Nevada Senate adopts amendments and advances more than 40 bills on second reading

CARSON CITY — The Nevada State Senate on April 17, 2025 received committee reports, approved committee-sponsored amendments and ordered a large package of bills reprinted and engrossed to the general file, moving them forward in the legislative process.

Senator Julie Pizzina, chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, and other committee chairs reported recommendations to the floor early in the session. The body then considered Senate Joint Resolution 10 and more than 40 bills on second reading, adopting amendments and carrying motions by voice vote.

The changes adopted by the Senate were largely committee-sponsored amendments that revised definitions, removed or replaced substantive provisions, set effective dates, or added implementation conditions. For example: Senator Orenshall described Amendment 346 to Senate Joint Resolution 10 as revising language on psilocybin research and removing references to supervised adult use; Senator Flores said Amendment 495 to Senate Bill 25 removed cooperation requirements between the state forester and the state fire marshal and excluded cannabis cultivation facilities from the bill; and Senator Winn summarized Amendment 117 to Senate Bill 80 as deleting penalty provisions for certain auto-related businesses.

Other notable adopted amendments included caps and funding clarifications. Senator Scheibel said Amendment 212 to Senate Bill 87 capped state reimbursements for forensic medical examinations at $1,000 and for forensic strangulation examinations at $1,500 and clarified that costs beyond legislative appropriations are to be paid by local governments. Senator Wynne said Amendment 119 to Senate Bill 315 requires professional liability insurance up to $1,000,000 in the aggregate from engineers on the progressive design-build team and adjusts procurement and workforce requirements.

The Senate also approved changes to bills addressing wildlife, the Lake Tahoe watershed and single-use plastic bottles, electric vehicle charging in common-interest communities, student data retention, bilingual education stipends, and revisions to DUI-related penalties. Many measures were modified to specify enforcement, reporting responsibilities, effective dates, or to replace mandates with voluntary programs. Where committees determined legislation had fiscal impacts, several bills were referred to the Finance Committee upon return from reprint.

Votes at a glance

Below are the measures taken up on the floor, the primary amendment or change adopted (committee designation), and the outcome as announced on the floor (voice vote unless otherwise noted). All motions reported were carried by the Senate unless otherwise indicated as "no amendments" or "none."

- Senate Joint Resolution 10: Adopted Amendment 346 (Legislative Operations and Elections) revising language about therapeutic use of psilocybin and urging federal protection consistent with local laws; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 25: Adopted Amendment 495 (Government Affairs) removing cooperation requirements between the state forester fire warden and the state fire marshal and excluding cannabis cultivation facilities; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 48: Adopted Amendment 491 (Government Affairs) replacing main provisions with changes to reporting dates for annual reports by local planning commissions and provisions concerning local ordinances; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 155: Adopted Amendment 498 (Government Affairs) deleting original provisions and authorizing certain non-U.S. citizens legally authorized to work in the U.S. and meeting qualifications to serve as peace officers; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 179: Adopted Amendment 503 (Government Affairs) revising certain definitions to include Jewish community institutions or religious facilities; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 235: Adopted Amendment 328 (Natural Resources) deleting provisions requiring the Board of Wildlife Commissioners to adopt regulations relating to tag transfers and clarifying gathering statutes for shed antlers and skulls; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 287: Adopted Amendment 496 (Government Affairs) revising provisions relating to public works records; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 324: Adopted Amendment 329 (Natural Resources) assigning enforcement to local boards of health/health departments for Lake Tahoe Watershed single-use bottle sales, adding fines/warnings and changing effective date to Jan. 1, 2026; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 325: Adopted Amendment 512 (Government Affairs) replacing a fee-waiver mandate with a voluntary adoption-fee program and requiring participating local governments to report program data to the Legislature; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 373: Adopted Amendment 514 (Government Affairs) adding provisions on multi-jurisdictional licensing collaboration, replacing fee standardization with revenue sharing, and limiting applicability to counties with 700,000+ population and cities within such counties; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 443: Adopted Amendment 519 (Government Affairs) focusing the bill on significant operational capital requirements for public utilities and adding exclusions; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 447: Adopted Amendment 483 (Government Affairs) authorizing courts to award reasonable attorney fees to parties prevailing on a writ of mandamus to enforce public works provisions; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 49: Adopted Amendment 180 (Commerce and Labor) deleting various provisions related to a consumer advocate, revising administrative fines, authorizing the attorney general to bring certain deceptive trade practice actions, and maintaining confidentiality for certain records; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 80: Adopted Amendment 117 (Growth and Infrastructure) removing penalty provisions for automobile wreckers, salvage pool operators, garage operators and body shops related to licensing, recordkeeping and operations; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 85: Adopted Amendment 122 (Growth and Infrastructure) allowing the Department of Public Safety to contract with a third party to analyze traffic-stop data and setting reporting provisions; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 87: Adopted Amendment 212 (Judiciary) capping state reimbursement for forensic medical examinations ($1,000) and forensic strangulation exams ($1,500), making excess costs a local responsibility, and defining "medical facility"; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 91: Adopted Amendment 121 (Growth and Infrastructure) making inclusion of diacritical marks on state-issued documents optional and contingent on federal authorization and DMV funding, with notification requirements for implementation; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 113: Adopted Amendment 238 (Growth and Infrastructure) allowing an agent or employee of an eligible medical professional, under certain circumstances, to complete disability-certification forms for parking privileges for persons with disabilities; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 115: Adopted Amendment 275 (Education) authorizing—rather than requiring—school districts and charter schools to provide stipends for teachers with bilingual endorsements and specifying funding comes from school budgets; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 121: Adopted Amendment 253 (Judiciary) clarifying liability for certain damages in common-interest communities and revising notice requirements for management-agreement changes; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 152: Adopted Amendment 532 (Judiciary) modifying provisions about electric vehicle charging in common-interest communities, removing a prohibition provision and adding conditions for association-installed chargers consistent with NRS 116.345; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 181: Adopted Amendment 120 (Growth and Infrastructure) removing appropriation provisions; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 183: Adopted Amendment 350 (Health and Human Services) creating exemptions allowing siblings to share a caseworker and authorizing temporary caseload increases during emergencies; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 194: Adopted Amendment 240 (Growth and Infrastructure) permitting short-term leasers to offer temporary insurance at or below market rates and clarifying that selling such insurance under those terms is not coercive; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 196: Adopted Amendment 145 (Revenue and Economic Development) deleting certain sections, limiting the recovery fee to not exceed 2%, and clarifying rental-charge terminology; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 201: Adopted Amendment 16 (Judiciary) clarifying notice requirements for temporary removal of religious displays in unit-owner spaces, expanding application to apartments and allowing associations to conform bylaws to state law automatically; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 202: Adopted Amendment 338 (Judiciary) providing definitions for "squatter" and "tenant," shortening contest periods related to occupancy, clarifying storage/return procedures for property, and expanding unlawful-occupancy provisions; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 213: Adopted Amendment 339 (Judiciary) retaining offender-registration provisions for unlawful dissemination of intimate images, revising the definition of "intimate image," and adjusting intent language; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 279: Adopted Amendment 507 (Government Affairs) revising provisions concerning investigations involving law enforcement agents; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 304: Adopted Amendment 246 (Growth and Infrastructure) making driving-under-the-influence that causes substantial bodily harm (rather than substantial bodily harm or death) a category B felony and making conforming changes; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 309: Adopted Amendment 247 (Growth and Infrastructure) lowering certain alcohol concentration thresholds from 0.18 to 0.16, adjusting minimum incarceration for repeat DUI from 10 to 20 days, enhancing penalties for incidents while a person is undergoing treatment, and removing other original bill changes; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 315: Adopted Amendment 119 (Growth and Infrastructure) adding professional-liability insurance requirements, procurement pricing compliance with NRS 625.353, increasing the portion of the project that must be constructed (from 15% to 30%) and prescribing design-professional contract requirements for a progressive design-build contract; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 320: Adopted Amendment 118 (Growth and Infrastructure) removing an exception that permitted parking within 15 feet of a crosswalk when a curb extension is present and allowing local governments to set greater minimum stopping/parking distances; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 386: Adopted Amendment 323 (Commerce and Labor) revising minimum instruction-hour requirements for massage-therapy, reflexology or structural-integration licensing applicants; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 416: Adopted Amendment 243 (Growth and Infrastructure) removing references to "mental illness" and making the effective date contingent on the DMV notifying the governor and legislative counsel bureau that sufficient resources are available; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 445: Adopted Amendment 266 (Education) requiring the Nevada Department of Education to destroy personally identifiable student data 10 years after a student turns 22 while permitting NDE to retain data for 1 year after graduation or withdrawal; ordered reprinted and engrossed (motion carried).

- Senate Bill 99: Motion to move to the next legislative day was carried; the bill was not considered on the floor and was placed on the next-day calendar.

Procedure and next steps

Most amendments were offered by the reporting committees and adopted by voice vote; the Senate ordered the amended bills reprinted and engrossed to the general file and, where committees indicated fiscal impacts, referred the measures to the Finance Committee upon return from reprint. Several amendments set implementation conditions tied to agency funding, effective dates, or federal authorization.

No roll-call tallies were read on the floor during the session for the adoption of amendments; the clerk recorded motions as carried after the voice votes. The Senate recessed to meet in joint session with the Assembly later in the day and adjourned to reconvene the following day as scheduled.