Nevada lawmakers weigh bill to speed collective-bargaining timelines and require earlier budget inclusion

Assemblymember Danielle Moreno presented Assembly Bill 3 56 to the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means, proposing several changes to how Nevada times collective bargaining and budget planning.

"The governor must include when practical funding agreed upon in collective bargaining agreements in the biennial proposed executive budget," Moreno told the committee. She described timeline changes in the bill that would require negotiations between the executive branch and employee representatives to begin by April 1 (previously Oct. 1), allow mediation after six meetings or by Sept. 5 of an even-numbered year, and require arbitration to begin by Sept. 15 with a decision rendered by Dec. 5 of an even-numbered year (moved up from February or March of an odd-numbered year). The bill also removes the ability to extend arbitration deadlines by mutual agreement, and it moves the Nevada Economic Forum's reporting deadline to Nov. 15 from Dec. 3.

Moreno said the changes are intended to give the governor and legislature earlier fiscal data so labor agreements can be reflected in the budget. "All of you know that we've been here and our unions are still negotiating while we're in session," she said. "This moves the timelines up for the governor so he can ... better work with those numbers, and it gives the governor an opportunity and the unions an opportunity by moving the economic forum dates up." The sponsor said the bill would take effect Oct. 1.

Agency witnesses described staffing implications and submitted fiscal notes. Michelle Washington, administrator of the Department of Administration's Division of Human Resource Management, said the department added a fiscal note to fund a chief negotiator position because current negotiating responsibilities have consumed large amounts of staff time: "The fiscal note was added to add a chief negotiator position, to the DHRM team that will provide that responsibility of negotiating for all of the contracts," Washington said.

Tiffany Greenemeyer, representing the Governor's Finance Office, said moving the dates requires an additional executive-branch budget officer to participate in negotiations while also preparing the governor's recommended budget. "We would need that extra person just to manage that," Greenemeyer said, describing duties for the position that would include training agencies on budget development and work programs outside bargaining periods.

The committee received support testimony from the Office of the Attorney General (Theresa Benitez Thompson), AFSCME (Cassie Charles), the Professional Firefighters in Nevada (Ryan Beeman), and the Nevada Faculty Alliance (Kent Ervin). Assemblymember Anderson raised concerns that the timeline changes could be perceived as an attempt to curtail collective bargaining rights; she asked several follow-up questions to agency witnesses about the fiscal notes and the scope of the proposed staffing additions.

The fiscal-note amounts presented in committee were $144,474 in FY 2026 and $189,623 in FY 2027 for a new position at DHRM to assist expedited negotiations. Agency witnesses described additional duties for the proposed positions during off-cycle periods, including training, grievance handling, and agency support. The hearing record shows no final committee vote on AB 3 56; the sponsor waived closing remarks and the committee closed the hearing.