Nevada Legislature adjourns without passing Lombardo priority bills, film tax measure

The 2025 Nevada legislative session concluded Monday night with lawmakers passing all of the constitutionally required budget bills but with four of Gov. Joe Lombardo’s five priority bills failing to advance before the clock struck midnight.

The most notable proposals that came close but did not advance include Lombardo’s health care and crime bills, which picked up major amendments in the last two days, and the bill to significantly expand Nevada’s film tax credit program. But Lombardo’s housing bill eked through at the last minute, and some of his education ideas were grafted into a successful bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas).

Progress in the Senate ground to a halt in the final 15 minutes after Sen. Ira Hansen (R-Sparks) and other Republicans protested the last-minute introductions of two resolutions related to the state’s Legislative Commission, which approves proposed regulations brought forth by state agencies. Text of the resolutions was not available on the Legislature’s website as of Monday night, but Hansen said on the floor that the measures would shift the partisan balance of power on the commission, which is typically split evenly between Democratic and Republican seats.

Asked whether Hansen’s series of parliamentary motions that prolonged the proceedings prevented the crime bill from moving forward, Cannizzaro said, “Taking a lot of time to do antics on the floor makes it tough to get business done.”

It is now up to Lombardo as to whether lawmakers will have to reconvene in the coming days. He declined to comment earlier Monday when asked by The Nevada Independent whether he would call a special session if his priority bills did not succeed.

A spokesperson for the governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the waning hours of the session, there were periods of both chaos and silence in the halls between the two chambers — at one point, governor’s staff hurriedly walked between the Senate and Assembly as both chambers rushed through their work with some of the most prominent bills still waiting in the wings.

Notably, Lombardo’s health care bill passed on a party-line vote with Senate Republicans in opposition over a last-minute amendment that included controversial limitations surrounding freestanding emergency rooms.

But the bill failed to receive the required support of two-thirds of assemblymembers to waive rules on the proposal — which would have allowed them to vote on the proposal immediately — so the bill died. Still, Lombardo’s proposal to separate the Department of Health and Human Services into two agencies is heading to his desk.

Additionally, Lombardo’s crime bill died after the Senate, waylaid by Hansen’s speech about the changes to the commission, did not get to vote on whether it agreed with changes made on the Assembly side — including controversial provisions related to the re-establishment of a court that could ban people from the Strip.

AB238, the Sony and Warner Bros.-backed proposal from Assm. Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas) to expand Nevada’s film tax credit system, died after failing to receive a floor vote in the Senate. A proposed amendment from the sponsor of a competing proposal pitched a last-minute amendment to gut the proposal and replace it with a study, but the changes were never voted on.

AB499, the bill that would bring voter ID to Nevada beginning next year, eked through in the final minutes of the session and heads to the governor’s desk

The end of the session brought widespread confusion in the legislative building, with lawmakers and lobbyists unsure about the statuses of their own bills and the most prominent legislation of the session.

As for a special session? Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus (R-Wellington) said she wouldn’t be on board.

“I do not want the governor to call a special session,” she told reporters.