Committee hears bill to codify IDEA into Nevada law as contingency against federal changes

Senator Lori Rogich opened the hearing on Senate Bill 368, a proposal to codify key provisions of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) into Nevada law as a contingency if federal protections are removed or substantially reduced.

"This bill is not only a safeguard for the rights of students with disabilities but also a testament to our state's commitment to protecting our most vulnerable children," Rogich said. The bill's supporters described SB368 as a "trigger" measure: it would take effect only if federal IDEA protections were weakened or repealed.

Marina Dahlia Hunt, team chief of the Education Advocacy Project at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, told the committee the IDEA guarantees core protections—no-cost evaluations, individualized education programs (IEPs), least restrictive environment and procedural safeguards such as impartial hearings—that are not fully represented in existing Nevada law. "The IDEA enshrines a decades long fight for the rights of students with disabilities to access an education," Dahlia Hunt said. She added that SB368 would reduce harm to students by keeping those protections in place in Nevada if federal law changed.

Witnesses described specifics they say are not presently codified in state law and that SB368 would preserve, including the duty to conduct appropriate evaluations at no cost to parents, the IEP process, transition services for older students, and IDEA protections in disciplinary contexts.

Committee members discussed fiscal and implementation issues. The Nevada Department of Education’s Office of Inclusive Education director Julie Bowers told the committee Nevada currently receives roughly $100,000,000 a year in federal IDEA-related funding that the department allocates to local education agencies; a separate witness cited an estimate of approximately $104.5 million. Committee counsel and sponsors noted drafting issues connected to the bill’s trigger mechanism and effective date: the original draft would take effect July 1, 2025 if the federal law were changed; a proposed amendment would make some provisions effective on passage, which counsel said would require careful redrafting to specify which version of IDEA the State would adopt.

Support came from the Clark County Education Association, the Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers, staff from Legal Aid and teachers and administrators who testified that special education classrooms are strained by staffing shortages and that some students go without licensed teachers. Dr. Brenda Pearson of CCEA urged the committee to back the bill and highlighted components she said would help, such as an elementary literacy screener, classroom size limits and protections against reassigning specialized staff.

Neutral testimony came from the Nevada State Education Association, which emphasized the practical challenges if the federal Department of Education’s funding or programs were curtailed. Witnesses and committee members discussed the state budget implications of replacing federal programs and the technical drafting needed to make the trigger effective without creating a sudden unfunded mandate.

The hearing closed with sponsors saying they would continue stakeholder discussions on language and implementation; no committee vote on SB368 was recorded during the hearing.