The Assembly Committee on Ways and Means advanced more than two dozen measures during a long work session May 27, 2025, voting to send many assembly bills to the floor and taking public and committee testimony on several senate measures, including funding for newborn screening and environmental improvements at Lake Tahoe.

The package of bills the committee advanced covers a wide range of state functions: child welfare and adoption savings (AB515), creation or expansion of health programs and prior-authorization rules (AB6, AB463), prescription drug price restrictions affecting the Public Employees’ Benefits Program (AB259), paid family leave changes (AB388), automated traffic enforcement pilot authority (AB402), and multiple appropriations for corrections, courts, elections and state technology programs presented later in hearings.

Why it matters: The committee’s work-session votes move bills to the full Assembly for floor action and, where they include budgetary or policy changes, can reshape state programs and funding priorities in the 2025–27 biennium. Several measures carried with reservations or recorded opposition, indicating floor debate remains possible.

Most important actions and votes

Votes at a glance (work session actions recorded on the committee record)
- AB 515 (Division of Child and Family Services/adoption savings): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion made by Assembly member Bacchus; second Assembly member Hategui. Motion carries.
- AB 6 (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder treatment assistance program): Motion “do pass.” Motion from Assembly member Vazquez; second Assembly member Hategui. Motion carries.
- AB 91 (Parole/second-look reviews and parole eligibility changes): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carried; Assembly member Hafen said he would vote yes out of committee but reserved his right on the floor.
- AB 102 (Health district EMS regulation and attendant age): Motion “do pass.” Motion carries.
- AB 108 (Outdoor education and recreation grant program; reduce appropriation): Motion “amend and do pass.” Motion carries.
- AB 123 (Protections for candidates from threats/intimidation; complaint process to secretary of state): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carries; Assembly member Hibbetts recorded a reservation of rights.
- AB 131 (Accessory dwelling unit tax exemption rules): Motion “do pass as amended.” Motion carries.
- AB 259 (Limits on paying or seeking reimbursement for prescription drugs above federally established maximum fair price): Motion “do pass as amended.” Multiple members registered opposition on the record. Assembly member O’Neil explicitly said he would vote no today and on the floor; the clerk recorded five named nays when asked to raise hands (Assemblymembers Conan, Dickman, O’Neil, Hibbets and Hacken) while the motion otherwise carried.
- AB 326 (Trauma care system study): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carries.
- AB 379 (Appropriation of $1 for College of Southern Nevada Northwest campus development): Motion “do pass.” Motion carries.
- AB 386 (Literacy assessment rules and Department of Education authority): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carries.
- AB 388 (Paid family leave changes; delay effective date to 01/01/2028): Motion “amend and do pass.” Several members said they would vote yes out of committee but reserved floor rights; five members voted no when called (Conan, Dickman, O’Neil, Hibbets, Hafen), but the motion carried.
- AB 402 (Automated traffic enforcement pilot program): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Assembly member Hibbets reserved his right but voted yes; Assembly member Dickman voted nay but the motion carried.
- AB 404 (Brew pub sales, EFT requirement for deliveries): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carries.
- AB 414 (Workplace safety, air quality measures; large employer requirements): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carries; several members recorded as opposed when prompted but the motion carried.
- AB 442 (Payments under grant agreements; advances to nonprofit corporations; remove advance provisions): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carries.
- AB 463 (Prior authorization requirements for health carriers and Nevada Medicaid): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Committee adopted a conceptual amendment that its authors said addressed earlier fiscal impacts; motion carries.
- AB 467 (Contracts to provide treatment to defendants in county jails; competency restoration): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carries.
- AB 471 (Taxation of remote sales of cigars and pipe tobacco): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carries.
- AB 472 (Rules related to teacher exchange program fees; remove grant program): Motion “amend and do pass.” Motion carries.
- AB 479 (Agrivoltaics: tax assessment treatment for combined agricultural/solar use): Motion “do pass as amended.” Motion carries.
- AB 494 (State continuation of certain federal education, disability and privacy provisions if repealed): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Committee adopted an amendment the sponsor said removed the Department of Education fiscal exposure; motion carries with some reservations recorded.
- AB 514 (Medicaid coverage for rehabilitative residential mental health care; licensing framework and fiscal adjustments): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carries.
- AB 533 (Open enrollment and transfers between public schools; Department of Education rules and vacancy reporting): Motion “amend and do pass as amended.” Motion carries.

How the committee worked: procedure and reservations
Committee Chair Monroe Moreno opened the session and prioritized the work-session items (assembly bills) before moving to the day’s floor items and senate-bill hearings. Legislative Council Bureau fiscal analysts and agency fiscal staff presented fiscal notes and recommended amendments; Daniel Miller of the LCB’s fiscal analysis division repeatedly prefaced remarks by noting his role and neutrality ("as legislative council bureau staff, I am nonpartisan, and I'm not advocating for or against any legislation. Just simply presenting the work session on AB 515"). Several members said they would vote “yes out of committee” but reserved their rights on the floor, and others explicitly recorded a “no” or a raise of hands when opposed.

Selected committee hearings and testimony later in the meeting
- SB 348 (newborn screening tests): Senator Julie Pizzina presented a reprint that, she and Nevada Medicaid testified, eliminates the fiscal impact for Nevada Medicaid while maintaining an option to increase the lab fee to $150 if federal/state funds are available. Anne Jensen (Nevada Medicaid) confirmed the division had no fiscal note in the reprint. The Nevada State Public Health Lab’s administrative director testified in support of the bill, urging alignment with the federal recommended newborn screening panel.

- SB 83 (issuance of bonds for environmental improvement projects in the Lake Tahoe Basin): Senator Skip Daly and Charlie Donohue (Division of State Lands) presented a request to issue general obligation bonds to fund Nevada’s share of Lake Tahoe environmental improvement projects. Public opposition testimony raised concerns about TRPA governance and the quality of recent environmental threshold evaluations; a speaker representing the North Tahoe Preservation Alliance urged a vote against SB 83 until TRPA undergoes “a full financial environmental audit.” Presenters clarified funds requested are Nevada’s share for EIP projects and do not go to TRPA as a state operating appropriation.

- Multiple budget and capital hearings: The committee heard consent and budget-implementation items and one-time appropriations included in the executive budget for the governor’s finance office, DMV, Department of Corrections, Supreme Court, and other agencies. Presenters consistently said the appropriations presented in those hearings were included in the executive budget and would not increase the overall general-fund request beyond the executive recommendation.

Noted fiscal and policy points extracted from testimony and staff analysis
- AB 515 (adoption savings): amendment text and staff summary described proposed state general fund appropriations “of approximately $4,000,000” to apply toward adoption savings liability and to address unexpended balances reported to the Federal Children’s Bureau.
- AB 259 (prescription drug pricing): public employees benefit program fiscal note remained on the bill at approximately $921,000 (FY27) in the reprinted version; several members registered uncertainty or opposition on fiscal grounds.
- AB 388 (paid family leave): multiple fiscal notes were attached to the bill as introduced (Labor Commissioner, Nevada System of Higher Education, Department of Corrections and several local governments); the sponsor presented an amendment delaying the effective date to Jan. 1, 2028, to mitigate near-term fiscal impacts for the current biennium.
- SB 348 (newborn screening): sponsors and Medicaid described ARPA funding that uses federal funds that will expire in October 2026; the reprint and a proposed fee structure were intended to preserve screening if those federal funds expire.

What remains next
Most measures advanced in the work session were moved to the Assembly floor with committee recommendations (many as "amend and do pass as amended"), but multiple members explicitly reserved floor options or recorded opposition. Bills with fiscal uncertainty, major policy changes (paid family leave, prescription drug pricing, prior-authorization reform, and some tax changes), or significant public concern (Lake Tahoe bond funding) are likely to see additional debate and possible amendments on the floor.

Ending note
Committee members spent the morning moving a large slate of bills to the floor and hearing a series of one-time appropriations and policy measures in senate-bill hearings. Several presenters repeatedly confirmed that many of the appropriations shown in the committee were included in the executive budget, and agency fiscal staff answered committee questions about whether proposed changes would produce new general-fund costs for the biennium.