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Bills advance past deadline as session draws to close

Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
Michelle Rindels
Michelle Rindels
Megan Messerly
Megan Messerly
Legislature
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Friday marked yet another deadline for state lawmakers, with committees charged with vetting and approving bills that originated in the opposite house.

But lawmakers handled the deadline relatively smoothly, with most committees wrapped up by the afternoon ahead of next Friday’s deadline for bills to make it out of the second house.

Here’s a quick glance at some of the high profile measures that lived (and died) on Friday.

SJR6: Constitutional minimum wage increase

With little discussion, a Senate panel advanced on party-lines a constitutional change that would gradually raise Nevada’s minimum wage to $12 an hour.

SJR6 would immediately raise Nevada’s minimum wage to $9 an hour, and raise it by 75 cents an hour every year until the rate reaches $12 an hour. It would require the state to raise the wage if the federal wage floor at any time eclipses the state, and would remove both the current tiered structure for minimum page dependant if an employer offers a health insurance plan and constitutional provisions allowing the wage to be waived as part of a collective bargaining agreement.

Because it’s a constitutional change, the measure would need to pass both this session and the 2019 Legislature before going to the voters in 2020.

Several other measures amended the state’s minimum wage are also moving through the legislative pipelines. AB175, which would raise the health insurance plan standards offered by employers who qualify for the lower tier of minimum wage payments, passed out of committee last month but has lingered on the Chief Clerk’s Desk (a form of legislative limbo) since April 25th.

More progress has come in the form of SB106, which would gradually raise the wage floor to a tiered $12 and $11 an hour system. That measure, which is exempt from legislative deadlines, passed out of the Senate on a party-line vote earlier in May and is scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly next week.

AB163: Payday loan reforms

Senators advanced a measure designed to curb abuses in the short-term, high-interest loan sector, but made a few additional tweaks.

Democratic Assemblyman Edgar Flores’s AB163 would require so-called “payday” loan businesses to begin assessing whether or not the loan recipient has the ability to repay the loan, and sets out factors to consider including income, employment, credit history and other outstanding loans. It also prohibits title loans — loans issued with the title of a vehicle as collateral — from being issued to anyone other than the legal owner of the vehicle.

The bill was amended to allow for lenders to offer a “grace period” on the repayment of a loan, unless it artificially increases the amount a customer would be qualified to borrow. Existing Nevada law creates a number of protections for loan customers if they “default” on high-interest loans, including capping interest rates and requiring a repayment plan.

The original version of the bill would have severely limited so-called “grace periods” and set out stricter rules on their use.

SB26: Boycotting anti-Israel businesses

An Assembly committee approved a measure that would largely prohibit the state from doing business or investing with companies that boycott Israel.

With only two members voting no, Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison’s SB26 was approved out of committee on Friday. The bill prohibits local governments and the state’s purchasing division from entering into a contract with a business unless it includes written confirmation that the company isn’t engaged in a boycott with Israel.

It also requires the state treasurer to identify and place certain restrictions on companies that are boycotting Israel if they’re involved with a public fund administered by the state, and and requires the state’s Public Employees’ Retirement Board to identify companies boycotting the country and to provide a report to the governor and Legislature of dollars invested in those businesses.

The measure passed out of the state Senate on a 19-2 vote in April. Several members of Nevada’s congressional delegation, including Sen. Dean Heller and Reps. Jacky Rosen, Dina Titus and Mark Amodei submitted letters supporting the bill.

SB196: Paid Sick Leave

After approving an amendment designed to garner more support from businesses, an Assembly panel approved a measure on an 8 to 5 vote mandating paid sick time off for large employers in the state.

SB196, which is sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, would require private businesses with more than 25 employees offer paid sick time off after a worker has been on the job for at least a year.

The bill would give employees one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked, and would cap the total amount of sick time that could be accrued at 40 hours, or five work days. It also exempts day or temporary workers, construction workers or certain part-time health care workers, and requires employees work at least 1,600 hours a year to be eligible.

Casino giants MGM and Caesars testified in favor of the proposed bill, but wouldn’t be required to follow its provisions because the measure exempt businesses like the two major casinos that are entered into collective bargaining agreements with their employees.

Democratic Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton joined Republicans in voting against the bill, saying that it wouldn’t adequately cover part-time workers and others who don’t meet the 1,600 a year requirement.

“It will not serve the constituency from which I come from,” she said.

SB169: Penalties for child welfare and juvenile justice agency employees engaging in sexual conduct with minors

The Assembly Judiciary passed a trimmed-down version of Republican Senator Becky Harris’s SB169 out of committee on Friday.

The bill previously required law enforcement agencies in the state to establish a program to track sexual assault forensic evidence kits, collected to preserve evidence in the wake of an assault, and required that the kits be submitted to forensic laboratories for testing within 30 days of receipt. The legislation also required that laboratories conduct tests on the kits within 180 days of receipt and mandated that they annually report statistics to the state about the number of untested kits they have in their possession.

That language was stripped out of Harris’s bill with the intent to incorporate it in a similar bill sponsored by Democratic Assemblywoman Teresa Benitez-Thompson, AB97.

The amended version of Harris’s bill will focus on the prohibition on public disclosure of the identity of sexual assault victims to include victims of employees, contractors or volunteers of various child welfare and juvenile justice agencies. It also specifies that anyone who is 25 or older who is in a position of authority within one of those agencies and engages in sexual conduct with a person between 16 and 18 years old with whom they have direct conduct as part of their job is guilty of a category C felony.

SB344: Barring kid-friendly marijuana products and advertising

The Assembly Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill Friday requiring each edible marijuana product to be labeled with the amount of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient, that it contains. The measure, backed by Sens. Patricia Farley and Tick Segerblom, also limits the amount of THC contained in any single package.

It prohibits edible marijuana products that look like candy or may appeal to children. Producers of marijuana-infused cookies and brownies must seal those products in a bag or container that’s opaque. Marijuana businesses are also barred from using advertisements that appeal to children.

Warning information about marijuana must be provided at each sale, including the guidance that  users should wait at least two hours after ingesting edible marijuana before consuming any more, and that pregnant women should consult with their doctor before taking marijuana.

The bill sets rules for marijuana manufacturing facilities, requiring them to have a washing area with hot water, soap and a hand dryer or disposable towels, and requires anyone who handles products to wear a hairnet and keep their fingernails neatly trimmed.

SJR17: Marsy’s Law

The Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections Committee passed Marsy’s Law, a proposed amendment to add a victim’s bill of rights to the Nevada Constitution. The committee passed the measure with an amendment in a 10-1 vote.

The amendment proposes to add in an additional subsection into the resolution, which would state that “in interpreting and applying the provisions of this section, a court may balance the rights of the victim set forth in this section against the needs of society for effective, efficient and orderly judicial administration of the criminal or juvenile justice process.”

If the Assembly passes the resolution with the amendment, the Legislature would again need to approve the resolution during the 2019 legislative session before it goes to a vote of the people in 2020. If the body chooses to keep the resolution as it is, it will appear on the ballot in the 2018 election.

The measure, which is modeled after a 2008 amendment to the California Constitution, would enact a number of “victim’s rights” into the state’s Constitution, including reasonable notice of hearings in the case and consideration of the victim’s safety in the bail-setting process.

The measure passed with bipartisan support in 2015, with six Democratic lawmakers voting against the measure.

SB415: Pink tax ballot question

With only Republican Assemblyman Jim Marchant voting no, an Assembly committee overwhelmingly voted to amend and approve a bill that would put a question on the 2018 ballot allowing voters to exempt feminine hygiene products from sales tax.

SB415, which is sponsored by Democratic Sen. Yvanna Cancela, would allow voters to decide to exempt “feminine hygiene products” such as sanitary napkins or tampons from sales tax between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2028.

The measure was amended to add a handful of sponsors. It passed unanimously out of the Senate earlier in May.

BILLS THAT DIED

Roughly three dozen measures met their end on Friday when they weren’t brought up for a committee vote. Here’s a look at a few of the measures that won’t be moving forward this session.

AB120: School Construction Tax

A measure that would have allowed county commissions in Reno and Las Vegas to impose a construction tax on residential developers failed to make it past Friday.

AB120, which was sponsored by Democratic Assemblyman Skip Daly, would have expanded existing Nevada law allowing small counties to impose a construction tax on new developments or construction to help pay for remodeling or new construction of school facilities to all counties, regardless of population. School districts would be required to submit impact statements to county commissions in regards to new construction, which could then impose taxes capped at $1,600 per each “residential development unit,” mobile home or suite in an apartment complex.

The bill, which passed on a 24-18 vote in the Assembly, was heard in the Senate Government Affairs Committee on May 15 but was never brought up for a vote.

SB86: Authorizing cursive classes

Republican Sen. Don Gustavson’s bid to get Nevada schools teaching cursive won’t be moving forward this legislative session.

SB86, which passed unanimously out of the Senate in April and was heard on May 1 in the Assembly Committee on Education, failed to get a committee vote before the deadline. The bill would have authorized school district trustees or a the governing body of a charter school to ensure students were instructed in cursive handwriting and able to create and read cursive by the end of the third grade.

Gustavson introduced a similar measure last session that also failed to gain traction.

SB130: Raises brew pub production

A bill raising production limits for brew pubs fizzled on Friday.

Republican Sen. James Settelmeyer’s SB130 didn’t receive a committee vote ahead of Friday’s committee deadline, despite passing unanimously out of the Senate in April.

The bill would have allowed brew pub operators to raise their production limits from 15,000 barrels a year to 30,000 barrels, but would have limited pub owners from selling more than 10,000 barrels on site per year, with the rest required to be distributed.

Not all hope is lost for fans of craft beer — Democratic Assemblywoman Irene Bustamante Adam’s AB431 also raises production standards for brew pubs, and passed out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Labor and Energy on May 17.

SB387: Domestic Violence and guns

A measure sponsored by Democratic Sen. Julia Ratti that sought to make it tougher for people suspected or accused of domestic violence to get their hands on firearms failed to meet Friday’s deadline.

SB387 would have authorized the issuing of temporary or emergency protection orders against “high-risk” individuals — considered anyone who poses a risk to themselves or others by possessing a firearm — and would require the subject of the orders from having a firearm in their possession through the duration of the order. The bill provided mechanisms for the surrender and reclamation of surrendered firearms, and violations would have been punishable by a misdemeanor and a ban on possessing firearms for at least five years.

The bill passed out of the Senate on party-lines in April, and was heard in the Assembly Judiciary committee on April 25.

Updated at 3:47 p.m. to include several measures that failed to meet Friday's deadline.

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