Nearly 200 bills that Gov. Joe Lombardo signed into law this session will take effect either fully or partially today, including measures allowing for reimbursement for the care of disabled children and refunds for overcharged utility costs.

Laws taking effect on July 1 account for almost 37 percent of the more than 500 bills the governor signed into law this legislative session.

Others set to take effect include an omnibus education reform bill brought by Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas), the governor’s marquee housing bill, bans on schools using artificial intelligence for treating mental and behavioral health needs and taxes on the remote sale of cigarettes or pipe tobacco.

Here’s a look at some of the bills that are now being implemented:

EDUCATION

SB460: Omnibus education bill

Cannizzaro’s major education bill will establish a new system to track school district performance and institute accountability measures for low-performing schools and districts — including requiring low performing schools and districts to submit and publish a performance improvement plan, hold regular public meetings to provide updates on progress and submit quarterly progress reports during a probationary period. 

If, after two school years, the district fails to demonstrate progress, the state superintendent of public instruction can take steps to replace school leadership, reallocate resources and even assume state control over a specific school district or charter school.

Underperforming districts and schools are determined based on proficiency in certain academic areas, high school attendance and graduation rates, among other metrics. Schools are designated as low-performing if they fall short in one of these areas for at least two of the three preceding three school years. Similarly, school districts can be designated as low-performing for failing to meet expectations in these areas or for instability or unsatisfactory performance in their leadership, unexpected and severe financial hardships or inequities in resources for students, especially those from vulnerable populations. 

The bill also included $21 million in funding for pre-K programming and facilities, though it fell short of funding universal pre-K services — which Cannizzaro had initially hoped to achieve. 

Grafted onto the bill were parts of Lombardo’s separate education proposal, including changes to the open enrollment process to make it easier for students from low-performing schools to attend a school outside their zone and a $7 million appropriation to provide them transportation.

Though some portions of the bill go into effect on July 1, 2025, other pieces of the bill don’t take place until 2028 and 2030.

AB398: Pay raises for charter school teachers

This measure appropriated $38 million to extend educator pay raises first approved in 2023 and re-upped in 2025 to charter schools, a priority for Republicans including Lombardo. The bill from Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) also allocated $90 million to provide additional compensation for certain hard-to-fill teacher positions — a measure pushed for by the Clark County Education Association.

AB527: School bus safety

The new law allows school districts to install and use infraction detection systems on school buses to enforce laws banning drivers from passing a school bus that has stopped for students entering or exiting. 

If such an infraction takes place, law enforcement officers are required to review the evidence of the violation before issuing a citation.

Before the detection system is implemented, however, school districts are required to conduct a public awareness campaign for about a month to inform the public that the system is now in place. Any photographic or recorded video captured by the system must be destroyed after a set period of time.

AB406: Bans on artificial intelligence in school settings for mental health treatments

The bill brought by Assm. Jovan Jackson (D-North Las Vegas) prohibits schools from using artificial intelligence to perform the behavioral or mental health treatment duties of a school counselor, psychologist or social worker. 

It also requires the Nevada Department of Education to develop a policy for the use of artificial intelligence by those school employees when providing therapy and other services to students.

HEALTH CARE

AB428: Fertility treatment insurance coverage for patients with breast or ovarian cancer

Under the bill brought by Assm. Tanya Flanagan (D-Las Vegas), public and private health insurance plans are required to cover procedures or services that preserve fertility for insured patients diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer that could cause infertility. It also stipulates that breast or ovarian cancer patients who receive treatment that could cause infertility are also covered for those treatments.

SB185: Reimbursement for care of disabled or chronically ill children

Introduced by Sen. Angie Taylor (D-Reno), this law requires Medicaid to reimburse family members who care for a minor diagnosed with a disability or chronic illness. The reimbursement applies to bathing, dressing, mobility assistance and other personal care services.

SB494: Establishing the Nevada Health Authority

Lombardo’s proposal to split the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services in two is going into effect. The newly created Nevada Health Authority is set to oversee Medicaid, the state’s health insurance exchange, the Public Employee Benefits Program and other services.

SB262: Expanding residency training and postdoctoral fellowships

The law brought by Sen. Julie Pazina (D-Las Vegas) places the existing Graduate Medical Education Grant Program under the Department of Health and Human Services and expands the grants that the program offers. A Lombardo proposal grafted into the measure also requires the state to explore ways to use participation in the federal Medicaid program to support grant programs.

The existing grant program established in 2015 has awarded 24 grants totaling $20 million to date with an annual training capacity of 132 physicians.

The bill also allocates $9 million to the medical education grant program over the two-year budget cycle.

HOUSING

AB540: Lombardo’s major housing proposal

The new law will funnel more than $130 million in state funds toward “attainable” housing projects for households earning up to 150 percent of an area’s median household income. 

Traditional affordable housing is geared toward people with lower incomes; governments use a variety of policies to incentivize development and ensure people who make certain incomes can live there. This law creates a new tier of attainable housing, with a higher income limit than traditional affordable housing.

The measure also mandates expedited review and permitting processes for attainable housing projects. It also authorizes the state’s housing division to establish a program to report rental payments to a credit reporting agency, to help tenants build credit that can be used when applying for a home loan.

To address housing shortages in rural areas, the bill would allow out-of-state housing contractors to work on attainable projects in rural areas under certain conditions.

SB201: Protections for displaying religious or cultural items

The law brought by Pazina restricts homeowners associations or landlords from banning the display of a religious or cultural item affixed to a dwelling, such as a mezuzah — a parchment scroll with verses of the Torah — or a crucifix or cross.

ELECTIONS

SB225: New filing fee for presidential primary candidates

The bill requires anyone declaring candidacy for the state’s presidential preference primary election to pay a filing fee of $1,000. 

Prior to the law going into effect, Nevada did not charge a filing fee for those seeking to appear on the state’s presidential preference primary ballot.

ECONOMY

AB471: Tax on the remote sale of cigarettes or pipe tobacco

The bill brought by Assm. Brian Hibbetts (R-Las Vegas) would tax online sales of cigarettes or pipe tobacco at a rate of 30 percent of the cost of products that are not premium cigars. 

Pipe tobacco and cigars are designated as “premium” if they are hand rolled with a wrapper of whole tobacco leaves without a filter or mouthpiece. Those premium cigars will be generally taxed at a 30 percent rate. 

Tobacco sales in Nevada are already taxed under existing law.

ENVIRONMENT

SB36 and AB104: Water buyback programs

SB36 is a standalone water rights retirement bill that would establish a tool for willing water right holders to permanently retire their groundwater rights. AB104 contains nearly identical language, while tacking on minor semi-related amendments. 

The Southern Nevada Water Authority added an amendment that clarifies the conditions for those seeking financial assistance to retire their septic systems, and another amendment from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection allows the State Environmental Commission to establish a water quality standard variance.

AB452: Full refund for overcharged utility costs

The bill brought by Assm. Tracy Brown-May (D-Las Vegas) directs state energy regulators to investigate how fuel and purchased power costs are passed on to ratepayers and to potentially adopt what’s called fuel cost sharing, a move that could lead to NV Energy bearing some of the financial risk when natural gas prices spike. 

The bill also gives state energy regulators more time to scrutinize utility rate hike requests and guarantees full refunds for customers who have been overcharged.

GUNS

SB347: Law enforcement can confiscate firearms from people in mental health crisis hold

Brought by Sen. Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas), this law authorizes a law enforcement officer to immediately confiscate a firearm in the custody, control or immediate vicinity of a person placed on a mental health crisis hold. 

Upon release from treatment, officers would have to offer to return the firearm.

STATE GOVERNMENT

AB596: Funding for state employees’ collective bargaining agreements

The bill will fund $1,000 annual retention bonuses and a 1 percent annual cost-of-living increase for all unionized state workers, in addition to bankrolling existing union benefits. Though the funding originates from state employees’ collective bargaining agreements, the amount is less than what some unions had negotiated.

Several state worker unions had negotiated 3 percent annual raises, but the raises were not funded in the face of the state’s uncertain revenue outlook.