Published Tuesday, April 20, 2021 | 6:24 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, April 20, 2021 | 9:32 p.m.
Nevada lawmakers on Tuesday passed dozens of bills through the state Senate and Assembly and diverted several others back to a key committee in order to ensure their priority proposals survived past a crucial deadline.
It was easily the most productive day of an oftentimes-slow session.
To remain under consideration in the 2021 legislative session, most bills — unless granted exemptions — were required to pass through a first chamber by the end of the day Tuesday.
Lawmakers will have until May 21 to pass most non-exempt bills through the second house. Here’s a look at some of the bills moving on:
Ghost Guns
Assembly Bill 286, sponsored by Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, D-Las Vegas, would ban so-called “ghost guns,” untraceable firearms lacking serial numbers that are often built at home.
The bill, which passed on a 26-16 party-line vote, was amended to remove a provision that would have implemented a criminal penalty for bringing guns onto private property displaying a notice banning firearms.
Republican Assemblymen Jim Wheeler, R-Minden, and John Ellison, R-Elko, spoke against the bill on the floor, with Wheeler calling it a “assault on the Constitution of the United States and the state of Nevada.”
Jauregui cited the increase in gun sales, including ghost gun sales, during the pandemic as a reason for bringing the bill forward.
“I’m very happy about what we were able to accomplish. Ghost guns, especially with COVID, it was a rising epidemic,” Jauregui said.
Cannabis lounges
Legislation that would legalize marijuana consumption lounges was given an exemption from the deadline after an amendment was introduced Tuesday that added a licensing fee for the lounges.
Bills with fiscal impacts to the state such as Assembly Bill 341 must pass through the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.
Assembly Bill 400, which would ban law enforcement from solely using a positive marijuana blood test to convict a driver of a DUI, advanced on a party-line vote 26-16.
Elections
Assembly Bill 321, which would make permanent many of the changes enacted to Nevada’s election process during the COVID-19 pandemic, was declared exempt from deadline late Monday night.
The bill would send mail-in ballots to every active voter in the state.
It’s drawn criticism from many Republicans who have claimed, without evidence, that mail-in ballots lead to widespread voter fraud.
Traffic violation decriminalization
Assembly Bill 116, which would decriminalize minor traffic violations, was amended and sent to the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means. The bill was made exempt from deadline.
The bill, initially brought forward by Las Vegas Democrat Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen, is identical to one introduced in the 2019 session.
That bill passed the Assembly 36-5 (with one excused) before stalling in the Senate, where it wasn’t brought up for a vote.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
