CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Nevada lawmakers were winding down their biennial session Monday night after passing their core budget bills and approving a measure to overhaul the state’s criminal justice laws with hours to spare.
Lawmakers’ chief task of funding the government was dispatched on the final day, passing the last of five spending bills that include more than $327 million to reduce class sizes, $45 million for school safety and $76 million to give state workers a 3% raise.
Despite Republican objections, Democrats passed a bill to extend a payroll tax set to expire this year in order to pay for additional school safety initiatives and teacher pay raises - a top goal for Gov. Steve Sisolak.
Democrats say extending the tax will put $72 million to teacher pay raises and add about $17 million more to school safety. Republicans opposed extending the tax, arguing that the state had other money available. They also contended that the state Constitution required a two-thirds vote of approval to extend the tax.
Legislative lawyers disagreed and Democrats passed the bill on a majority vote.
Republican Assemblyman Jim Wheeler of Minden called it “an unprecedented disregard for the constitution.”
Lawmakers in the evening also approved a sweeping overhaul of criminal justice laws designed to reduce the state’s prison population.
The final day caps a legislative session where Democrats, emboldened by an expanded majority and their first governor in two decades, pushed through an array of liberal initiatives.
They expanded voting rights, toughened gun laws, raised the minimum wage to $12 an hour and allowed state workers to collectively bargain.
The Legislature, the first in the country with an overall female majority, also rewrote the state’s abortion rules.
The party was also rocked the resignation of two high-ranking Democrats amid scandals and the death of an assemblyman. Tyrone Thompson died May 4 at age 51 while receiving emergency treatment, but his cause of death has not been made public.
His death followed the resignations in March of former Senate Majority Leader Kelvin Atkinson and Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle.
Sprinkle quit amid “growing sexual harassment” claims, though further details about the allegations were never made public.
His resignation came a week after Atkinson tearfully resigned, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and admitting to misusing at least $250,000 in campaign contributions to lease a luxury SUV, open a Las Vegas nightclub and pay for other expenses.
His replacement, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, introduced in the final days of the session a campaign finance bill late in the session to clarify the rules about personal use of campaign funds and banning candidates from paying themselves a salary with contributions. The measure cleared the state Senate on Monday, but still needed approval from the Assembly.
Cannizzaro, a prosecutor in her second legislative session, became the first woman in state history to serve as the senate’s leader. The nation’s first female-majority Legislature addressed issues like women’s health, sexual assault and sexual misconduct.
Legislators repealed some abortion rules, including requirements that a woman be asked about her marital status before an abortion and another that had required physicians tell a woman about the “emotional implications” of the procedure. They also eliminated a 20-year statute of limitation in sex assault cases if DNA evidence identifies an assailant.
One of the most contentious debates came over gun control in the wake of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. Survivors attended a marathon hearing over a bill to expand background checks on private gun sales and transfers. Republicans, who uniformly opposed the bill, argued it would infringe on Second Amendments rights and not prevent mass shootings.
Supporters acknowledged the bill would not have stopped the Las Vegas gunman from obtaining his weapons but said it was an important step to prevent gun violence. The governor quickly signed it into law.
Lawmakers also approved another gun bill with a so-called “red flag” provision that allow guns to be removed from people seen as a threat to themselves or others. The measure also bans bump stock devices, which mimic the firing of a fully automatic weapon and were used by the Las Vegas gunman.
Other items on progressive wish-lists failed to advance. Two bills to ban the death penalty did not receive committee hearings, and a proposal that would have allowed terminal patients to kill themselves with medication prescribed by a doctor failed to clear a key deadline.
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