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2-Minute Preview: Lawmakers to hear physican-aid-in-dying, school volunteer background check bills

Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
Michelle Rindels
Michelle Rindels
Megan Messerly
Megan Messerly
Legislature
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Lawmakers will take up bills dealing with assisted suicide, emergency contraception for rape victims and background checks for school volunteers when they meet on Monday.

They will consider raising the age cutoff for people considered homeless youth and loosening the requirements for seniors to get a free state parks pass.

For more information on the status of bills working their way through the Legislature, check out The Nevada Independent’s bill tracker. And for the bills in committee today, check out the Legislature’s website for committee times and links to watch live committee meetings and floor sessions.

Here’s what to watch for on Monday at the Legislature:

Gaming Control Board budget

Members of the Assembly and Senate money committees will review budgets from the governor’s finance office and the Gaming Control Board at their 8 a.m. joint meeting.

AB44: Stewart Indian School

Lawmakers in the Assembly Government Affairs committee are set to hear details of a bill that would create a museum director position at the historic Stewart Indian School in Carson City.

AB44, sponsored on behalf of the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, would create a position of museum director for the future Stewart Indian School, appointed by the executive director of the state Indian Commission. Lawmakers approved $4.5 million for construction of a cultural welcome center on the school’s campus in 2017, and the school’s museum is scheduled to open to the public in the fall of 2019.

The bill will be heard at 9 a.m.

SB185 & SB100: Relaxing background checks for volunteers, speeding teacher licenses for military spouses

Members of the Senate Education Committee will consider SB185, a bill that eases up requirements that school volunteers have background checks. The bill comes after a 2017 requirement that all school volunteers be screened for criminal history caused bottlenecks, financial hardships and had a chilling effect for some volunteers.

It specifies that only regular volunteers who have unsupervised contact with students need a background check.

The committee is also expected to vote on SB100, a bill that makes it easier for spouses of active duty military personnel to get a license to teach.

The committee meets at 1 p.m.

SB182: Tribal police

Proposed by Democratic Sen. David Parks, SB182 would give police officers employed by Indian tribes the same powers and abilities of any other police officers.

The bill requires any police officer employed by a tribal agency to receive a certification from the Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission and limits their jurisdiction to within the boundaries of a tribal reservation or colony unless they execute an agreement with law enforcement in another jurisdiction.

The bill will be heard in the Senate Committee on Government Affairs at 1 p.m.

AB124: Emergency contraception and antibiotic prophylactics for victims of sexual assault

Hospitals may soon be required to adopt written plans to ensure that female victims of sexual assault are provided with medically and factually accurate information about emergency contraception, prophylactic antibiotics and other services if a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Connie Munk becomes law.

The bill would require the information to be provided in a language the victim understands, and she must be offered the opportunity to receive emergency contraception or prophylactic antibiotics.

The legislation is up for a hearing in Assembly Health and Human Services at 1:30 p.m.

AB133: Redefining homeless youth

This bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Teresa Benitez-Thompson, expands the term “homeless youth” to include anyone under 24 years of age instead of just those under 18 years of age. The legislation also requires every county to provide care, support and relief to runaway or homeless youth who don’t have other support.

The bill will be heard in Assembly Health and Human Services at 1:30 p.m.

SB165: Physician-aid-in-dying legislation

Sen. David Park’s physician-aid-in-dying bill is returning to the Legislature after it died in the Assembly last session. (It passed in the Senate 11-10.)

Like the bill from last session, the legislation would allow physicians to help assist terminally ill patients in ending their lives. The legislation defines a terminal condition as one that cannot be cured and will result in death within six months.

Nevada law currently allows patients with terminal conditions to refuse treatment that would keep them alive or resuscitate them. This legislation would allow a doctor to prescribe a controlled substance to a patient with terminal conditions that would end his or her life, if the patient meets certain conditions.

To be eligible, patients would have to be 18 years or older, competent, a Nevada resident and diagnosed by a terminal condition by two physicians. They would also have to make an informed and voluntary decision and affirm that no one is coercing them in making their decision.

The bill is up for a hearing in Senate Health and Human Services at 3 p.m.

AB59: Making it easier for seniors to attend state parks

Lawmakers will hear a presentation from the Division of State Parks. Then they will hear AB59, a bill that would make it easier for seniors to receive an annual pass to state parks.

Instead of requiring seniors to live in Nevada for five years before they are eligible, the bill would only require them to be residents of Nevada who are 65 or older.

The Assembly Natural Resources Committee meets at 4 p.m.

Disclosure: This story was updated at 11:39 a.m. on February 25, 2019 to change the time of the AB124 hearing from 4 p.m. to 3 p.m.

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