From the Capital Bureau Chief:

Whenever it’s a bill deadline day, I imagine a Paul Revere-esque figure running through the halls of the Legislature, shouting, “The bills are coming, the bills are coming!”

The many times lawmakers met behind the bar and introduced last-minute bills on Monday only made that mental image more vivid. For the uninitiated, the Legislature is immune to the state’s open meeting law, meaning that last-minute bill changes, introductions or even votes don’t have to wait for the next committee agenda and can be ratified through a “behind the bar” huddle on the chamber floors with no public witnesses unless a lobbyist or reporter is within earshot.

Of note, Gov. Joe Lombardo’s five policy bills received exemptions from the deadline and have more time until they’re introduced — cue the evergreen refrain that time is meaningless (someone please tell my editors). But we are expecting the governor’s bill focused on housing to drop Tuesday.

Nevada Independent legislative reporter Eric Neugeboren, who has extensively covered the Uber-backed effort to cap attorney fees, was first with the details on what sources say was the culmination of a deal between the warring factions.

The measure, AB523, would exempt ridesharing companies from liability for the actions of a driver or passenger that cause harm.

As always, please send us your questions, thoughts and suggestions. You can reach me at tabitha@thenvindy.com.

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A new round of libation legislation

There’s a booze bonanza happening in Carson City — and not just in the many bars near the Capitol.

Two measures caught our attention. 

🍸 AB375 would make the Picon Punch the state drink and allow for cocktails to go. Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas), who is sponsoring the bill with Assm. Bert Gurr (R-Elko), said the measure will help local businesses, reduce the number of people driving under the influence and implement a fee of up to 50 cents on each cocktail that will be collected to pay for DUI enforcement and education.

• “During COVID, we actually did allow alcohol delivery. A lot of restaurants weren't open, and so this is a concept I've been thinking about,” Yeager said in an interview last week. “The idea here, really, is that it’s going to be delivered to your house, and then you’ll be able to consume it there.”
  • Gurr originally proposed making Picon Punch as the state drink as a separate bill, but Yeager said the combined nature of AB375 reduces the number of hearings legislators need to have.
    • Context: Picon Punch is a highball cocktail made with Torani Amer, an aperitif that is made with herbs and burnt orange peel, grenadine, soda water, a brandy float and a lemon peel twist. The drink, associated with the Basque communities of the American West, was invented in California but is considered a rite of passage in Nevada.
  • The bill was heard in the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee on March 24 — the same day the Legislature celebrated Basque heritage. It received strong support from the business community, but opposition from the Nevada Resort Association, which wants a prohibition on deliveries to resorts. 
• The bill would also establish a statewide framework for legalizing alcohol-to-go sales, but local governments can decide whether to adopt the policy or place additional restrictions on it. The legislation specifies that alcohol or cocktails have to be in a closed, tamper-proof container and does not change existing open-container laws, which are usually designed to reduce public intoxication and prevent drunk driving.
  • Laws about open containers on the street vary by local jurisdiction, but it’s legal to carry an open container of alcohol on the Las Vegas Strip.
    • The Nevada Restaurant Association has also submitted an amendment for the bill to apply to all alcoholic beverages, not only mixed drinks. Yeager conceded at Monday’s hearing that “there’s a lot of work to do on this bill.”
• Proponents project that the 50-cent fee would generate more than $11.4 million annually to support DUI prevention efforts.
  • They also noted that after New York implemented alcohol-to-go, restaurants saw a median increase of $3,000 per month from off-premises alcohol sales, resulting in $30 million in additional statewide revenue per month.
  • Hangover potential: The 50-cent surcharge is considered a tax, meaning the bill would need to get two-thirds of lawmakers to approve it. Lombardo has also pledged to not raise taxes while governor.

🍺 AB404 would allow craft brewers to move products from their breweries to their own off-site tasting rooms or taprooms without going through a distributor. 

• Nevada law currently requires all beer to go through an independent distributor, even if the same company is brewing the beer and selling it at another location. “They basically have to sell their beer as a producer to a distributor, then buy it back off the distributor as a retailer in order to sell it at their taproom,” said Assm. Howard Watts (D-Las Vegas), the bill’s sponsor.

• In the 2023 session, a similar bill sponsored by Sen. Rochelle Nguyen (D-Las Vegas) died in committee. It received strong opposition from alcohol wholesalers who said the proposal would upend the state’s three-tier distribution ecosystem.
  • Context: Distributors contributed more than $100,000 to lawmakers in the 2024 election cycle.
• This year’s bill differs in that it limits craft brewers to move products to only three of their own tasting rooms or taprooms. The 2023 bill had no such restriction.
  • “There are concerns of this kind of going out of control,” Watts said. “We think that's a pretty reasonable approach to allow small businesses to grow and to move into other locations across the community.”

— Tabitha Mueller and Eric Neugeboren

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What we’re reading and writing

Follow the Money: Gaming returns to top of Nevada legislator donors by Eric Neugeboren

Jackpot.

Freshman Orientation: Decades of community service led Heather Goulding to the Assembly by Tabitha Mueller

Good as Gould.

As Trump dismantles the Department of Education, Nevada education leaders 'very nervous' by Gabby Birenbaum

Lombardo applauded Trump’s move.

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DMV IT project cost goes down, longer timeline remains

Here’s what Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) officials had to say Friday about its long-awaited project to upgrade the agency’s outdated computer systems.

• The latest cost estimate for the entire project is $287 million, an increase of about 130 percent from the original estimate of $125 million.
  • However, the cost is much lower than the $425 million price tag that officials told legislators last year was possible.
    • In March 2024, project leaders said it was within budget, but one month later, they revealed that the cost might balloon by $300 million. Two months after that, they backtracked and said that estimate was a “worst-case scenario.” 
  • During Friday’s budget hearing, DMV Director Tonya Laney said the fluctuating cost largely stems from unknowns about how much work is needed to update the department’s mainframe, the central back-end data repository that is written in the outdated COBOL programming language.
    • “It’s like peeling back the layers of an onion,” Laney said. “And with every layer that we go into, we’re finding additional complexities or software that we need to address certain issues.”
    • The current system requires customer data to be entered manually on the back end, but this will be automatic upon completion.
  • The budget might change further because of the mainframe issues, Laney said. 
• Despite the lower cost, the project is still set to be complete in fiscal year 2029. It was originally supposed to wrap up in September 2026.
• Even though the project is years away from completion, many features have gone live, including a modernized appointment system, the electronic submission of titles, an online complaint process and the ability to submit documents electronically for out-of-state and first-time registrations.

— Eric Neugeboren

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 Keeping Tabs

📕Top GOP senator supports abolishing education department — Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus (R-Wellington) said last week that President Donald Trump’s plans to shutter the U.S. Department of Education would “ensure a more responsive, efficient, and effective education system for every child in our state.”

✍️ Resolution proposed to condemn Jan. 6 (and there’s already one opponent) — Democratic legislative leaders introduced a resolution Monday to condemn the Jan. 6 insurrection and Trump’s pardoning of rioters convicted for their role in the attack. In short order, Assm. Ken Gray (R-Dayton) urged people to oppose the bill.

• Context: As a Lyon County commissioner in 2021, Gray voted to rename the county’s justice complex after Trump. Last year, he also walked back his prior comments that Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat was because of fraud.

✨New religious holidays in Nevada? — A mix of Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and Sikh celebrations could soon become days of observance under state law. AB82, which unanimously passed out of committee on Friday, would encourage educators, businesses and certain governmental entities to highlight Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights; Vaisakhi, a major Sikh festival; Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan; and Vesak, a celebration of Buddha’s birthday. 

🛟Care for kids whose parents are deported — Assm. Cecelia Gonzalez’s (D-Las Vegas) AB460, dubbed the Family Unity Act and heard Thursday, would streamline the process for obtaining temporary guardianship for a child whose parents were deported. Gonzalez told The Nevada Independent that she has had conversations with Republican colleagues who have “no problem” with the bill. 

• “Every single one of us represents these families and undocumented people in our districts, and these are their constituents, too,” Gonzalez told The Nevada Independent in an interview. “It's not necessarily an immigration bill, it's a response.” 

— Eric Neugeboren, Isabella Aldrete

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Looking Ahead

• Tuesday, March 25, 1:30 p.m.: The Assembly Committee on Growth and Infrastructure is hearing AB402, which would allow the installation of speed limit cameras in Nevada.
• Tuesday, March 25, 6:30 p.m.: The Indy is hosting a panel focused on Nevada’s Changing Health Care Landscape at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. Participants are Nevada Medicaid Administrator Stacie Weeks, consultant Mike Willden and President and Nevada Hospital Association CEO Patrick Kelly.

Days until: 

• First house passage deadline: 29
• Second committee passage deadline: 60
• Sine die: 70

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And to get you going into the week, a few social media posts that caught our eye: 

• Instagram: Another doggo to say hello to in the building! 
• X: The reviews are in: comfy and cozy.
• BSky: Is this the bipartisanship everyone is looking for?

We’ll see you Thursday.