66°F
weather icon Clear

Dozens of bills head for passage as deadline nears

CARSON CITY – Bills banning untraceable kit-assembled guns, authorizing marijuana lounges, decriminalizing speeding tickets, and banning the declawing of cats were among more than 150 pieces of legislation moving toward passage in the Legislature Tuesday ahead of deadline for action.

Also on Assembly and Senate agendas Tuesday: new school-age requirements, remuneration for student athletes, more marijuana-related laws, and changes on keeping beehives.

The Assembly’s calendar held more than 90 pieces of legislation awaiting a vote Tuesday with 65 in the Senate ahead of a deadline for bills to pass in the house where they were first introduced. Other significant pending measures, such as a death penalty ban and permanent changes to voting procedures, have already passed and moved over to the opposite house for more hearings.

Amid the wide range of measures up for votes, laws dealing with criminal justice reform and marijuana use stood out, and in the first category, the most significant was Assembly Bill 286, which would ban sale and possession of firearm frames or receivers sold as kits or made with 3D printers. The so-called “ghost guns” lack serial numbers and are untraceable. The bill also gives businesses that prohibit guns on their properties more tools for enforcing their restrictions.

The bill was expected to come up about towards the end the Assembly’s calendar for the day. Both the Assembly and Senate did not convene until early afternoon and were expected to go well into the evening.

Bills on Tuesday’s calendar by category, with votes as they come in:

Criminal justice and civil rights

Assembly Bill 116 would convert minor traffic offenses such as speeding to civil infractions instead of misdemeanor crimes.

Assembly Bill 376 would limit interaction by local police agencies in federal immigration cases without a judicial warrant.

Senate Bill 50 would limit the circumstances under which judges could issue no-knock warrants to law enforcement.

Marijuana laws

Assembly Bill 341 would legalize marijuana social use venues, businesses where cannabis could be consumed openly.

Assembly Bill 400 would change the criteria for determining when someone is driving impaired from smoking marijuana by requiring more than a blood test that is positive for THC.

Housing

Senate Bill 150, which would set rules for the construction of “tiny houses,” defining the term and requiring local governments to allow for them to be built.

Education

Senate Bill 102 would change the cutoff date a child must be a certain age to start school from Sept. 30 to Aug. 7.

Assembly Bill 254 would allow Nevada college athletes to earn money from endorsements.

Natural resources

Senate Bill 407 would regulate apiaries, with exemptions for hobbyist beekeepers.

Assembly Bill 209 is the ban on declawing cats for cosmetic or esthetic reasons only.

bdentzer@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DentzerNews on Twitter. Contact Capital Bureau Chief Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.

THE LATEST
Friends of Nevada Wilderness maintaining local trails

Nevada is a state filled with beautiful wilderness areas, many of which can be found right here in Nye County, but the value and benefits of those areas cannot be realized unless they can be accessed by the everyday person.

Pinkbox opening in Pahrump Nugget

An illuminated oversized doughnut already overlooks Highway 160, in a central area of Pahrump where passersby will see it on their way to Death Valley. Many local leaders in the valley are excited about the grand opening of popular chain Pinkbox Doughnuts beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday inside the Pahrump Nugget Hotel & Casino.

Pahrump man injured in gunfire with deputy

Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill told the Pahrump Valley Times the incident occurred at a residence along Bunarch Road at approximately 7:30 a.m. on May 14.

Burn ban in place — what you need to know

A new BLM Nevada Fire Prevention Order is in effect through Oct. 31. The order, issued by the Bureau of Land Management, prohibits specific fire-related activities on all BLM-managed land in Nevada.

Nye County solar regulations nearing completion, moratorium extended

Nye County has spent the last year and a half working to create local regulations for the burgeoning solar industry and following plenty of research and the careful gleaning of input from various stakeholders, that process is finally nearing completion.

Motorcycle rider flown to UMC Trauma

Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Services Chief Scott Lewis told the Pahrump Valley Times that crews were dispatched to a report of a serious two-vehicle collision at the intersection of Sandpebble Street and Kellogg Road on the south end of the valley at approximately 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 8.

US 95 head-on crash kills one in Nye County

The Nevada Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal crash along US 95 at approximately 2 a.m. on Monday morning, May 13, according to Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Services Chief Scott Lewis.