EDITORIAL: Why, there oughta be a law … or maybe not

The 2025 legislative session doesn’t begin for seven months, but our elected officials in Carson City are nothing if not industrious in their efforts to add pages to the Nevada Revised Statutes.

As of Friday, the Legislature’s website lists 62 bill drafts that state lawmakers have requested. That number will swell close to 500 in the coming months as more legislators indulge themselves. Incumbent members of the Assembly may seek up to 10 bill drafts, while their counterparts in the state Senate are “limited” to 20. Legislative leaders get even more. Newcomers who are elected this November also have a set allotment.

As usual, there seems to be no subject too arcane for lawmakers to ignore. While the specifics of each request remain vague, the general subjects touched by these proposed laws span a wide and diverse gamut. They include: dementia, Juneteenth, public safety, water, military justice, mental health, sex trafficking, days of observance, world language education, the transgender community, court reporters, economic development, women’s health, heavy equipment, early childhood systems and daylight saving time.

Assemblywoman Tracy Brown-May, a Democrat who represents District 42 in the west-central Las Vegas area, has even asked for a law that “Establishes provisions relating to certain inflatable amusement devices.”

It’s true that many of these requests will never become embedded in statute. Some will be withdrawn. Others will be introduced during the session only to be ignored or end up in a committee circular file. Just a fraction will emerge as law at the end of the process. But Nevada, for the most part, has enough laws. Clogging the pipeline with pet causes and dubious bill draft requests makes it only more difficult for the Legislature to focus during each 120-day session on the issues that matter most to state residents.

It’s past time for Nevada lawmakers to establish a policy demanding that they identify two statutes to be repealed for every new law they request. That might help members of each chamber crystallize their efforts, prioritize their time and provide them with an incentive to think carefully about whether the state truly needs a new statute to address every perceived problem they can identify.

Mark Twain once quipped, “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.” His warning remains prescient, particularly now that the legislative Democrats running the Senate and the Assembly seemingly aspire to emulate the policies that have many residents fleeing California for more hospitable climes.