Nevada’s 2025 legislative session may still be a month away, but about a fifth of the bills expected to be considered have already been written, including measures exempting Nevada from daylight saving time, prohibiting companies from manipulating the price of food, medicine or shelter and requiring social media platforms to establish an age verification tool.
Nearly 200 bills have been “prefiled,” with more than 1,000 bills likely to be introduced during the 120-day session.
As in other states, Nevada allows new and returning state lawmakers and other entities (such as municipal governments) to prefile bills before the start of the legislative session. It’s a major time-saver for the staff of the Legislature and helps quicken the pace of the normally sleepy first months of the session.
Below, The Nevada Independent breaks down some of the bills that have already been drafted ahead of the session, which starts Feb. 3.
Criminal justice
Multiple bills focus on how the state addresses sexual offenses.
AB4, submitted by the Division of Parole and Probation, would allow the division to request for a person convicted of certain sexual offenses to be released from lifetime supervision, as long as it has been at least 20 years since a person was either released from incarceration or convicted of an offense that could pose a threat to others’ well-being.
SB59, proposed by the Nevada Department of Education, would allow the state Board of Education to suspend or revoke the teaching license of a person engaging in grooming or sexual impropriety. The board could also sanction a person who seeks to obtain employment in another school district or charter school while their license is under an administrative hold.
The attorney general’s office submitted AB63, which would restrict people seeking a wrongful conviction lawsuit to those who are not in custody. Existing law allows any person who is not incarcerated to bring forward such a suit.
SB14 was also submitted by the attorney general’s office and would prohibit anyone arrested for domestic violence to be allowed pretrial release on bail.
Health care
Several bills seek to expand access to Medicaid, the state-managed insurance program primarily serving low-income people.
A proposal from the City of Las Vegas (SB54) would require Medicaid to provide certain types of coverage, including acute medical care and mental health services, for people experiencing homelessness.
The bill would also have a fiscal effect on the state’s budget, though the cost is unclear.
The state’s Aging and Disability Services Division is seeking to establish the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Treatment Assistance Program. The program that would be established under the proposal, AB6, stems from a pilot program and would serve children diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders through the age of 13.
Economy
Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, proposed AB44, a ban on price gouging. The bill would prohibit manipulating the price of an essential good or service such as medicine, food or shelter as unlawful under the Nevada Unfair Trade Practice Act.
The bill defines manipulation as someone acting alone or with others to cause the price of an essential good or service to increase in a way that does not reflect the basic forces of supply and demand. It establishes that an “essential good or service” is needed on a daily or recurring basis for a person’s livelihood and costs someone more than $750 a month, or $9,000 a year.
Treasurer Zach Conine, a Democrat, proposed AB67, a measure to establish a “baby bonds” savings account for every child covered on Medicaid when born. If the program is created, when eligible babies are born, the state will invest $3,200 in a bond that the treasurer’s office will manage until the child is 18 years old. The funds can then be applied to a business startup, postsecondary education or buying a home or other assets.
Conine has said that the program aims to reduce generational poverty.
Because the bill will cost money, it will face a challenging time in the Legislature, where limited funding is often the death knell for such proposals. In 2023, Conine proposed the same measure, which died in the Assembly without a hearing.
Elections
A bill from the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office, AB73, would require any campaign materials that use synthetic media — defined as materials that have been “intentionally manipulated” with tools such as artificial intelligence — to disclose that the information has been manipulated. Violators of the bill would be subject to a fine of up to $50,000.
The Nevada Association of Counties proposed SB73, which would allow any person to inspect the signature of a registered voter. Existing law does not explicitly prohibit this practice, but the release of any confidential information about a registered voter is restricted.
Education
As the state prekindergarten enrollment rate remains among the lowest in the nation, the Nevada Department of Education proposed SB58, which seeks to increase the maximum household income level for children served by state-funded prekindergarten programs.
As of 2023, only 7 percent of 4-year-olds in Nevada are enrolled in state-funded pre-K. If SB58 passes, it would increase the number of children eligible for state-funded pre-K by raising maximum family income limits and allow children with special needs, regardless of income, to qualify.
Nevada Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony, a Republican, proposed AB53, which requires school districts to mandate at least 20 minutes of recess for grades K-5.
Meanwhile, Clark County School District proposed AB48, which would allow school districts to place a bully at another school at the request of the bully’s parent or guardian. Existing law already allows the parent of a bullying victim to request a school change.
The measure would also prohibit the bully and victim from being assigned to the same new school.
Other measures
The Nevada Office of Traffic Safety proposed SB23, which would make it a civil infraction for anyone younger than 18 to use a cell hone while driving, including when hands-free accessories, such as Bluetooth, are used. But it prohibits police from stopping someone for the sole purpose of determining if the law is being violated.
Existing law has a similar phone prohibition for all drivers, but it includes an exemption for hands-free communications.
Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno) proposed AB81, which would exempt Nevada from daylight savings time. The proposal has come before the Legislature in the past but has yet to succeed.
Ford put forward SB63, which would require each social media platform to verify the age of prospective users and ban minors younger than 13 from having social media accounts. Under the bill, minors at least 13 years old and older must have verified parent or guardian consent to have an account. Parents or guardians could revoke permission at any time.
The Joint Interim Standing Committee on Natural Resource proposed a measure, SB36, establishing a Nevada Water Buy-Back Initiative to purchase and retire water rights in over-appropriated groundwater basins. The measure resembles a failed water buyback program pitched in 2023 by termed-out Sen. Pete Goicoechea (R-Eureka).
The City of Sparks is requesting lawmakers approve the state’s first toll road — on a roughly 13-mile stretch between Spanish Springs and the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center. The measure, AB61, describes the request as a “demonstration project” allowing the Regional Transportation Commission or another local government entity to construct the road.
Finally, the state’s Open Meeting Law provides an exemption for collective bargaining communications between public employers and employees. SB2, submitted by the state controller, would remove this exemption, requiring such meetings to be publicly announced in advance and open to the public.
