellers in areas where water demand exceeds available supply. Lombardo also signed a wide range of bills addressing water policy in the 2023 session, including SB113, a groundwater management bill meant to ensure that those who claimed water first in time, have a first right to use water in times of shortage. 

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Said he “will work directly with regional partners to take aggressive preventative measures against wildfires and he will ensure our state has the necessary resources to protect Nevadans from wildfires.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Lombardo in 2025 signed SB19, allowing Nevada to join two different interstate wildfire compacts, easing the state’s ability to transfer resources during an emergency. Previously, Lombardo has supported the reclassification of vacant Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF) positions to full-time firefighter positions, as well as facilitated updated agreements between NDF, the Nevada Division of Emergency Management and the Nevada National Guard. He reaffirmed the state’s ongoing commitment to the Nevada Shared Stewardship Agreement, an interagency agreement aimed at reducing the risk from catastrophic wildfires, and signed Nevada’s first-ever proclamation recognizing wildland firefighters. 

“The Governor has held true to his campaign statements to work to aggressively prevent wildfires and ensure that we have the suppression capabilities necessary for wildfires in Nevada,” State Forester and Fire Warden Kacey KC told The Nevada Independent. 

Source: Campaign 2022

Promise: Promised to “be more involved, along with Nevada’s best water experts, in future [Colorado River] negotiations with other states, purveyors and users to bring about necessary change.”

Status: In progress

Explanation: A spokesperson for Lombardo said that throughout Colorado River negotiations, Lombardo has remained in “constant contact” with the negotiating team, including Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick and Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager John Entsminger. Lombardo’s office added that “Nevada was a proactive and integral leader in the negotiations with other Lower Basin states, which ultimately led to a historic deal” — a reference to a plan reached by Nevada, California and Arizona in 2023 to conserve water use from the Colorado River. But with legal agreements that portion out the beleaguered river’s water expiring in just over a year, Lombardo has been publicly quiet on the issue. Our analysis of this promise will continue as Colorado River negotiations and changes to water usage from the river proceed throughout Lombardo’s term.  

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Promised to “issue an executive order that allows electric providers to develop dedicated in-state generation resources, to ensure that we are no longer forced to rely on the broader electric market.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: In late March 2023, Lombardo issued an executive order calling for a “balanced approach” to energy policy that calls for the state to focus on renewable energy sources, as well as fossil fuels such as natural gas. The order, which faced criticism from conservation groups, also sets a benchmark to increase energy supply within Nevada’s borders through development of “sufficient in-state electric generation resources.” Lombardo in 2023 also signed AB524, a high-profile bill meant to encourage NV Energy to develop more in-state energy generating resources.

Source: State of the State 2023

GAMING

Promise: Said he would “work with the [Gaming] Control Board to ensure the logjam is cleared” in regards to “the time required to gain approval from the Gaming Control Board Lab for new products.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Lombardo’s comments about the “logjam” — along with his executive order calling on state agencies to eliminate unnecessary regulations — spurred action from the Gaming Control Board, which has so far pushed to find ways to speed up its technology approval process and remove outdated regulations dealing with the approval process for gaming equipment and systems.

Source: State of the State 2023

Promise: Said the state should repeal SB4 from the 2020 special legislative session, which “imposed mandatory COVID daily cleaning and time-off requirements in our hotels that are no longer relevant.”

Status: Completed

Explanation: Lombardo in 2023 signed SB441, acting on a priority for the gaming industry by repealing a portion of SB4 that imposed requirements to clean hotel rooms on a daily basis. During the 2025 session, he said he would veto another piece of room cleaning legislation, SB360, saying the proposal was “no different than the law that was repealed in the last session on a bipartisan basis.” The bill did not pass out of the Legislature. 

Source: State of the State 2023

This story was updated 7/29/25 at 9:51 a.m. to clarify details around Gov. Joe Lombardo’s housing bill.