Week 10 of Nevada Legislature will be hectic

By Sean Whaley Review-Journal Capital Bureau

8 years ago

A statue of Sarah Winnemucca as seen Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013 inside Nevada State Capitol Building in Carson City, Nev. A statue of her is also in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol. She was a prominent Native American activist and writer. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

CARSON CITY — It may be deadline week for Nevada legislative committees to act on bills, but that isn’t stopping lawmakers from loading up the calendar with hearings on dozens of measures introduced last month.

With the 120-day session past the halfway point and hundreds of bills awaiting action, lawmakers will spend many hours of Week 10 in committee hearings trying to get bills voted on by a Friday deadline.

But hearings on new measures will continue as well, ensuring a frenzied week for lawmakers and lobbyists who have vested interests in many measures — for and against.

Monday

The Assembly Government Affairs Committee will consider Assembly Bill 461, which would make the third week of January “Peace Week.”

The bill, sponsored by Assembly Chief Deputy Majority Whip Tyrone Thompson, D-North Las Vegas, would start Peace Week on the Martin Luther King Jr. observed holiday with the objective of fostering a statewide movement for a culture of peace.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee will take up bills dealing with guardianships. Several measures trying to reform the guardianship process to ensure the rights of elderly and other incapacitated individuals have had hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Senate Government Affairs Committee will hear Senate Bill 413 by Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, to establish “Public Lands Day” in Nevada on the last Saturday in September.

The Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee will take up the second brewpub bill of the session. Assembly Bill 431 would increase the number of barrels that could be produced to 20,000 from 15,000, but it would limit retail sales to 2,000 barrels from the current 15,000. It would also limit a business to two breweries.

A bill in the Senate would allow Nevada microbreweries to produce 30,000 barrels a year, with no more than 10,000 barrels for sale on site at the brewery or brewpub.

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee will take up a right-to-die bill. Senate Bill 261 would allow a physician to prescribe, under certain circumstances, a drug to end the life of a patient.

Not only will Democrats hear a resolution seeking to transfer some federal lands to state control this session, but they are going one step further. Senate Joint Resolution 12, to be heard Monday by the Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee, would repeal a land transfer resolution passed by Republicans in the 2015 session.

Tuesday

On Tuesday the Assembly Government Affairs Committee will take up Assembly Bill 435 to establish Sarah Winnemucca Day. The day would be commemorated on the anniversary of her death on Oct. 16, 1891.

Hearings the rest of the week are a work in progress.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @seanw801 on Twitter.