While dozens of bills were left behind in the 2023 legislative wasteland when the clock struck midnight on June 6, the second house passage deadline on May 26 marked the last opportunity for lawmakers to kill unwanted bills before sine die.
The penultimate deadline of the 120-day session came and went with the passage of hundreds of bills now on their way to the governor’s desk, while just seven bills failed to advance beyond Friday. That included three from Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas), who last week criticized Democratic lawmakers during an Assembly floor session for not adhering to Gov. Joe Lombardo’s budget proposals.
“No negotiations or even attempts to work with the governor were made. We support the budget as presented by the governor,” she said during a vote on one of the five major budget bills.
Here’s a rundown of the bills that died:
• AB188, a bill sponsored by Kasama, would have expanded Nevada’s “Right to Try” law, which allows Nevadans to access treatments in Phase I clinical trials if a patient is terminally ill and has exhausted all other treatments. If the bill had passed, it would have allowed terminally ill patients to access targeted treatments based on genetics and DNA. The bill had passed 33-9 in the Assembly.
• AB86, sponsored by Assemblywoman Melissa Hardy (R-Henderson), would have enhanced protections for animals in part by prohibiting the abandonment of an animal and making it unlawful to deprive an animal of necessary veterinary care or grooming. The bill had passed unanimously in the Assembly.
• AB284, sponsored by Kasama, sought to allow mortgage businesses to operate remotely, and would have required the commissioner of mortgage lending to regulate such business activities. The bill had passed unanimously in the Assembly.
• AB392, a Kasama-sponsored bill that passed 40-0 out of the Assembly, proposed prohibiting certain deceptive service agreements between a property owner and service providers, barring certain agreements that provide for the service more than one year out from execution of the agreement.
• SB114, a bill sponsored by Sen. Edgar Flores (D-Las Vegas) that passed unanimously out of the Senate, would have allowed a student who transfers from one type of school to another to, one time, elect to be immediately eligible for a school sport at their new school. It also would have barred the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association from penalizing a school or person from participating in the legislative process.
• SB424, a Senate Government Affairs Committee bill that passed unanimously out of the Senate, proposed changes to the permitting process conducted by the Nevada Transportation Authority, which regulates taxis (outside Clark County). The bill meant to speed up licensing for small business operators seeking to break into the transportation industry.
Reporter Tabitha Mueller contributed to this report.