Special session could start Thursday, Nevada lawmaker says

A special session of the Nevada Legislature could begin as soon as Thursday, a state lawmaker said Saturday.

Assemblyman Reuben D’Silva, a Democrat who represents a district that includes parts of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, said lawmakers have been told a special session, announced by Gov. Joe Lombardo last month, could start Thursday.

“We’ve been told it could potentially start on Nov. 13,” D’Silva said. “I booked a hotel room and a flight, but I made sure that they’re refundable. In the end, it’s the governor’s call, so we have to just be ready.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal previously reported that, according to sources, discussions about the session centered on the second week of November.

On Oct. 6, Lombardo, a Republican, said he planned to call the Legislature back to Carson City for a special session, though he did not specify an exact date or say what it would be about.

“The goal will be to finish what the Legislature left unfinished — plain and simple,” Lombardo said at the time. A message left for the governor’s spokeswoman Saturday evening was not immediately returned.

Under Nevada law, the governor is responsible for calling a special session into order, and he decides what’s on the agenda.

State law prohibits campaign fundraising 15 days before a special session or the day after the proclamation calling a special session, and the blackout period ends 15 days after a special session adjourns.

D’Silva said it’s expected that public safety issues will likely be prioritized during the session and that he hopes e-scooter safety will be on the agenda.

The Las Vegas Valley has been home to numerous fatal crashes in recent months that involved riders of e-scooters and other personal travel devices that can reach speeds of 20 mph or faster.

“This would be an appropriate place to put forth some e-scooter regulatory language or something that addresses the issue,” D’Silva said. “This has become a very serious problem in the minds of a lot of Nevadans. I’m hoping for some kind of action.”

D’Silva said he recently sent a letter outlining his thoughts on possible e-scooter regulation — which would center on a county option to impose new rules — to Lombardo’s chief of staff.

“The main onus of the special session is going to be public safety,” D’Silva said. “I know there’s talk about Hollywood 2.0 and SNAP and health care, but the reason why the governor initially called for this was to address the public safety issues that we weren’t able to address during the regular session.”

As D’Silva pointed out, another special session topic could be an expansion to Nevada’s film tax credit program.

Two proposals were considered until the end of the 120-day session in June. One bill would have supported up to $95 million in tax credits dedicated to supporting a Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery-backed effort to build a film campus studio in Summerlin. That bill narrowly passed the Assembly but was not brought up for a vote in the Senate.

In a Sept. 12 news conference, Lombardo also said “this cybersecurity thing would be a point of conversation” for a special session agenda. For several weeks in late August and early September, a ransomware attack and ensuing state response shut down state services — including DMV in-person appointments, publicly accessible databases and online applications for some state services.

Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.