Wednesday, April 19, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Nevada Legislature
A proposal prohibiting landlords from inquiring into a prospective tenant’s past convictions or criminal record — with exceptions for certain violent or sexual crimes — advanced through a mandatory deadline last late week as the Nevada Legislature’s 82nd session hit its midpoint.
Senate Bill 143, introduced by Democratic state Sen. Dina Neal of Las Vegas, also prevents a landlord from evicting a tenant based of their arrest record or criminal history, unless the offense occurred in the property they are renting.
“I think it’s really important for us to talk about the economic stability of folks we have decided are who free, either have been exonerated or pardoned, and are now a part of our society and need to find a home,” Neal told the Senate Committee on Government Affairs. “When you ask a person to be released from prison, not only are they are seeking identification, they’re getting Medicaid, but they’re also in need of finding a home.”
The bill would also prohibit a landlord from asking a potential tenant to provide proof of income more than three times the rent. It additionally requires a landlord to provide rejected applicants with information on how to file appeal or complaint with the housing authority.
“It is a replay from the 2021 session,” Neal told the committee in reference to Assembly Bill 254, which passed in both chambers and then was vetoed by then-Gov. Steve Sisolak.
“The (bill had) well-intentioned provisions that propose to limit a landlord’s ability to refuse leasing to applicants with certain criminal records,” Sisolak wrote in his veto letter. “Unfortunately, any potential benefits of these provisions are outweighed by the highly problematic sections that would force landlords to rent their property to applicants with serious criminal records.”
Lawmakers in Carson City last week purged dozens of bills ahead of a mandatory deadline to advance key measures. Here are some that continued:
• Affordable housing: Senate Bill 371, which passed out of the Senate Government Affairs committee Friday, would authorize a county board of commissioners or municipal governing authority to enact “any ordinance or measure” related to affordable housing, including rent control.
Democrats in both chambers have also expressed support for Senate Bill 426, which would prohibit landlords from raising rent during the first year of tenancy or during any 12-month period by an amount that exceeds a cost-of-living increase by the Housing Division of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry.
• New North Las Vegas council districts: Senate Bill 184, which was introduced by state Sen. Pat Spearman, D-North Las Vegas, would increase the North Las Vegas City Council from four seats to six, with the two new seats to be filled after the November 2024 general election. The measure is opposed by the current city council, as well as Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown.
And while SB 184 appears on track to pass through the Democratic-controlled Legislature, Ben Kieckhefer, the chief of staff for Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, suggested in a statement Wednesday that the governor would veto the bill if it made it to his desk.
“Mayors throughout Nevada have made it clear that they value the voice of their constituents when considering changes to their city charters,” Kieckhefer said. “The governor agrees. He won’t sign legislation amending city charters that hasn’t been through the established Charter Committee process at the local level. This process ensures all voices are heard before any changes are made to municipal governments. The legislature shouldn’t circumvent that process.”
• Fentanyl reform: Senate Bill 35, packaged with Senate Bill 343, would create a tiered system of low-, medium- and high-level fentanyl trafficking, making the former two category B felonies and the latter a category A felony. A separate bill, Senate Bill 412, was requested by Gov. Joe Lombardo and aims to increase penalties for possession of fentanyl in any quantity.
• Gun control: Assembly Bill 355 would raise the age to own an assault-style weapon to 21, while Assembly Bill 354 would prohibit firearms within 100 yards of an election polling place. Additionally, Senate Bill 171 would prohibit those convicted of hate crimes from purchasing a firearm.
• Election overhaul: Senate Bill 406 would make it a crime to threaten or attempt to use force, intimidation, coercion or violence against an election worker or poll observer, amid claims spanning the past two general elections that such workers have faced unprecedented levels of harassment.
Assembly Bill 242 would phase out election voting using paper ballots, and Assembly Joint Resolution 6 would implement the National Popular Vote compact should it clear the Legislature this session and the 2024 session before it’s added as a ballot measure for the 2026 election.
• “Rex’s law:” Following the March 2022 death of 13-year-old Rex Patchett, who was killed after a speeding driver lost control of his vehicle and struck the boy outside a Henderson middle school, lawmakers teamed up with the Patchett family to introduce Senate Bill 322, which would impose stricter penalties for reckless drivers traveling in excess of 50 mph of the posted speed limit, or cases in a school zone or other pedestrian safety zone.
Among those that didn’t make the cut:
• Sports participation: A bill sponsored exclusively by Republican lawmakers sought to require the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association to adopt rules requiring participants of an interscholastic activity to compete under the sex they were assigned at birth, except in the event of co-ed sporting events which would be “open for participation only by those pupils who are biological males and biological females.”
Assembly Bill 374 would have applied the same limitations to the Nevada System of Higher Education, thus prohibiting transgender athletes at UNLV, UNR or the College of Southern Nevada from competing under their preferred gender identity. The bill was never referred to a committee.
• Nixed cannabis bills: Senate Bill 69 would have altered the way the state’s Cannabis Compliance Board could administer disciplinary action to licensees in violation, and the appeals process for those issued infractions by the board. And Assembly Bill 413 would have increased the maximum civil penalty for the illegal cultivation, manufacturing, delivery or sale of cannabis products to $10 million. The bill carved out exceptions for unlicensed transactions of less than an ounce of cannabis flower.
• Gaming control bill axed: Assembly Bill 380 would have compelled the Nevada Gaming Commission to publish its so-called “black book” or a similar list of persons who “have been suspended or banned from an interactive gaming system for cheating.” Such a published list would have required the list to display an offender’s full name and date of birth.
• Definition of discrimination: Assembly Bill 176, which was sponsored by five Democratic lawmakers, would have updated Nevada Revised Statutes to make any restriction based on “source of income” unenforceable, especially with regards to housing.
• DUI offenders in prison: Current law allows prisoners guilty of a DUI offense to be placed at a minimum-security facility if that person is not eligible for parole, and also segregated from offenders of violent crimes. If passed, the GOP-backed Senate Bill 284 would have removed the requirement that DUI offenders be assigned to a minimum security facility and prohibited such offenders from being placed at a minimum security facility unless they meet certain criteria.
