Special session Day 3: Hollywood incentives, crime bill await votes in Nevada Assembly

CARSON CITY — Lawmakers added another piece of legislation to an already lengthy special Legislative session agenda, moving a workers compensation bill aimed at firefighters and police officers through the Senate on Saturday.

Gov. Joe Lombardo announced the special session on Wednesday with less than 24 hours notice. The agenda includes over a dozen legislative proposals and budget appropriations.

Two major bills seeking to attract Hollywood to Southern Nevada and reshape portions of the state’s criminal justice code could be voted on by the full Assembly on Saturday.

Other bills being considered by lawmakers include a measure to increase penalties and local control over school traffic zones and a bill to create the Silver State General Assistance Program. The state-funded program would provide public assistance if there is another funding lapse to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

First responders’ comp bill passed through Senate

On Saturday, lawmakers added another bill that would make it easier for first responders to receive compensation for lung disease claims. The bill was voted through the Senate Committee on Health and Wellness and passed by the full Senate by Saturday afternoon.

Payments to government employees for lung and heart disease claims have been litigated in Nevada for years. Those who have called for stricter regulation on government employees’ heart and lung disease benefits have said current carve-outs already result in millions of dollars in costs to taxpayers, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported earlier this year.

Under current law, a first responder can receive medical benefits for lung disease if the disease was caused by exposure to heat, smoke or gas. On Thursday, the Nevada Supreme Court released an opinion affirming that interpretation of the law, court records show.

Senate Bill 7 would remove this restriction, creating a presumption that firefighters and police officers diagnosed with lung disease after they’re employed contracted the disease due to their job, regardless of whether the disease was caused by exposure to heat, smoke or gas.

Senator Melanie Scheible, D-Las Vegas, told lawmakers that the bill is meant to address the Legislature’s intent following a recent court ruling. Other senators questioned why the bill was added onto the special session, when the governor’s proclamation does not directly reference the issue beyond an instruction for lawmakers to address “wages and hours.”

Senator Robin Titus, R-Wellington, spoke against the substance of the bill, saying that the Legislature has not attempted to create benefits for lung disease outside of occupational exposure to heat, smoke or gas.

Five senators opposed the bill’s passage from the Senate: Titus, John Ellison, R-Eureka; Ira Hansen, R-Sparks; Lisa Krasner, R-Reno; and Lori Rogich, R-Las Vegas.

Public officer security, cybersecurity bills advance

The Assembly convened shortly after noon Saturday and voted two bills out of the chamber.

Assembly Bill 1, which proposes beefing up the state’s cybersecurity infrastructure, passed unanimously. The bill would create a centralized Security Operations Center in the executive branch and allow that center to apply for and use federal grants, among other provisions. It would dedicate almost $9.9 million for the two-year budget cycle to improved cybersecurity efforts and almost $3.4 million over the budget cycle in loans from the Governor’s Finance Office to the Governor’s Technology Office to cover revenue shortfalls.

“For decades, we have attempted band-aid after band-aid, playing a proverbial game of whack-a-mole for cybersecurity,” Timothy Galluzi, the state’s chief information officer, told lawmakers in a Thursday hearing. “The world around us is evolving too fast to maintain an environment of haves and have-nots. The cybercriminals can find the vulnerability far too quickly for that strategy to work.”

The bill comes after the state faced a ransomware attack discovered in August that crippled state services for weeks during the recovery process.

Assembly Bill 3, which would allow lawmakers to request to conceal their personal information in secretary of state, county and city records, passed out of the Assembly on Saturday.

Two lawmakers opposed the bill: PK O’Neill, R-Carson City, and Brian Hibbetts, R-Las Vegas.

Hibbetts said he shared concerns with journalism and open government groups that the bill would limit the public’s access to information about elected officials. If officials can conceal their home addresses more easily, it would be harder to confirm a public officer is living in the district they’re elected to represent, he said.

“As an elected official it is our duty to be available and responsible to the public,” Hibbetts said. “And if we’re hiding everything about us, how can we do that?”

The Nevada Press Association and Nevada Open Government Coalition have authored a joint statement opposing the bill and raising transparency concerns over limiting access to public information.

Howard Watts, D-Las Vegas, presented the bill to the Assembly Public Safety and Security committee on Thursday. He’s said the bill is in response to Nevada lawmakers who have faced safety threats plus the rise in political violence across the country, such as the killings of two Minnesota lawmakers earlier this year.

Big bills await consideration

The proposal to develop a film studio campus in Summerlin with tax incentives was voted out of the Assembly Committee on Jobs and Economy on Friday evening. Assembly Bill 5 proposes offering $95 million in annual transferable tax credits tied to the development of Summerlin Studios. The credits would be available for 15 years beginning in 2029 and would first require developer Howard Hughes and partnering Hollywood production companies to spend $400 million in capital investment before then.

Several amendments presented during the meeting changed diverse hiring requirements and changed the location and partnership for a training and educational center. Another amendment would dedicate a portion of the room tax collected from the hotel expected to be built on the campus to an account for paying certain qualified medical expenses for retired state employees covered by the Public Employees’ Benefits Program.

Lombardo’s sweeping crime bill passed out of the Assembly Public Safety and Security committee on Friday. Three lawmakers voted against advancing the bill: Erica Roth, D-Reno; Cinthia Zermeño Moore, D-Las Vegas; and Cecelia González, D-Las Vegas.

Assembly Bill 4 seeks to alter nearly a dozen different areas of Nevada’s criminal justice laws and could usher in the return of a controversial court program in Las Vegas that coincided with judges banning criminal defendants from the Strip. Opponents have criticized the program for targeting homeless people in the area.

Both bills must pass a vote from assemblymembers before they can advance to the state Senate.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X. Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.