If you ever wanted to watch a man try to juggle porcupines while balancing on a washtub in a windstorm, you could do worse than a front-row seat to Nevada’s legislative deadline week. Out of a thousand bright ideas scribbled down by ambitious minds, 300 went to their rest—no hymns, fanfare, just a bureaucratic shrug.
First, the courts gave a swift kick to a lawsuit claiming Nevada’s SB406 law would muzzle election watchers into silence for fear of being accused of “intimidation.” Plaintiffs, led by Robert Beadles, argued it’d keep patriotic eyes from spotting electoral funny business.
But the Ninth Circuit Court said no harm, no foul—especially since neither the Governor nor the Secretary of State has the teeth to enforce the thing. Also, they reminded everyone the law don’t outlaw watching, just harassing and pointed out that some fuss over a 2020 tweet from the Attorney General was barking up a ghost tree since SB406 wasn’t even born yet.
Meanwhile, back in the Legislature, SB74 marched onward like a mule with blinders, dragging behind it a wagon-load of election updates. The bill would let more voters—especially the sick, disabled, or isolated cast their votes through electronic systems.
It throws in goodies like credit card payments for candidate filing fees, easier ballot access for independents, and even allows student trainees to lend a hand during elections. There’s also a batch of safety upgrades, audits, and modernizations to tidy up the process, along with a nod to privacy for elderly dependents.
In short, it’s a big stew of voting reform with a little something for everyone—unless you’re a fan of red tape, in which case, condolences.
Back on the chopping block, the mighty Culinary Union came up empty-handed. Their dreams of a Nevada lottery died in the shadow of casino titans, with AJR5 failing to make the finish line.
Speaker Steve Yeager blamed the death on money trouble and federal cuts. Likewise, SB360, which would’ve brought back daily hotel room cleanings, was left to gather dust after Gov. Lombardo swatted it away like a June bug on a church window.
Still alive—barely—was SB78, a scheme to tidy up the state’s boards and commissions. It squeaked through a committee with the grace of a three-legged cat, lacking support from most Democrats and limping into the next stage with little certainty of survival.
Assembly Bill 388 had better luck, getting through despite business groups hollering that 12 weeks of paid family leave for workers would pinch the purse strings too tight. Nevertheless, the bill marches on, promising rest and reprieve for parents across the state—unless it trips later.
Elsewhere, dreams fizzled. For the fifth straight session, a plan to install an Inspector General to hunt waste and fraud went belly-up.
A bipartisan idea to require age checks on dirty websites never saw the light of day. Another effort to join the Nurse Licensure Compact meant to ease the nurse shortage, died from lack of attention—though unions muttered it was a wolf in hospital scrubs aiming to bust bargaining power.
On reproductive rights, SB139 quietly expired, leaving Nevada as the last state where self-managed abortion can still land you in trouble. And transparency? Not this year, as two amendments to make lawmakers play by the same rules they set for everyone else got ignored like a poor cousin at Thanksgiving.
In all–the session barrels ahead, dragging hopes and heartbreak behind it like tin cans tied to a wedding car. Some ideas lived, some died, and others are clinging to life with all the grit of a desert cactus in a drought.
The Old Blog in the Desert 
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