Nevada lawmakers plan to pull over $350M from Rainy Day Fund
Legislators introduced a bill Friday that would pull $350.5 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund as what a senior Democrat said would be a hedge against the impact of possible cuts in federal spending to the state’s general fund.
Assembly Bill 587 proposes about $289 million from the emergency fund will go to the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and $62 million will fund the 2026-2027 fiscal year to be used for “unrestricted State General Fund use,” according to the bill text.
The request comes about two weeks after a depressing economic outlook from the Economic Forum, where a forecast showed Nevada will collect $191 million less general fund revenue during 2026-27 than originally anticipated. Lawmakers have been cutting the fiscal impacts from bills, but many bills still contain hefty price tags.
Gov. Joe Lombardo’s housing bill, for instance, requests a $150 million Nevada Attainable Housing Account in the state’s general fund to be used for new units.
Over $1.3 billion sits in Nevada’s Rainy Day Fund — the highest it has been — to be used to help stabilize state government operations. It is designed to protect the state’s finances during emergencies and economic downturns.
Earlier in the week, Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager proposed tapping into the Rainy Day Fund for $90 million to give extra compensation to teachers in hard-to-fill positions.
Daniele Monroe-Moreno, chair of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, said she introduced the bill Friday in part because of news earlier in the day that the country’s credit rating had been downgraded. She said she hoped the Legislature would not have to pass the bill and instead could maintain existing state services based on the general revenue projected in the Economic Forum report.
“My goal is to make sure we don’t have to cut any services. Not expanding — there’s not money to expand. But not cutting services that citizens are accustomed to,” she said, adding she wanted to maintain funding for health care, housing support and food banks.
Monroe-Moreno, D-North Las Vegas, said federal grant funding cuts and looming cuts proposed in Congress also influenced her decision to introduce the bill. She said the transfers proposed were estimated based on notifications to the state about grant terminations as well as conversations with Nevada’s federal delegation. Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are considering ways to drastically reduce the federal budget to extend 2017-era tax cuts.
“We’re only a few days out from the end of the session,” she said Friday evening. “I felt I needed a vehicle. If I have to make the decision as fiscal leader to move money from the Rainy Day Fund, that vehicle would be there.”
Assembly Minority Leader Gregory Hafen, R-Pahrump, said in a text that neither party wanted to tap into the fund. Lawmakers instead viewed it as a precautionary measure if needed after the budget is passed this session.
“We can balance the budget without it! I’m confident of that!” he wrote.
Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus, R-Wellington, said that she opposes draining $350 million from the Rainy Day Fund and said that it needs to be saved for federal health care uncertainties.
“Our balanced budget makes this unnecessary,” she said in a statement Friday night. “The $1.3 billion fund guards against crises and a $191 million revenue shortfall in 2026-27. Raiding it is reckless and risks essential services. Depleting reserves heightens the chance of budget cuts, reduced staffing or program eliminations.”
A spokesperson for Lombardo declined to comment.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.