Nevada lawmakers advance dozens of bills ahead of deadline

CARSON CITY— Lawmakers voted to advance dozens of bills Tuesday afternoon, sparing legislation related to firearms, restorative justice and election workers from being killed off by the Nevada Legislative session’s second major deadline.

Some bills passed through their respective houses quietly, gathering unanimous votes ahead of the first house passage deadline. But others garnered debate, at times between members of the same party.

A pair of bills related to restorative justice, or intervention and support provided by schools to students to improve behavior, drew debate among lawmakers on the Assembly floor Tuesday afternoon.

Among those contested bills was Assembly Bill 285, which would rescind existing requirements under a 2019 law and would allow students to removed from a school without intervention measures. The bill would instead give school boards the option to create a “progressive discipline” plan.

The bill, carried by Democratic Assemblywomen Angie Taylor, D-Reno, Selena Torres, D-Las Vegas, and Natha Anderson, D-Sparks, was applauded as a bipartisan effort by Assembly Minority Leader Philip P.K. O’Neill. But the bill drew opposition from Assemblywomen Clara Thomas, D-North Las Vegas, and Shondra Summers-Armstrong, D-Las Vegas, who raised concerns that the bill could hurt students of color.

“There are thousands of children, most of them Black and brown and Indigenous and other children of color who will be hurt because we, the adults in the room, don’t have a clear plan,” Summers-Armstrong said.

Thomas and Summers-Armstrong were joined by Assemblywomen Erica Mosca, D-Las Vegas, and Venicia Considine, D-Las Vegas, in voting against the measure, bringing the vote to 38-4.

Lawmakers voted the same on Assembly Bill 330, a bill proposed by Gov. Joe Lombardo that would also roll back 2019 legislation related to restorative justice.

The restorative justice bills weren’t the only pieces of legislation to gain split support between Assembly Democrats. Assembly Bill 188, which would allow terminally ill patients to access experimental drugs, was passed on a vote of 33-9, with only Democrats voting against the bill.

Assemblywoman Heidi Kasma, one of the bill’s primary sponsors, urged her colleagues to support the bill.

“AB188 is designed to give patients with life-threatening illnesses the opportunity to access individualized experimental treatments,” said Kasma, R-Las Vegas. “The purpose of this legislation is to offer hope and possible solutions for patients who have exhausted all other available treatment options.”

But Assemblyman David Orentlicher, D-Las Vegas, raised concerns that the proposed legislation was repetitive of an already available federal program.

“The right-to-try already exists in Nevada, including for individualized experimental treatments,” he said. “[The bill] would actually jeopardize the health of Nevadans who suffer from serious illnesses.”

The Assembly also voted 27-15 to advance Assembly Bill 250, a bill that would cap the price of certain drugs at rates negotiated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Republicans were joined by one Democrat, Assemblywoman Bea Duran, D-Las Vegas, in voting against the measure.

Lawmakers also voted on party lines to approve Assembly Bill 354, which would bar people from possessing a firearm within 100 feet of an entrance to an election site and would make clarifications to a 2021 bill related to firearms that lack serial numbers, and Assembly Bill 456, which aims to increase safeguards to prevent train derailments.

In the Senate, lawmakers continued to vote on bills past 9 p.m., including Senate Bill 343, a bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro that would establish the crime and related penalties for low-level fentanyl trafficking.

The bill was approved on a vote of 15-6, with Las Vegas Democratic Sens. Edgar Flores, Dallas Harris, James Ohrenschall and Melanie Schieble and North Las Vegas Democratic Sens. Dina Neal and Pat Spearman voting against the measure.

Lawmakers voted to unanimously to approve Senate Bill 406, which would make it a felony for any person to threaten election workers.

They also voted 14-7 to approve Senate Bill 296, which would bar a law enforcement officer from issuing a citation for certain traffic violations, including those relating to registration, license plates and permits. All Republican senators voted against the bill, expect Sen. Ira Hansen, R-Sparks.

Senate Bill 344 was also approved on party lines. The bill would require substitute teachers to hold an associate’s degree or have completed at least 60 credit hours from an accredited college or university and bar local governments from operating a charter school or expending money to support one.

Lawmakers also narrowly approved Senate Bill 133, a bill that prohibit a person from creating a false slate of presidential electors. The proposed legislation was passed on a vote of 11-10, with all Republican senators joined by Democratic Sens. Melanie Scheible and James Ohrenschall.

But a handful of bills didn’t survive the deadline, including Assembly Bill 325, which would have made changes to use of surface water, and Senate Bill 318, which would have allowed a local government to impose a surcharge on users of the city sewer system to be used for purposes related to affordable housing.

Contact Taylor R. Avery at TAvery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on Twitter.