Committee deadline claims several bills

CARSON CITY — Scores of bills, including legislation legalizing physician assisted suicide and a bill capping certain prescription drug prices, advanced ahead of Friday’s second house committee passage deadline.

Senate Bill 239, legislation that would give terminally ill patients over the age of 18 with less than six months to live the ability to end their lives with lethal drugs prescribed by a medical practitioner, was just one of several bills that survived the deadline.

The bill passed through the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee, with state Sens. Gregory Hafen, R-Pahrump, Gregory Koenig, R-Fallon, Brian Hibbetts, R-Las Vegas, and Ken Gray, R-Dayton, voting against advancing the measure.

Lawmakers also voted to advance Assembly Bill 250, a bill that would cap the price of certain drugs at rates negotiated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. All of the Republican lawmakers on the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee voted against it.

In the Senate Growth and Infrastructure Committee, lawmakers voted to advance a bill meant to increase safeguards against train derailments. State Sens. Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, and Scott Hammond, R-Las Vegas, voted against advancing Assembly Bill 456.

But not all bills faced split votes. Senate Bill 322, legislation that would increase the penalty for reckless driving causing bodily harm or death to a term of six to 10 years, passed unanimously by lawmakers on the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

An evening meeting of that committee also advanced an amended version of Senate Bill 35, a bill aimed at addressing mid- and high-level fentanyl trafficking. Assembly members Ken Gray, R-Dayton, Danielle Gallant, R-Las Vegas, Alexis Hansen, R-Sparks, Toby Yurek, R-Henderson, Melissa Hardy, R-Henderson, and Erica Mosca, D-Las Vegas, voted against advancing the measure.

But a fentanyl-related bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro did not receive a vote Friday, effectively killing the legislation.

And other bills weren’t so fortunate, either.

Assembly Bill 387, a bill meant address water rights conflicts, did not receive a work session vote. Senate Bill 394, a bill that would cap the amount the Governor’s Office of Economic Development can approve for a tax abatement at $500,000, also didn’t receive a committee vote.

Senate Bill 215, a bill that would require counties and cities that choose to stop using electronic voting machines purchased with state funds to repay the state, also failed to get a committee vote. Senate Bill 427, a bill which would have required employers to create a heat mitigation program to protect employees on days when temperatures reach 105 degrees or hotter, also failed to receive a vote.

Contact Taylor R. Avery at TAvery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on Twitter.