With 1st deadline over, action shifts to Assembly, Senate floors

Following the first major deadline of the session, in which nearly 100 bills were culled, the Nevada Legislature is now looking ahead to its second mass extinction event: a deadline for bills to pass out of the house where they were introduced.

That means the action will shift from committee rooms to the floors of the Senate and Assembly, where bills that survived Friday’s committee deadline now await final votes. Bills that survive the April 25 deadline will then move to the opposite house, where the process will start all over again, unless they are on the list of 117 measures (so far) declared exempt from deadlines.

And while Assembly members have been focused on Assembly bills and vice versa in the Senate, lawmakers will now start taking up legislation that has already been approved by their colleagues on the opposite end of the legislative building.

On Monday, the Assembly has six items on its agenda for final approval and 28 other measures on the way. That latter list includes Assembly Joint Resolution 5, a measure to repeal the constitutional prohibition on lotteries in Nevada. That’s been supported by the Culinary Union Local 226 but opposed by the Nevada Resort Association. Also on the resolution list is Assembly Joint Resolution 7, a measure to study “wealth taxes” in the two years between now and the 2025 session.

In the Senate, 36 items are winding their way toward a final passage vote on Monday’s agenda, with an additional 24 ready for a final vote. Among the matters still in the pipeline is Senate Joint Resolution 7, which would amend the Nevada Constitution to include protections for abortion rights.

Also on the list of legislation awaiting a final vote is Senate Bill 129, which would erase the statute of limitations for people ages 18 and older to file a civil lawsuit for sexual assault (currently, those types of lawsuits must be filed within two years from the date of the assault); Senate Bill 131, to ensure no state government agency cooperates in an investigation of a woman from another state who sought an abortion in Nevada; and Senate Bill 250, which bans the purchase of used catalytic converters from anyone other than from auto wreckers, scrap metal processors or licensed car dealers.

More items will appear on those floor session agendas as committees report back on legislation that passed by Friday’s deadline. In addition, a handful of measures in each house are “on the desk,” a sort of legislative limbo that can waylay a piece of legislation until certain details are worked out.

There will still be committee hearings, although many of those meetings have been canceled to make way for longer floor sessions.

The Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee on Monday will take up Senate Bill 132, a bipartisan measure that will block insurance companies from charging higher premiums to a person who has donated his or her organs.

And on Wednesday, the Senate Growth and Infrastructure Committee will hear Senate Bill 447, which says a person who drives on a public road is deemed to have given consent for an oral swab to test for evidence of alcohol or drug intoxication. Currently, that presupposition applies to preliminary breath testing.

The Legislature has until June 5 to complete its work.

Contact Steve Sebelius at SSebelius@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253. Follow @SteveSebelius on Twitter.