How to Track Legislation in Nevada
For better or worse, the Nevada legislature meets only in odd years and for only 120 days (excluding special sessions). In the months leading up to the legislative session, you may hear the term “BDR” which is a Bill Draft Request. Legislators are each allotted a certain number of BDRs during a session, so they have to be judicious about what bills they agree to sponsor, or lead, through the session. BDRs become bills when a legislator, agency, or other entity requests the Legislative Counsel Bureau to draft a bill based on the BDR, which is then introduced into the legislature for consideration. A bill may have additional sponsors, or other legislators who join forces in shepherding the legislation through the process. Anyone can contact their legislator about a BDR. If you don’t know who your legislator is, head over here to find out.
In a previous article, we referenced a significant change to Nevada law concerning LLCs; the relevant statute is pasted below.
NRS 86.298 Duties of manager or managing member. The duties of a manager or managing member of a limited-liability company to the limited-liability company, to any series of the limited-liability company, to any member or to another person that is a party to or otherwise bound by the operating agreement are only:
1. The implied contractual covenant of good faith and fair dealing; and
2. Such other duties, including, without limitation, fiduciary duties, if any, as are expressly prescribed by the articles of organization or the operating agreement.+
(Added to NRS by 2019, 104)
Notice the parenthetical in red, which is a hyperlink. That link will take you to the bill which shows the bill number (AB 207) and the original statute with proposed language in blue. “AB” tells you the bill was introduced by a member of the Assembly. What this doesn’t tell you is WHY this bill came about. Lucky for us Nevadans, it’s easy enough to find out.
First, head to the Nevada Electronic Legislative Information System. Click on “Select a Session.” Choose the session (in this case the 80th) that corresponds to the year listed in the NRS.
Then click “Legislation” and “All Bills and Resolutions.” If you search By Text, you can enter just “207” and four pieces will pop up. Click on AB 207 and it will take you to a screen that shows different tabs – Overview, Text, Amendments, Votes, etc. If you click on Meetings and scroll down to the bottom, you’ll see the first hearing on AB 207 on February 28, 2019.
Click on Minutes to read the actual minutes of the meeting. Some of these meetings cover a lot of ground, so use the search function within your browser or Adobe Reader to find “AB 207” and jump right to the section you’re looking for.
The minutes include a transcript of the exchange between the legislators and members of the community in support of the bill. As the bill started in the Assembly, it will be heard there. If approved, it will go to the Senate, and if approved there, will be presented to the Governor who can sign it into law or veto it. You can read the transcripts of every hearing on this bill to better understand the rationale behind it, otherwise known as the “legislative history.”
If you’re reading this article during a legislative session, here’s a fun yet terrifying thing to do – subscribe to updates on certain bills. Here’s how:
Start here: Nevada Electronic Legislative Information System. Click Register/Sign In and enter your information.
Once registered, click on NELIS and it will take you back to the most current session. You can click “All Bills and Resolutions” to search by text.
Now, for the really fun part. In the upper right, you’ll see a button for “Tracking.” Click on that. Click Add Tracked Content and you can search for bills by number, by topic, or by sponsor. THEN, you can subscribe to these items and receive notifications when there’s new activity. If you’re a member of a trade association, check with them to see what bills their government affairs people are watching.
Once you subscribe, and potentially to your dismay, NELIS will email you a daily digest of all legislation introduced the previous day. Based on first-hand experience, we do NOT recommend spending your first waking moments scrolling through the list because there is some wacky stuff being introduced, but it’s a relatively low-effort way of keeping tabs on what’s happening in our state.
We are fortunate in Nevada to have a true “citizens’ legislature.” Our legislators are not professional politicians but instead your kids’ soccer coach and your dentist and a retired schoolteacher who devote significant amounts of time to campaign and who leave their families and businesses for 120 days every other year for about $130/day (2023 numbers) in an effort to make Nevada a better state. I don’t have the stomach to do it but admire those who do. Paying attention to what’s happening up there is the least we can do, especially when the information is so accessible.
I had been a member of the Vegas Chamber for about nine years before I attended their Legislative Day in Carson City. I previously had no idea how hard the Chamber works on behalf of businesses like ours to thwart well-meaning but poorly drafted legislation that would adversely impact our day to day operations. While I am by no means an expert on the legislative process, I’ve testified on dozens of bills and offered my humble opinion on dozens of others. With great coaching from Paul Moradkhan, the Chamber’s VP of Government Affairs and fellow UNLV grad, I’ve figured out how to navigate the legislative session and want to share because it’s way easier than it sounds.
If you’re a business owner, and you probably are if you’re reading this article, it’s incumbent upon you to stay informed about legislation as early as possible and certainly before it evolves into a law or regulation that costs you dearly or makes your life miserable. Better to know about the train before it’s left the station than complain after it’s run you over.