Senators on the Nevada Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday heard Senate Bill 156 and an amendment that removes several sections creating a funded, standalone Office for the Prevention of Gun Violence.

Senator Edgar Flores (Senate District 2) presented the amendment and said it removes sections 3, 4, 5, 10 and 13, eliminating proposed new positions, grant programs and data-collection mandates that produced a fiscal note. Flores told the committee the amended bill would leave directive language but no new operating budget or staff.

Theresa Benitez Thompson, chief of staff to Attorney General Aaron Ford, testified by phone that the Attorney General's Office can absorb the amended bill's duties without adding staff. Benitez Thompson said the office has "a special counsel position that had hours obligated towards the duties of the advisory technology committee," and because that committee is being sunsetted this session, the office can "re obligate and turn around those hours towards these activities."

Public testimony on SB 156 was heavily tilted toward opposition. Janine Hanson, state chairman for the Independent American Party, said she opposed the bill and warned about private funding influence, citing past large contributions by private funders to gun policy campaigns. Hanson stated she was particularly concerned by the amendment's language on funding, saying it "provides for government and private agency and affiliated organizations to be able to fund this." Other callers in opposition included Yolanda Knaak, Bob Russo (who said the bill would be an "anti-second-amendment propaganda machine"), Cynthia Cireine, Randy Thompson on behalf of the Nevada Firearms Coalition, and Lynn Chapman of Nevada Families for Freedom.

Opponents raised several themes in testimony: that private donors could shape the office's agenda, that existing research and criminal behavior mean a dedicated gun-violence office is misplaced, and that resources would be better spent on broader violence-prevention efforts or on encouraging concealed-carry training and permitting. Supporters on the record were limited to the bill sponsor and the Attorney General's Office representative; no additional supportive callers spoke during the Finance hearing.

Discussion vs. action: the committee received the amendment and testimony and did not record a committee vote on SB 156 during the hearing. Senator Flores and the Attorney General's Office presented the amendment as a way to avoid a fiscal note; committee members did not yet advance the bill on the record.

Ending: The committee closed the hearing on SB 156 and recessed; no committee vote was taken at the Finance hearing.