Nevada Assembly Passes Two Bills, Misses the Mark Twice

Well, if ever there was a day that proved legislative bodies are more than capable of making a mess of things before lunch and still have time to sweep it under the rug by supper, it was in the fine state of Nevada.

The Nevada Assembly, bless their muddled hearts, managed to send up not one but two bills that’ll make you scratch your head ’til your scalp goes bald. The first, known to the bureaucrats and bill-counters as AB 346, proposes to let doctors hand out the means for folks with terminal illnesses to shuffle off this mortal coil—legally and with a prescription, no less.

While I ain’t saying the idea lacks sympathy, the fact that they’re doing this in defiance of the majority gives it the flavor of a legislative circus act. But no, they voted 23-19 to march on, with party lines about as crooked and confused as the Mason-Dixon Line.

In true straight-shooting fashion, the Governor declared he’d veto the thing should it reach his desk, calling the bill unnecessary in light of modern pain management. Truth be told, I can’t help but admire a man who thinks it wiser to fight death with care instead of paperwork and suicide pills.

But hold your astonishment, dear reader, because the second act of this legislative magic show was AB 217, a bill that forbids ICE agents from stepping foot on public school grounds without a warrant in hand. Now, far be it from me to doubt the intention behind protecting schoolkids from fright and confusion, but when did it become fashionable for a state legislature to start writing policy like a stage play—where fear gets banished with the stroke of a pen–and no thought spared for enforcement, consequences, or the small matter of federal law?

Besides, the federal law always shows up with paperwork in hand.

This one, too, passed with bipartisan approval–which means both sides are wrong but agree on being wrong together–and is now sauntering off toward the State Senate, where it may yet find company in a drawer, a trash bin, or the Governor’s veto pile. Now, I’ve seen foolishness before—whole cartloads of it—but Nevada’s Assembly just might be trying to set a record–two bills, one day, and enough political prestidigitation to make you wonder if the chamber ain’t a saloon where common sense gets kicked out for being too sober.

If folly were gold, Nevada’s Assembly would’ve struck the Comstock Lode again.