Nevada Senate Republicans slam ‘lack of transparency’ in regulatory panel

State Senate Republicans kicked off a Nevada legislative panel meeting Monday with grievances about the panel’s partisan balance, extending a fight from the end of the lawmaking session in June.

Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus, R-Wellington, took several minutes at the start of the Legislative Commission meeting to criticize Democrats’ actions on the final day of the 83rd legislative session on June 2.

Last month, Democrats introduced several last-minute resolutions to change the partisan makeup of the commission, an interim lawmaking body that oversees regulations and the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

Senate Republicans stalled the Legislature’s final minutes by calling for procedural recounts of votes and other motions until after midnight, the constitutionally mandated end of the session. Titus and others then argued no other business could occur, and legal counsel had to be called. Ultimately, the Senate determined it would finish a vote that was in progress at midnight, then adjourned.

Previously, the 12-member commission had six nominations per house of origin, three from each party. The resolutions passed in the waning hours of the 2025 session allowed Democrats, as the majority party, to nominate four lawmakers per house. That brings the commission’s balance of power to eight Democrats and four Republicans.

A similar resolution in the Assembly passed without significant opposition on the last day of the session.

Titus continued to argue Monday that the resolution’s vote occurred after the midnight deadline and was therefore unconstitutional.

“This lack of transparency is unacceptable in a body committed to fairness that legislates for an even partisan state,” she said at the meeting.

Titus also argued that Republican Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony, who led Senate procedures as president, was locked out of the Senate chambers during the final minutes of sine die.

“While we believe there is legal standing to challenge SR 9 in court and win, the judiciary is unlikely to intervene in internal legislative processes and procedures,” she said during the meeting. “Therefore, we will prosecute our case in the public opinion.”

A Review-Journal reporter stationed in the Senate gallery that night observed Anthony outside of the double doors to the Senate chamber while the proceeding restarted with Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop, the president pro tempore, at the dais. Sparks Republican Ira Hansen began his procedural motions by calling for Anthony’s presence in the chamber.

Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, pushed back on Republicans’ claim that the lieutenant governor was locked out, saying “that is 100 percent untrue,” before diverting the meeting’s attention back to the agenda.

Hansen returned to the debate during public comment at the end of Monday’s meeting. He conceded Anthony “may not have been locked out,” but that he saw sergeants blocking the doors to the Senate chambers while Anthony was immediately outside, prompting the parliamentary debate.

Lawmakers nominated new leaders of the commission and considered various regulations during the commission meeting.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.