The 360 Legislative Summary – Week of April 25th
This week we discussed some new bills headed to the 2nd House for consideration. Below is the list of bills discussed in case you are interested in following or testifying on any of the bills as they make their rounds through the process. You can access the bills on NELIS, the Nevada Electronic Legislative Information System, which you can access at this link: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021
TIP: Search all bills by choosing All bills and resolutions for the 81st Session and then typing in the bill number with NO SPACES (ex: AB321, SB200, et al)
There are a few bills passed out of committee that were redirected to the money committees for further discussion. In austere times, it is important to make sure that we can fund the work that is necessary to implement the policies we make.
BILLS DISCUSSED on The 360 Legislative RoundUp for the week of April 25th
The following bills were discussed in the Legislative RoundUp. The bill numbers are linked so that you can monitor progress and where the bills land on the other side.
AB 191 – (HHS) -Provides Medicaid Coverage for services provided by community health workers
SB 5 - (HHS) – allows telehealth to include telephone conversations
AB 119 – (Thomas) - allows the collection of data on maternal mortality rates
SB 275 – (Harris) – modernizes state HIV laws
SB 139 – (Harris/Scheible) – provides medical insurance coverage for gender dysphoria treatments
AB 224 – changed to an interim study on providing feminine products in schools
AB 196 – (Benitez-Thompson) – provides a lactation room in courthouses
SB 75 – Makes revisions to unemployment insurance
AB 280 – requires public buildings to provide a one stall restroom for use by anyone
AB 261 – provides changes to curriculum and materials by the State Board of Education to ensure the accurate depiction of diverse people in history, the arts, and humanities
To find any of the listed bills:
1. Go to leg.state.nv.us
2. Click NELIS in the top-right corner.
3. Choose Legislation and a drop-down menu will appear
4. Select “Assembly Bills” for bills starting with AB or “Senate Bills” for bills starting with SB
5. Enter the bill number with no spaces or punctuation (ex. AB321)
6. Hit Enter
OTHER UPCOMING BILLS
Below are links to the Assembly Bill and Senate Bill status. Check out the Legislative Calendar link on mpower360.org or NELIS. You can also reference our “Guide to Legislative Engagement” for a step-by-step process.
Assembly Bill Status Report:
https://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/81st2021/Reports/LastHistActionA.cfm
Senate Bill Status Report
https://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/81st2021/Reports/LastHistActionS.cfm
DON’T forget that you can submit your opinion on any bill outside of the hearing at the opinion link available on NELIS. You can submit an opinion up to 48 hours after a bill hearing.
https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/81st2021/
Look out for these and more legislative updates on Sunday at 1pm on IG Live or on the next episode of “The 360”! Follow @mpower_360 on IG, FB, and Twitter and join our text community by texting 702-935-2813.
The bills we selected to include on “The 360” Legislative RoundUp are bills that have significant implications for communities of color. Many of the bills introduced during the legislative session impact communities of color and it is important to follow the process on bills that may have profound direct or unintended consequences for communities of color. Key issues like healthcare access, criminal justice, reproductive justice or economic issues tend to have dire impacts on specific groups. Our intent is to make the community aware of these bills so they can follow them and advocate for or against them during the session and also complete the process by measuring their impact and effectiveness after implementation. Moving the needle for racial justice is imperative since our legislature only meets once every two years for 120 days. Everything in the previous and following biennium needs to be legislated. If the community is not involved in the process, it takes two years to change anything that was passed.