Gov. Joe Lombardo called on industry leaders’ support in getting his housing bill through the Nevada Legislature one day before its scheduled first public airing in front of lawmakers.

Arguing that a supply issue is behind the challenge of affordable housing for Nevada residents, the Republican governor, home builders and tradesmen introduced key elements of Assembly Bill 540 during a Tuesday press conference at Heirloom at Pebble, a 55-plus, income-restricted apartment complex Ovation Development plans to open next month in Las Vegas.

Steve Aichroth, administrator of the Nevada Housing Division, said the agency has seen firsthand the challenges facing affordable housing development.

“The housing division occupies the space where developers, absent financial assistance, cannot — literally cannot — develop because the deals don’t pencil,” Aichroth said. “When the deals don’t pencil, stuff like this just does not get built.”

Proponents of AB 540 contend the bill would make housing more affordable for the “missing middle,” households who can’t afford to buy a home but don’t qualify for affordable housing units. The bill proposes allocating $250 million in state funds for “attainable housing” projects, expanding the definitions of affordable housing to allow it to benefit people with up to 150 percent of area median income, reducing prevailing wage requirements to preferences and expediting processing for attainable housing developments, among other policy proposals.

“These essential workers are education, public safety and healthcare leaders in our community, and they deserve access to affordable and attainable homes in the very neighborhoods they serve,” Lombardo said.

Jess Molasky, chief operating officer of Ovation Development and Management Group, said the governor’s staff spoke to the general contractor and apartment management company and others in the industry to develop their proposal.

“Unlike deeply subsidized housing, market-rate apartments are scalable, sustainable and flexible. They don’t require years of layered financing or depend on limited public subsidies. They can get built and fast,” Molasky said, adding the bill’s Attainable Housing Account could help restart projects that have stalled because of rising interest rates and construction costs.

Lombardo also said he’s working with the federal government to establish what federally owned land could be released for more development. He said he expects to have a memorandum of understanding by May 1 that will allow the Bureau of Land Management to identify that available land.

Assembly Democrats highlighted their own housing proposals in a press conference Thursday, including bills reforming summary eviction, limiting rent increases for seniors and Social Security users, setting transparency requirements in rental agreements and others.

At the press conference, Lombardo said he continues to “hold the line” against policies like rent control and other bills with the same language as ones that were vetoed in 2023.

He also said that “out of state investors” — an issue he mentioned in his State of the State address in January – had to be addressed through other legislation. Lombardo said he was aware of some bills that could address that. Senate Bill 391, sponsored by Dina Neal, would limit the number of housing units a business could purchase in a year to 100.

“Housing is one of the most critically important issues to Nevadans right now,” Speaker Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas, said in a statement Tuesday. “I look forward to learning more about the long-awaited Governor’s housing proposals tomorrow evening and continuing to collaborate on all things housing with both the Senate Majority Leader and the Governor, including working to ensure that those who are currently housed aren’t abruptly and unfairly evicted.”

AB 540 will have its first hearing at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the chamber’s Commerce and Labor Committee.

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

This story has been updated with new information from the Nevada Attorney General’s office and Nevada Right to Life.

Forty years after the Nevada Legislature required parental notification when minors seek abortions, the law is finally set to go into effect April 30.

Federal District Judge Anne Traum — an emerita professor of law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas — made the decision released Tuesday. It was based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the federal right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade.

In 1985, the Nevada Legislature enacted a law referred to as Senate Bill 510 that never went into effect.

It “prohibits performing an abortion on a minor patient without first notifying the minor’s parent or guardian and provides that a minor may seek an order from a state district court authorizing an abortion without parental notification,” Traum wrote of the bill.

At the time, a preliminary injunction stopped it from going into effect. Based on Roe v. Wade, a court said there were serious questions about whether it violated a patient’s right to anonymity and that the state had failed to ensure adequate confidentiality.

In 1991, the federal court for the District of Nevada made the injunction permanent to keep Nevada’s parental notification law from ever going into effect.

With Roe overturned, the grounds for that injunction no longer exist, Traum said.

“It follows that the judgment in this (1991) case was based upon the law of Roe, which is now overruled,” she wrote.

Traum quoted the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs that says, “States may regulate abortion for legitimate reasons, and when such regulations are challenged under the Constitution, courts cannot substitute their social and economic beliefs for the judgment of legislative bodies.”

By giving 30 days until the Nevada parental notification law goes into effect, the judge said she was allowing those opposed to her to decision time to file motions challenging the order if they wish to do so.

Traum was nominated for the bench by President Joe Biden and took the oath of office in 2022.

Nevada Right to Life group reacts to decision

“For 40 years, young girls have been exploited in secrecy, their suffering ignored while those in power turned a blind eye,” said Melissa Clement, executive director of Nevada Right to Life, which provided financial support for the litigation to lift the injunction.

“Today, that silence is broken. Parents will finally be involved, and protection will replace the neglect that allowed predators to thrive.”

Nevada Attorney General’s office reviewing parental notification decision

The Nevada Attorney General’s office told the Reno Gazette Journal that it’s reviewing the decision.

“But, per our office’s policy, we have no further comment due to pending litigation,” a spokesperson said.

Read more: Sigal Chattah named interim US attorney for Nevada — Sens. Rosen, Cortez Masto vow fight

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.

A 7-year-old Nevada girl died after being struck by a falling boulder at a ski resort on Saturday, officials said.

Adelyn Grimes, of Reno, died after the incident at Diamond Peak Ski Resort in Incline Village, and the manner of death was ruled an accident, the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office said in a statement to NBC affiliate KCRA of Sacramento.

Diamond Peak Ski Resort said its staff extended its “heartfelt condolences” to the girl’s family.

Medical services were called at around 3:38 p.m., the ski patrol responded and provided first aid, the ski resort said in a statement Monday, adding that North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District and Washoe County Sheriff’s Office staff also responded.

“Despite the emergency medical team’s best efforts, the child succumbed to their injuries,” the resort, which is northeast of the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, said.

In a statement, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the death, described it as a tragic accident.

“There was no foul play involved and the Sheriff’s Office extends our deepest condolences to all involved,” it said.