Nevada Families for Freedom
State Affiliate National Eagle Forum
50th Anniversary
6556 Coal Mine Canyon Road, Elko, Nevada 89801, 775-397-6859, Sparks 775-356-0105
Editor: Janine Hansen
June-July 2023, In the Year of Our Lord
Volume 50, Number 4 Email Version
2023 Nevada Legislative Wrap Up
Personal Note: I apologize. I know many of you were waiting for a Legislative Report soon after the session but I have been unable to accomplish it. This was for me the most difficult Legislature I can remember in all my many years at the Legislature serving as a citizen lobbyist fulltime since 1991 and participating in every session since I was 19. When the session was over on June 5, I did send out a couple of updates. However, I was completely exhausted and had all kind of things in my own life, having been gone from home for 4 months, to catch up on. I had to move out of my Carson City apartment and move back to Elko. I had to put in a lot of hours preparing and planting in my garden and greenhouse, and catching up on projects for my 50 chickens and 6 geese all before I had to drive 1148 miles round trip in two days from Elko to Kingman Arizona to pick up two of my granddaughters on June 12. Then we had to get ready to go for our time share week at Club Tahoe which we do every year. So I was finally able to work on this Legislative Report. Janine
Great Vetoes by the Governor
Here is the link you can look up all the Vetoes and messages by the Governor.
**Some bills which were vetoed will return to the 2025 session for possible override of the veto.
What were your expectations of Governor Joe Lombardo? He was an unknown. We should be very thankful he vetoed so many terrible bills. We should also realize he needs more people in the Legislature to oppose bad legislation and support good legislation.
List of Assembly Republicans: DeLong, Dickman, Gallant, Gray, Gurr, Hafen, Hansen, Hardy, Hibbetts, Kasama, Koenig, McArthur, O’Neill, Yurek.
List of Senate Republicans: Buck, Goicoechea, Hammond, Hansen, Krasner, Seevers Gansert, Stone, Titus.
Gun Bills: All three were opposed by all Republicans and supported by all Democrats except Senator Daly who was conveniently absent when they took the votes.
Vetoed AB354: Prohibited Firearms within 100 Feet of Polling Place. Many polling places are in malls, grocery stores, etc., so this bill disarms law-abiding citizens. There are already laws protecting election locations. It also changed the law on ready frames and receivers.
Vetoed AB355: Prohibited those 21 and under from owning or using a semiautomatic shotgun or rifle. The Ninth Circuit Court has declared a nearly identical law in California to be unconstitutional.
Vetoed SB171: Hate Crimes Firearms bills. People should not lose their Right to Keep and Bear Arms over a misdemeanor hate crime which is totally subjective, especially to political interpretation and therefore very dangerous.
Thank you for your support during the 2023 Legislative Session!
Nevada Families for Freedom Newsletter is published 12 times a year. The Subscription price is $25
Vetos Continued Life and Family Bills: Unless otherwise noted all Democrats voted for these bills.
**AB319: Universal Free Breakfast and Lunch for Schools: The Federal Government provided money for this during Covid. That has ended. As the Governor said in his veto message, “Studies have shown up to 73% of food provided school lunch programs end up in the trash. Of 490,000 students in Nevada Schools 210,000 are already eligible for free or reduced lunch.” Parents should be responsible for their own children. Reduce taxes and parents would have money for lunches. All Assembly Republicans voted no and 5 Senate Republicans Buck, Hammond, Hansen, Stone, Titus.
**Vetoed AB383: Restricted any local city or county from restricting in any way the location and function of a “reproductive health center”. It would for instance, prohibit West Wendover from refusing to approve a Planned Parenthood Clinic in their town. The Governor’s message says it would prohibit a local school district from prohibiting a school nurse from providing abortion counseling and referral services. It also significantly expanded birth control paid for by taxpayers through Medicaid. Consider that “reproductive health centers” will include sex change centers as well. All Assembly Republicans voted no and 5 Senate Republicans, Goecoichea, Hansen, Krasner, Stone & Titus.
Vetoed SB239: Assisted Suicide: This put the most vulnerable and disabled at risk. Assisted suicide gives insurance companies and governments the ability to save money by pushing lethal suicide drugs that are less expensive than life-saving treatment. This has happened in Oregon and California where patients were refused coverage of life-saving treatment instead offered lethal drugs. All Senate Republicans plus 2 Democrats Neal and Ohrenschall voted No. All Assembly Republicans plus Democrats Brown-May, Duran, Marzola, & Summers-Armstrong voted no.
Vetoed SB302: Made Nevada a Sanctuary State for hack gender care sex-change surgery doctors who have violated the laws of other states. Also, restricted the Governor’s Constitutional authority to extradite criminals who have fled to our state. All Senate and Assembly Republicans voted No.
Election Bills: The Legislature refused to even give a hearing to the Governor’s Common Sense Election reform bill AB405, so he vetoed most of the Democrats’ election bills which were all bad!
**Vetoed AB242: Prohibited paper ballots, required mechanical/electronic voting machines interfering with the autonomy of county clerks especially Nye County which used paper ballots in 2022. All Assembly Republicans voted no. 4 Senate Republicans voted no Hansen, Krasner, Stone, & Titus.
**Vetoed AB246: Provided that election materials be made available in a multitude of foreign languages. Required the Secretary of State to provide toll free numbers to help non-English speakers with election information. A person is required to demonstrate they can speak English to become a naturalized citizen. All Assembly Republicans voted no and 6 Senate Republicans Buck, Goicoechea, Hansen, Krasner, Stone & Titus.
Vetoed AB394: Prohibited the counting of ballots more than one time, interfering with the responsibility of local county clerks to use their discretion for the most accurate count. Hurt transparency. All Assembly and Senate Republicans voted no.
Vetoed SB133: So-called false set of electors: This bill was designed as a slap in the face to the Republican Party which submitted, in the atmosphere of uncertainty of the presidential election and with precedence, an alternative set of electors for the 2020 elections. It provided an unbelievably harsh penalty of a B felony worse, as the Governor’s veto message mentioned, than high level fentanyl traffickers. All Republican Assembly and Senators voted No & 2 Senate Democrats Ohrenschall & Scheible voted no.
**Vetoed SB262: Allows an Illegal Alien or other non-citizen to serve on elected and unelected town boards. All Senate and Assembly Republicans voted no.
Vetoed SB404: Allowed the counting of ballots on the first day of early voting opening the process to fraud and manipulation. It also weakens proof of residency requirements and the ability of a voter to challenge another voter’s credentials. All Senate and Assembly Republicans voted no.
**Vetoed SB443: Reduced voter ID requirements, allows drivers licenses from other states to be used as ID, some of which allow illegal aliens to have drivers licenses. Allows people with no ID to vote provisional ballots. All Senate and Assembly Republicans voted no.
Other Bills Vetoed by Governor:
**Vetoed AB243: Essentially set up during the Legislative Interim a new set of permanent committees, which although they could not pass bills could do almost everything else, essentially creating an ongoing Legislature with bills just waiting to be passed when the Session started. Seven Assembly Republicans voted no Dickman, Gallant, Gray, Hafen, Hansen, Hardy, McArthur. All Senate Republicans and Democrat Neal voted no.
Vetoed AB359: Removes the requirement for a vote of the people in CLARK COUNTY to raise gas taxes after 2026 and instead allows the County Commission to adopt an ordinance allowing themselves, the County Commission, to raise the gas taxes. Ten Assembly Republicans voted no DeLong, Dickman, Gallant, Gray, Hafen, Hansen, Kasama, McArthur, O’Neill, Yurek. Five Senate Republicans Hansen, Krasner, Gansert, Stone, Titus voted no.
Bad Bills the Governor DID NOT VETO and Signed into Law
AB7: Requires the creation, authentication, and storage of health care records on a computer system that is part of the State health information exchange, that will be shared with a federal database and we anticipate with the World Health Organization. All Republican Assemblymen voted no. All Senators voted no except Gansert.
AB65: Lowers the mandatory school age from 7 to 6. Only 5 Republican Senators and 11 Republican Assemblymen voted No. Those voting yes were Senators Buck and Gansert. Hammond was excused, Assemblymen Hardy, Kasama, and Koenig.
SB54: Mandates Top Down elections manual created by the Secretary of State and interferes with the autonomy of county clerks. Only 3 Senators Hammond, Krasner and Titus voted NO and 10 Assemblyman DeLong, Dickman, Gray, Gurr, Hafen, Hansen, Hibbitts, McArthur, O’Niell and Yurek.
SB109: Changes the presumption that a person must affirmatively agree to be a donor for anatomical gifts and sets up a potential for organ harvesting. All 8 Senate Republicans voted No. Six Republican Assemblymen voted no DeLong, Dickman, Gray, Hafen, Hansen, McArthur.
AB118: Reduces the number of members of the Board of Regents from 13 to 9 significantly decreasing representation particularly in the rural counties. All Assembly Democrats and Republicans Kasama and Yurek voted yes. All Senate Republicans voted no except Hammond who was absent.
AB328: Appropriates $500,000 for FY 23-24 and $500,000 for FY 24-25 for the Boyd School of Law at UNLV for the Immigration Clinic. The purpose is to help illegal aliens with their legal problems including those facing deportation. Only 11 Assembly Republicans voted No, DeLong, Dickman, Gallant, Gray, Gurr, Hafen, Hansen, Hardy, Hibbitts, McArthur, O’Neill. Only 4 Senate Republicans voted no, Buck, Krasner, Hansen and Stone.
AB525: Christmas Tree bill payback for Democrat supporters. It includes $15 million for the Culinary Union and a long list of non-profits. Why is government funding non-profits? Most of these had lobbyists at the legislature working against the taxpayers. It was significantly changed so the vote from the Assembly Republicans does not reflect the final bill. All Republican Senators voted No.
SB163: Mandates Medicaid and private insurance pay for sex-change surgery and care. All Republicans in Senate and Assembly voted No.
SB131: Abortion tourism, sex trafficking and predators protection bill. Idaho just passed a law making it illegal to transport a child over a state line for an abortion. SB131 will prohibit our Governor and law enforcement from cooperating with Idaho in apprehending child sex traffickers and predators. All Senate Democrats plus Republicans Gansert & Buck voted Yes. Assembly all Democrats voted yes, all Republicans voted No.
SB172: Expands what Family Resource Centers can do. It will now allow all FRC’s including those in the schools to prescribe contraceptives, dangerous HPV vaccines and pre-HIV drugs. Eliminates Parental Consent for all these contraceptives and medical interventions. All Assembly Republicans voted No and all Senate Republicans voted no except Senator Gansert.
SB419: originally provided taxpayer funded Medicaid for all Illegal Aliens. It was significantly amended and removed that provision. However, it is designed to work with AB7 to provide for an electronic state health database which will be shared with a federal database and then to the World Health Organization. It provides that patients must consent for their records to be put in the database. Be sure to tell your doctors and hospitals that you refuse to have your health records included in or sent to the electronic data base. The bill also includes studies on increasing Medicaid reimbursement. All Senate Republicans except Gansert and Hammond voted no. All Assembly Republicans voted no.
Good News! Bad Bills Dead or Significantly Amended
Dead SB90: Designated Mustang as official horse of Nevada. We all love to see the mustangs in our state. However, this bill would have sent the wrong message to our federal delegation which is working to get appropriations to deal with the feral mustangs. In Nevada, instead of the federally approved number of 14,000 there are over 60,000. The extreme overpopulation of wild horses which are not native to Nevada are harming indigenous populations of mule deer, bighorn sheep, elk and antelope whose numbers are dropping. They are devastating riparian (wetland) zones which are critical for all native species of animals. Lander County Commission just filed a formal declaration of emergency, because the horse population is five to ten times over appropriate management levels. Overpopulation not only hurts all other native animal species but will result in the eventual starvation of the mustangs themselves. 2 Republican Senators voted no Hansen and Titus and Democrat Daly. There was no vote in the Assembly because the Committee never voted it out.
Dead AB117: Domestic Terrorism appropriated $5 million to law enforcement. The definition of Domestic Terrorism: “The commission of an unlawful act because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression of another person or group of persons. This was a very dangerous bill which put all of us at risk of subjective enforcement. Died in Assembly Ways and Means with no vote.
Significantly Amended AB231: Uniform Commercial Code which originally changed the definition of money. The amended version resolved our concerns about the bill which paved the way for a Central Bank Digital Currency which could destroy financial freedom. Passed Assembly unanimously and Senate with 7 Republicans voting no.
Completely changed the original AB237: School Based Health Clinics. Deleted all original language about school based health clinics. It now has to do with increasing Medicaid reimbursement for nursing facilities. Passed Assembly and Senate.
Dead AB231: Environmental Justice was amended to make the Commission on Environmental Justice to be Advisory. Died in Assembly Ways and Means with no vote taken.
Dead AB357: Mandates Planned Parenthood Sex Education, removed control from local communities. Passed Assembly all 14 Republicans voting no, died in Senate Finance with no vote.
Dead AB386: Regulates Midwives: harms traditional practicing midwives giving preference to free standing birth clinics implementing more bureaucratic regulations. With the lack of health care in Nevada especially in rural counties this could limit options available to expectant mothers seeking the care of a traditional midwife. Died in Senate 12 Yes 9 No, with All Republicans and Democrat Neal voting No, so it was unable to achieve a 2/3rds vote required for increased fees and it died.
AB423: The original bill which was about schools and the open meeting law was amended without a hearing. It prohibited schools from having a policy which limits access based on gender identity or expression. This put girls at risk in bathrooms, showers, overnight school trips and decimates girls’ sports. It passed the Senate with all 8 Republicans voting no. The Assembly voted to not concur (not approve) the Senate amendment. It then went back to the Senate and died.
Dead ACR7: Directed the Joint Interim Standing Committee (between Legislative Sessions) to conduct a study on Wealth Taxes. The Nevada Constitution requires all taxes to be applied equally so this is unconstitutional. Died without a vote in Assembly.
Dead SB215: Limited the use of paper ballots in future elections and required counties to return any money used for mechanical voting machines if they used paper ballots instead. Passed Senate all Republicans voting No. Died in Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections with no vote taken.
Dead SB318: Allows an incorporated city to impose an annual surcharge not to exceed $25 on users of the sanitary sewer system. The money is to provide services for affordable housing to persons who are homeless or indigent. Died on April 25 deadline failed to pass Senate first House.
Dead SB394: Property Tax Increase requires each County Commission to increase property taxes for schools by an additional 10 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation. Currently it is 75 cents on each $100 of assessed valuation for schools. It also allows the property tax in a county to go above the property tax cap. Nevada Schools rank 49th in the nation. California ranks 15th. More money will not help the schools until there is a fundamental change in curriculum. Passed Senate with all Dems and Republican Senator Hansen voting yes. Died in Assembly on May 19 deadline.
Dead SB439: Senate Planned Parenthood Sex Ed mirrored AB357 and was deleted from the bill by amendment, so our concerns were resolved. Died in Senate Finance without a vote taken.
Other Bills that Passed
AB330: Governor’s School Discipline bill. Watered down by Democrats regarding the suspension and expulsion and permanent expulsion of violent students. Provides for temporary removal of students and then provides a restorative justice path. It passed Assembly 38 to 4 with 4 Democrats voting no and the Senate 20 to 1 with Democrat Ohrenschall voting no.
Bad Constitutional Amendments that Passed
The Governor does not sign or approve Constitutional Amendments
AJR5 establishes a lottery for the State of Nevada. Nevada’s Constitution outlaws lotteries and therefore this is a Constitutional Amendment. Most of the Resolution explains why lotteries were originally against the law because of corruption. Most lottery tickets are bought by the poor and minorities…so they prey on the vulnerable. “Nationwide, people who make less than $10,000 spend on average $597 on lottery tickets — about 6 percent of their income." Most lottery tickets are bought in poor neighborhoods. Lottery players with household incomes in the poverty level wager nearly three times as much as those with household incomes over $50,000. Interestingly, the top 5% of lottery players account for 54% of total sales. Adolescents are far more likely to become addicted to gambling through lotteries. It comes back to the Legislature in 2025 and then goes on the ballot. All Assembly Republicans voted yes, seven Republican Senators and Democrat Skip Daly voted no with Hammond absent.
AJR6 National Popular Vote is a Constitutional Amendment. It is a vote stealing scheme. If Nevada’s popular vote is for a Republican for President but the national popular vote is for Democrat, Nevada’s electors will be forced to vote for a Democrat. It will make Nevada a meaningless fly over state in Presidential Elections. California, Texas, New York and Florida will decide who the president is. National Popular Vote bypasses the Electoral College in violation of our U.S. Constitution. All Republicans in the Assembly and Senate voted no, as well as Democrat Senator Dina Neal. It comes back to the Legislature for a second vote in 2025 and then goes on the ballot.
SJR7 makes abortion a fundamental Constitutional right for all nine months. All Senate and Assembly Republicans voted No. It must pass the Legislature in 2025 and then go on the ballot.
There were many other bills which died or were significantly amended which we worked on as reported in our April 2023 Newsletter, which is on our website www.nevadafamilies.org.
There were many significant victories this Session. Prayer and hard work bring miracles! Thanks to all who called, emailed, shared our alerts, testified on the phone and in person. You made all the difference! Thanks especially Lynn Chapman our state Vice President.
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