A Friday deadline in the Nevada Legislature was the last one on the calendar of the 120-day session until June 2, but there is still plenty for lawmakers to consider in Carson City before the 2025 session adjourns.

About 60 bills have been considered by both chambers and are on their way to the governor’s desk as of 6 p.m. Friday. Hundreds more must be considered in the next 10 days or face failure.

Bills without exemptions needed to pass through their second house, either the Assembly or state Senate, before they could receive Gov. Joe Lombardo’s consideration. But they weren’t the only measures considered; leaders also pushed through some of their recent proposals to cap insulin costs — and sailed through four out of five major budget bills in late-night votes.

Here are some highlights from Friday’s second house passage deadline in the Legislature.

Bills that survived

A bill criminalizing wrong-way driving will head to the governor’s desk. Assembly Bill 111 — dubbed “Jaya’s Law” — passed unanimously in the Senate on Friday. The bill was named after 3-year-old Jaya Brooks, who was killed in a wrong-way crash on U.S. 95 near the Durango Drive off-ramp in December 2023.

“I am thrilled both the Assembly and Senate understood the importance of this bill, and I look forward to the Governor signing it into law,” bill sponsor Brian Hibbetts, R-Las Vegas, said in a statement.

A proposal to allow workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement to use sick time to take care of family members advanced through Friday’s deadline. Assembly Bill 112 removed an exemption for employees under collective bargaining, making the use more widely available.

AB 112 passed the Senate 15-6. Two Las Vegas Republicans joining the Democrats: John Steinbeck and Lori Rogich. The bill was returned to the Assembly, where they still must vote to agree on new amendments.

Gun possession policies that Lombardo vetoed last year passed the Assembly on party-line votes Friday, with Democrats in support. Senate Bill 89, sponsored by Sen. Julie Pazina, D-Las Vegas, would prevent someone convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime from owning or purchasing a firearm for 10 years.

The bill heads to the governor’s desk, where it may face another veto.

Other actions in the Legislature

Lawmakers also advanced a key last-minute proposal from Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager. The chamber unanimously approved Assembly Bill 555, which would cap insulin at $35 for a 30-day supply for private insurance users. The legislation, introduced on May 8 and not subject to Friday’s deadline, follows the federal government’s price cap for insulin costs for people on Medicare.

“I think most of us here campaigned in 2024, and I’m sure that your voters made clear to you that their No. 1 concern was rising costs,” the Las Vegas Democrat said during the bill’s hour-long hearing on Wednesday. “This answer is a partial answer to that to so many Nevadans.”

AB 555 now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Lawmakers also saved legislation that could have failed Friday’s deadline. Senate Bill 179, defining “antisemitism” for Nevada Equal Rights Commission investigations, was exempted from deadlines on Friday.

Jewish advocacy groups asked for it to be amended to include the widely adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition, which includes contemporary examples, during a May 13 hearing. The Government Affairs committee recommended it as amended on the previous deadline day, May 16. The exemption gives the bill more time for a floor vote from the Assembly.

State budget moves along

Lawmakers moved four of the five major budget bills this week. The bills allocate funding to K-12 schools, state employees, capital improvement projects, state departments and authorize the use of federal funds and other fees generated by the state. They are typically among the last bills considered, but only the capital improvement projects bill, Senate Bill 502, needs the Assembly’s approval to head to the governor.

On Friday afternoon, senators appeared ready to send two of the bills — Assembly Bills 591 and 592, appropriating funds for state agencies and state employees salaries, respectively — to the governor’s desk. They voted on the bills before rescinding them when they realized the Assembly had not yet acted on the education budget (Senate Bill 500), which is constitutionally required to be approved first.

Late Friday night, the Assembly uanimously approved SB 500 allowing the others to be voted on, as well.

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

The UNLV Rebels athletic department has won the Silver State Series presented by America First Credit Union for the third straight year and for the 10th time in its 13-year existence. With all the points now tallied, the Rebels have won by a score of 27 – 21. 

The Silver State Series is a competition between UNLV and the Nevada Wolf Pack each year since 2012. It was originally known as the Governor’s Series. The two Division I athletic departments compete head-to-head for statewide supremacy in both athletic and academic challenges. The team with the most points based on athletic wins, series results, and Academic Progress Rate wins the series and retains the trophy for a year. 

“- Head-to-head competitions will be worth 3 points

-Series or home-and-home competitions will be worth a total of 3 points; head-to-head competition in the conference tournament will serve as a tie-breaker (if available); 1.5 points for series tie in the event the teams split in the regular season and don’t play head-to-head in the conference tournament.

-Highest finish in Mountain West Championships will be used for sports that don’t compete head-to-head or in a series

-3 points will be awarded for sport-by-sport comparison of APR scores (school with the most “wins” by sport in the head-to-head comparisons will be awarded 3 points; 1.5 point per institution in the event of tie)

-Winning institution will be retain the trophy for one (1) year

-In the event of a tie, the winner of the Battle for Fremont Cannon football game will be used as the tie-breaker”

This is a victory that means a lot to both schools, and after a tight 6 – 6 race at the end of the fall, the Rebels pulled away. UNLV athletic director Erick Harper congratulated his student-athletes and staff after their big series win. 

“I want to offer my congratulations to our student-athletes, coaches and staff for another win in this ongoing series,” Harper said. “Keeping the Cannon red always gets us off to a good start in the competition and we earned points throughout the calendar from a variety of men’s and women’s teams this year. America First Credit Union is a tremendous partner and we owe a great deal of gratitude for their unwavering support of the Silver State Series. We look forward to another spirited series next year and wish all teams the best. Go Rebels!”

Rep. Mark Amodei’s amendment to put federal land in Nevada up for sale almost tanked President Donald Trump’s budget bill before it was stripped out in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

The legislation squeaked by in the U.S. House with a vote of 215 to 214. All Democrats and two Republicans opposed it.

It goes next to the Senate, where if passed it would fulfill numerous Trump campaign promises including no taxes on tips, overtime or interest on American-made cars; more border security; and a permanent extension of tax cuts from Trump’s first term.

It’s also expected to add $3.3 trillion to the nation’s deficit over the next 10 years.

The “big, beautiful bill” as Trump calls it, was still in limbo late Wednesday, though, in part because of Nevada.

Amodei, a Republican, thinks the drama may help the state in the long run.

“All this represented was a chance to jump start the whole long federal lands process so it would have been nice if it was in there,” he told the RGJ Thursday.

“But, hey, at the end of the day, I think we got more money in the bank for goodwill with leadership.”

Amodei had put the amendment forward at the behest of House leadership including Speaker Mike Johnson because proceeds from sales of federal land in Nevada and Utah would’ve been added to the U.S. Treasury’s general fund.

He saw it as a first step toward getting approval for a more comprehensive lands bill that includes conservation and tribal efforts.

Another way he thinks he got in the good graces of House leadership is by not making a stink when Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Montana Republican, threatened to scuttle the massive tax-and-spending bill if the amendment wasn’t taken out.

“This was my San Juan Hill,” Zinke said on social media, referring to a famous battle in the Spanish-American War. “God isn’t creating more land, once it’s sold, we will never get it back. This is a big win for all Americans who love our public lands.”

Amodei finds it curious that Zinke suddenly opposes federal land sales.

“Let’s make it really clear: Without Ryan Zinke threatening to vote against the bill that we just passed, none of this would have happened,” he said.

“We met with the speaker and Zinke was like, ‘It’s just a red line for me. I won’t sell any federal land,’” Amodei said. “This is even though he supported sales of federal land and millions of acres of chemical or petroleum leasing while he was secretary of Interior” during Trump’s first term.

Zinke did not help his cause for future legislative proposals by threatening House leaders on a bill important to them for advancing Trump’s agenda.

“The bill’s a good bill,” Amodei said of the budget bill, adding that he doesn’t like making threats. “I don’t operate that way. I’m not going to try to destroy my way to success. So if (removing the amendment) is ultimately what we need to do to pass the bill, that’s fine.”

Criticism from Nevada’s other representatives

Also trying to scuttle Amodei’s amendment were Reps. Dina Titus and Susie Lee, Democrats from Southern Nevada.

They hammered the plan in testimony Wednesday before the House Rules Committee, where they introduced their own amendments — Titus’ would’ve stripped Clark County land from the bill while Lee’s was related to concerns over Colorado River water destined for Southern Nevada.

“The Amodei amendment would have created an additional burden on taxpayers who would have ultimately had to front the costs of infrastructure improvements needed for developments in distant areas,” Titus said in a statement.

She added that it would have broken precedent by sending money back to Washington, D.C., rather than keeping it in Southern Nevada for investment in conservation, wildfire prevention efforts and public schools.

Amodei countered that the amendment would’ve allowed parcels previously identified by local officials to be released from federal control for possible sale.

Those sales still would’ve been subject to local approval and environmental review, Amodei said, and the sales would not have been required to proceed if the infrastructure wasn’t there yet.

“Local planners and zoners are still in control,” he said.

Controversial water pipeline part of Democrats’ opposition

Lee was even more damning. She focused on the sale of federal land in Utah that was also part of Amodei’s amendment in a collaboration with Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy.

“I have been alerted by water officials in Nevada and Arizona that the public land that Amodei wants to sell off in Utah could be used for a controversial water pipeline,” Lee testified. “The parcels of landmark for sale on this proposal coincidentally line up with the land in Utah that has been targeted for the so-called Lake Powell pipeline.”

This proposed pipeline is a big concern for water managers in Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming that depend on the Colorado River, she said.

“If this land is sold and the pipeline is built, this could siphon 28 billion gallons of water each year from Lake Powell and the Colorado River to communities in southern Utah, away from Nevada, Arizona and other basin states,” Lee said.

Amodei “clearly doesn’t understand the relationship between water and development and housing costs. … I’m asking you to advance my amendment to repeal the Amodei land sale in Utah, so we can stop this trojan horse to steal Nevada’s water.”

Amodei said diverting water isn’t as simple as making a land sale.

It requires negotiations through the Colorado River Compact, signed in 1922, which involves seven U.S. states and Mexico.

“As a guy who served on the Colorado River Commission, I find that an utterly confusing statement,” he said of Lee’s claims.

Amodei’s response to Titus and Lee criticism

Asked if Titus and Lee’s actions create any lasting animosity, Amodei said no.

“I’ve worked with Dina in the state Legislature,” he said, “and Dina is still one of my favorites. It might upset her that I say that. But anyhow, that stuff’s all fine.”

But that’s not to say he agrees with what they said.

“I get the drama,” Amodei said. “It makes nice copy, but its resemblance to the truth is nonexistent.”

The future of Nevada lands bills

It may not have been wise to tank the Utah portion of his amendment because doing so went against the wishes of Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Amodei said.

Lee heads the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

“That’s kind of a curious guy to punch in the face when Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto have a Southern Nevada lands bill that’s introduced over there and it’s going to go through that committee,” Amodei said of Nevada’s two Democratic senators.

Especially with Rosen and Cortez Masto being in the minority party, now their attempts to get lands bills approved — including Rosen’s for Washoe County — may face an even steeper climb.

But Amodei is optimistic for his own lands bill efforts in Northern Nevada that would include conservation and tribal components that weren’t allowed as part of the current budget bill process.

“We’ve got new credibility in terms of the teamwork department and are looking forward to hearings in the House Natural Resources Committee, which we expect — as a result of all this — to be on an expedited basis,” he said.

Mark Robison is the state politics reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal, with occasional forays into other topics. Email comments to mrobison@rgj.com or comment on Mark’s Greater Reno Facebook page.