League Supporters:

The first major deadline this legislative session came Friday, April 10th. Any bill that did not get a committee hearing and vote, is not on the Exempt List, or does not fit a special category, is now technically dead. There are possible scenarios that would allow legislators to propose dead bills as amendments to live bills, so nothing is set in stone; but in general, if a bill didn’t make it out of committee and is not on the Exempt List or is in a special category, it is now dead.

The next deadline is April 21, 2015. To make it past the next deadline a bill must be voted out of the house of origination (with some exemptions) by April 21^st. This means each day’s floor session will be important this week; bills can be amended from the floor. Floor sessions are located at the top of the legislative calendar at: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Calendar/A/

You can see the full list of bills that failed to meet the April 10th deadline at: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/78th2015/Reports/MissedApril10th.cfm

You can see the full list of Exempt Bills at: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/78th2015/Reports/exempt.cfm

All three Voter ID bills are exempt and are currently sitting in the money committees for a fiscal note analysis. AB253 and AB266 are in Ways and Means, while SB169 is in Senate Finance.

SB203 was amended to only include early registration for 17 year-olds and to allow voters to opt for an electronic sample ballot.

SB433 originally would have limited early voting hours to 7am-7pm statewide and would have banned early voting on Sundays. The argument was that all counties should have uniform early voting hours and days; the rural counties have difficulty funding Sunday voting and later hours.

During the work session the bill was amended to require all counties to offer Sunday early voting and the time was changed to 7am-8pm. The County Registrars argued against this standardized time frame as Clark County has many early voting sites that stay open until 9pm to accommodate swing-shift workers. Our Registrar Joe Gloria and the Let Nevada Vote Coalition, which League is a member of, will be working to have the bill amended to allow Clark County to be exempt from the 8pm restriction.

SB331 digitizes the DMV voter registration process, which will create a more efficient and secure system. It was amended to protect early voting on Sundays and maintains the current rule that counties can set their own times for early voting.

AB289 passed through committee. It creates an interim study to review how to implement the parts of the Governor’s Behavioral Health and Wellness Council’s Recommendations that have a fiscal note. Here are the Councils’ full recommendations: http://lwvlasvegasvalley.org/images/May_2014_Report_and_Recommendations_to_Governor_Sandoval.pdf

There are many K12 bills still alive and working through the process. To get full updates, please sign up to receive weekly emails from Joyce Haldeman at: http://ccsd.net/departments/government-affairs/legislative-updates

To find your representatives, enter your address in on this page: http://mapserve1.leg.state.nv.us/whoRU/

You can find committees here: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/78th2015/Committees/List

You can submit your opinion on a bill here: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/78th2015/A/

To find out when a committee meets to provide testimony at Grant Sawyer, go here: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Calendar/A/

**And now you can view past hearings and floor sessions from this video archive page on the legislature’s website: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Granicus/

Sondra