Assembly elections committee advances array of election bills, including drop-box monitoring and community grant program

The Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections advanced six election-related measures in a March 20 work session, approving amended versions of bills that would change how threats against candidates are handled, authorize county registrars, revise fiscal-note procedures, create a legislative community grant program and set standards for ballot drop boxes.

The committee, chaired by Chair Mosca, met in Carson City and Las Vegas with staff and members participating by video. Haley Prowl, policy analyst for the nonpartisan Legislative Counsel Bureau, walked members through the work session document and summarized each bill and attached amendments before the committee took votes.

The most substantive changes included an amendment to Assembly Bill 123 (AB123) that narrows the prohibited conduct language to threats or intimidation that communicate an intent to cause bodily injury to a candidate or a candidate’s family member or to damage their property, and a requirement that the Secretary of State provide a written report to a candidate within 30 days after receiving written correspondence alleging a violation, with prosecution authority resting with the Office of the Attorney General. The committee voted to amend and give AB123 a due-pass recommendation; the motion carried with recorded no votes from Assemblymembers Hibbits, Cole, Edgeworth and Dickman.

Assembly Bill 237 (AB237), sponsored by the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs on behalf of the Joint Interim Standing Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections, would authorize any county to create the office of registrar of voters. The committee moved AB237 do pass on voice vote, with nays recorded from Assemblymembers Hibbits, Cole, Edgeworth and Dickman; the motion carried.

Assembly Bill 249 (AB249), sponsored by the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means, would change the fiscal-effect summary language for bills from a categorical “effect on the state: yes” to a more conditional “may have fiscal impact,” and would revise the deadline for posting fiscal notes for initiatives and referenda. Two proposed amendments were noted in the work session: one from the Nevada Association of Counties to allow the Legislative Counsel Bureau’s fiscal-analysis division a one-time extension of up to seven working days for local fiscal notes that require extended research, and one from the Nevada Chapter of Associated General Contractors to add a required statement on effects to the State Highway Fund (the latter was clarified by staff as an incorrect insertion in the posted amendment language and corrected before the committee vote). The committee voted to amend and do pass AB249; the motion carried.

Assembly Bill 254 (AB254), sponsored by Assembly Member Mosca and the interim committee, would create a community project grant program administered by the Office of Federal Assistance for private nonprofit organizations that serve the public. Amendments accepted in committee would move program administration and the grant account to the Office of Federal Assistance, require that regulations be drafted for adoption by the Interim Finance Committee, prescribe a separate rubric for newly established or small nonprofit applicants, require two distinct biennial reports (one odd-numbered-year report on grants requested and one even-numbered-year report on grants awarded), and permit the director to apply for and accept outside funding. The committee moved to amend and do pass AB254; the motion carried on a recorded voice vote, and Chair Mosca assigned the floor statement to herself.

Assembly Bill 306 (AB306), sponsored by Assembly Members Yeager, Monroe Moreno, Mosca and others and by Senators Cannizzaro and Ohrenschall (transcript: Orangehaw), would require county clerks in larger counties to establish a minimum number of ballot drop boxes that must be open for at least seven hours daily during the period after early voting ends and before Election Day: 10 drop boxes in counties with populations of 700,000 or more and five drop boxes in counties with populations between 100,000 and 700,000. An amendment proposed by Assembly Member Yeager would require continuous monitoring of drop boxes while in use, require drop boxes to be secured when not in use, and direct the Secretary of State to adopt regulations setting monitoring and securing requirements. The committee voted to amend and do pass AB306; the motion carried with recorded no votes from Assemblymembers Hibbits, Edgeworth and Dickman.

During the public-comment period, callers raised concerns about a separate measure, AB420, which had been heard earlier in a different committee. One caller urged the committee to scrutinize language that would create a “voter access grant program” and allow the Secretary of State to accept and retain donations, gifts, grants and other funds for the program, arguing those provisions risk broad executive discretion over program uses. Another caller cited Article IV, Section 17 of the Nevada Constitution and NRS 218D.100, asserting that combining unrelated subjects in a single bill would violate the single-subject rule; the speaker asked that the Legislative Counsel Bureau withdraw the measure if it combines multiple subjects. Committee rules noted that public comment on bills heard earlier that day was not permitted in this committee’s public-comment period, but members received the remarks for the record.

The committee closed the work session after taking the votes and set its next meeting for Tuesday, April 1 at 4 p.m.

Votes at a glance: AB123 — motion to amend and do pass (motion carried; recorded nays: Hibbits, Cole, Edgeworth, Dickman). AB237 — motion to do pass (motion carried; recorded nays: Hibbits, Cole, Edgeworth, Dickman). AB249 — motion to amend and do pass (motion carried). AB254 — motion to amend and do pass (motion carried). AB306 — motion to amend and do pass (motion carried; recorded nays: Hibbits, Edgeworth, Dickman).