{"id":4861,"date":"2025-06-22T09:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T09:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/4861\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T09:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T09:22:13","slug":"nevada-policy-tracker-a-quick-guide-to-key-issues-in-the-2025-legislative-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/4861\/","title":{"rendered":"Nevada Policy Tracker: A quick guide to key issues in the 2025 legislative session"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nevada\u2019s 2025 legislative session concluded in June with hundreds of proposals becoming law and 87 more vetoed<\/a> by Gov. Joe Lombardo.<\/p>\n

The Nevada Independent has been tracking key legislation and policy debates through our Nevada Policy Tracker, presenting a concise summary of what observers see as the most significant actions lawmakers and the governor took in major policy areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scroll through the subject matter areas below for the most intriguing storylines in the Legislature this year and the state of play in different policy areas.<\/p>\n

This page was last updated on 06\/22\/2025<\/p>\n

\"\"Students at Al Seeliger Elementary School in Carson City play with a parachute during Carson City School District\u2019s \u201cReady to Rock Kindergarten\u201d program.\u00a0(Courtesy Dan Davis\/Carson City School District)<\/p>\n

K-12 Education <\/strong><\/p>\n

K-12 education funding saw a more modest increase this session compared with the 2023 session. The statewide base per-pupil funding for the upcoming school year is $9,416, a $2 increase from the 2024-25 school year. It will go up to $9,486 the following year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The total funding for public schools is estimated to average $13,889 per pupil for 2025-26 school year, a $521 increase from the previous school year, and $13,963 for the 2026-2027 school year. It\u2019s still lower than the national average<\/a> of $17,467.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Democrats and Republicans came together to increase school accountability by establishing a system to track school district performance and new interventions for schools and districts that don\u2019t perform well under Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro\u2019s (D-Las Vegas) omnibus education bill, SB460<\/a>. The bill also included $19 million in funding for pre-K programming and facilities, but it wasn\u2019t enough to provide universal pre-K as Cannizzaro had initially pushed for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo\u2019s idea to make it easier for students from low-performing schools to attend a school outside their zone and a $7 million appropriation to provide them transportation were grafted<\/a> onto Cannizzaro\u2019s bill and a bill by Assm. Selena Torres-Fossett (D-Las Vegas) to expand open enrollment<\/a> statewide (AB533<\/a>) was signed into law.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lawmakers also renewed funding for public educator pay raises and appropriated $38 million to extend those raises to charter schools (AB398<\/a>), a priority for Republicans, including Lombardo. The bill from Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) also allocated $90 million to provide additional compensation for certain hard-to-fill teacher positions \u2014 a measure pushed for by the Clark County Education Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another successful bill supported by the union (SB161<\/a>) will speed teacher contract negotiation in the arbitration process, but a provision creating a pathway for legal school strikes \u2014 which are currently outlawed \u2014 was amended out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This session also included a major victory for the White Pine County School District, which has long asked<\/a> the Legislature for help to replace two aging schools. AB224<\/a> provides financing for school construction for rural schools that don\u2019t have the means to fund it with their tax base.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But an effort to reform Nevada\u2019s property tax system (AJR1<\/a>), which could have resulted in substantial additional funding for K-12 education, died in the Senate after passing out of the Assembly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several education-related bills were among those vetoed by Lombardo. They included two bills (AB416<\/a> and AB445<\/a>) and that would added have protections for librarians and books being challenged, often by conservative groups; a bill that made sex education instruction available to students unless their parents opt out (AB205<\/a>); and a bill (AB441<\/a>) that would have implemented new guardrails and deadlines to the state\u2019s Opportunity Scholarship program that helps low-income students attend private schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rocio Hernandez<\/p>\n

\"\"Prescription medication inside a Walgreens pharmacy in Deerfield, Illinois, on July 25, 2024. (Nam Y. Huh\/The Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Health care\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gov. Joe Lombardo had two main health care priorities entering the session \u2014 and he went one for two.<\/p>\n

The Legislature unanimously approved the Lombardo-backed proposal<\/a> to split the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services into two, creating the Nevada Health Authority that would oversee Medicaid, Medicaid, the state\u2019s health insurance exchange, the Public Employee Benefits Program and other services. State officials have said a consolidated health insurance agency could give the state more leverage when negotiating with insurers.<\/p>\n

But his marquee health care policy proposal died on the last day of session. SB495<\/a> included provisions to speed up prior authorization processes and establish an alternative licensing path for dental hygienists. A controversial provision added to the measure at the last minute to prohibit new freestanding emergency centers being licensed within a 5-mile radius of an existing one or a hospital with an emergency department led to the bill\u2019s demise.<\/p>\n

One aspect of the bill \u2014 expanding residency training and postdoctoral fellowships in the state\u2019s graduate medical education program \u2014 made its way into another successful proposal<\/a> (SB262) sponsored by Sen. Julie Pazina (D-Las Vegas).<\/p>\n

Nevadans under private insurance will also no longer pay more than $35 monthly for insulin<\/a> because of a bill proposed by Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) in the final weeks of the session that was signed into law. Another health care bill that passed was AB176<\/a>, which would generally ban the state or any of its agencies from limiting access to contraception.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But other prominent health care bills were vetoed by Lombardo. Those include:<\/p>\n