Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

State Senate passes 64 bills ahead of deadline

Steven Horsford

Steven Horsford

CARSON CITY — Working to beat a Tuesday deadline, the state Senate approved 64 bills Friday, including a number involving driving and motor vehicles.

To speed up the process, Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, told the senators to refrain from making statements on bills and instead submit them in writing for inclusion in the record.

The Senate and Assembly must pass bills originating in their houses by Tuesday. There were few disagreements.

One came on SB-144, which would require a garage making repairs to check the pressure on tires and inflate them to the vehicle’s specification. Failure of the garage to do this could result in a loss of its license to operate, under the bill that passed and now goes to the Assembly.

The vote was 12-9, with Republicans the only ones recorded as dissenting. Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, was the only GOP member who supported it.

Another split came on SB-281, which would require the state Public Utilities Commission to establish an electric vehicle demonstration program. The vote on bill was 12-9, with Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Elko, the only Republican to join the Democrats in favor of the legislation.

The Senate also approved a bill giving the state Department of Motor Vehicles more time to begin registering off-road vehicles. The law was passed in 2009, but the department never received money to start the process until early this year. The department has until July 1, 2012, to begin the registration.

A bill to provide bicycle riders more protection from cars was approved by the Senate. If the cyclist and the motor vehicle are going in the same direction in a single lane, the driver must give the rider at least three feet while passing.

If there is more than one lane in the same direction, the motorist must try to get in the left hand lane to protect the cyclist.

By a vote of 21-0, the Senate approved SB-154 to provide for the issuance of special license plates for family members of military members who are killed in the line of duty.

Also approved was SB-406, which allows the state Department of Motor Vehicles to forgive late fees for on-duty military troops for failing to register their vehicles or renew their driver’s licenses by the deadline.

All the bills now go to the Assembly.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy