A diverse group of speakers gathered in South Reno for a panel discussion on solutions to reduce the numbers of wild horses on Nevada's range and in holding facilities.

The schedules provide insight into Nevada's constitutional officers’ meetings and priorities during the 2023 legislative session.

Sen. Ira Hansen (R-Sparks) and Oregon-based animal rights activist Scott Beckstead took their debate over wild horses and their impacts on the Silver State off the internet and onto a debate stage Thursday in Elko County.

Nevada's Antelope North Complex, one of the largest BLM wild horse gathers in the nation this year, was the scene of one of the West’s greatest debates — if and how wild horses should be managed.

Republican legislators were more likely to buck their party, with 415 out of nearly 15,000 votes this year in support of bills that the majority of their caucus opposed.

The vote on SB1 comes after more than five days of backroom negotiations in a special session of the Legislature that ultimately spurred the Tuesday addition of two substantial amendments aimed at tightening the public financing language, expanding the terms of a community benefits agreement and resurrecting two bills Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed earlier this month. 

The team’s $1.5 billion ballpark proposal, which includes $380 million in tax subsidies and write-offs, drew so few fans you’d be excused for confusing it with an A’s home game. 

Point being, the (Elko County) school district has the money to build a new school for 300 of its students — or, at least, it should. It doesn’t, however, due to a combination of mismanagement and political malpractice.

The special session is the second convened by Gov. Joe Lombardo in two days since the end of the regular session Monday, with only one bill up for consideration. SB1 is a copy of SB509 from the 2023 regular session — a bill that failed to pass during the final hours of the session Monday night. 

After Senate Republicans blocked passage of the bill Monday night, a termed-out Sen. Scott Hammond (R-Las Vegas) reversed course Tuesday supporting the measure across the legislative finish line and sending it to Lombardo’s desk less than one day after the regular session ended.

On Wednesday, lawmakers heard and voted to advance a bill that would appropriate $64.5 million to replace the Owyhee Combined School on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in northeastern Nevada.

This week’s Indy Environment looks at one of the most consequential water measures moving in the Legislature: the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s omnibus conservation bill.

She added that she did not believe the current language of the bill should “be the form that exits this building,” and asked to work with the committee on changes to the bill, such as increasing the proposed $500,000 threshold, which she described as “super low.”

The bill would ensure towns only use sirens for emergencies and comes in response to the city of Minden continuing to sound a siren, even though lawmakers passed a prohibition of sundown sirens during the 2021 legislative session. 

Here’s a look at major policies that passed out of floor sessions last week. We’ll be updating this story throughout Monday and Tuesday, as more bills move out of the Assembly and Senate.

Ahead of the Senate vote on SJR7, a joint resolution seeking to enshrine abortion protections in the Nevada Constitution, two senators shared their personal experiences with the measure.

Of the bills that died, 49 percent of them (117 of 239) were Republican-sponsored measures — despite Republican lawmakers putting forward only about half as many bills as their Democratic counterparts, who hold wide majorities in both chambers.

Major political donors in the health care and pharmaceutical industries pumped more than $1.3 million into legislative campaigns in the 2022 election cycle, ahead of a 2023 legislative session likely to be rife with fierce debate over health care issues. 

As the results for the midterm election pour in, Democrats appear to be maintaining control of the Legislature, but they will likely fall short of hoped-for supermajorities in either house.

Though Democrats are expected to maintain control of both houses, Republicans are hoping to prevent a two-thirds supermajority (14 seats) that could have implications for tax increases.