Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop

Maddy summarySB 240 reduces the state business license fee for small businesses from $200 or $500 to $100. It directly affects corporations, sole proprietorships, limited-liability companies, limited partnerships, and general partnerships that employ 50 or fewer full-time or part-time employees. The bill amends NRS 76.100 to set this lower fee for qualifying small businesses while maintaining the requirement to obtain a license. The change takes effect July 1, 2025. This is a concrete fee reduction targeting small business owners, not a procedural change.

Maddy summarySB 174 requires Nevada school districts and charter schools to create policies ensuring students with disabilities (who have individualized education programs or 504 plans) receive medically necessary treatments from private instructional personnel in schools, including parent notification and collaboration protocols. It updates special education standards for students with visual or hearing impairments by mandating Braille instruction, assistive technology, and prohibiting interference with mobility devices like canes. The bill also expands background check requirements to include private instructional personnel as "volunteers" and requires school districts to submit annual reports to the Department of Education, making policies publicly available online.

Maddy summaryThis bill provides $12 million to Clark County and $3 million to the City of Reno for rental assistance programs targeting elderly individuals, people with disabilities, and families or individuals facing unanticipated emergencies. Funds must be spent during fiscal years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027, with strict deadlines requiring recipients to submit detailed spending reports to the legislature by December 2026 and September 2027. Any unused funds must be returned to the State General Fund by September 2026 (for 2025-2026 funds) or September 2027 (for 2026-2027 funds). The bill includes audit requirements to ensure transparency in how the funds are used.

Maddy summarySB 229 lowers the grade point average requirement for Nevada students to earn a high school diploma with a "State Seal of Financial Literacy" from 3.25 to 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. It expands the age range for required financial literacy instruction from grades 3-12 to include kindergarten through grade 12. The bill also revises how students demonstrate proficiency, allowing options like scoring 85% on a state assessment or completing approved career-technical exams instead of the previous ACT certificate requirement. These changes directly affect all Nevada public school students in grades K-12 and require school districts and charter schools to implement updated curriculum and professional development.

Maddy summarySB 403 revises education policies in Nevada, directly affecting public school districts, charter schools, and students in grades 1-8. It mandates career guidance and counseling for all students in grades 6-8 (previously optional for grades 7-12), requires the Department of Education to create career exploration materials for grades 1-5, and establishes a Subcommittee on Metrics to develop school performance standards. The bill also allows schools participating in competency-based learning pilot programs to use alternative schedules and enrollment counting methods for state funding. It includes $137,820 for a Commission staff position and $50,000 for Commission travel expenses over two fiscal years.

Maddy summarySB 282 creates a Grocery Initiative within Nevada's Department of Health and Human Services to provide grants and technical assistance to grocery stores in designated food deserts. The initiative aims to expand access to healthy foods in areas meeting specific criteria, such as high poverty rates and limited grocery store proximity (defined as rural tracts with 33% of residents >10 miles from a store or urban tracts with similar metrics). It appropriates $10 million for the program and requires the Council on Food Security to research food insecurity in these areas and submit a legislative report. The bill directly affects grocery stores in qualifying census tracts, not general residents.

Maddy summaryAB 480 updates Nevada's Fair Housing Law to allow discrimination claims based on the *effects* of housing practices, not just the *intent* behind them. It directly affects landlords, housing providers, and individuals filing complaints by establishing that a practice may be discriminatory if it causes a disproportionate negative impact on protected groups (like race, disability, or sexual orientation), even without intentional bias. The bill sets clear rules: complainants must first prove a practice causes disparate impact, then the housing provider must show the practice is necessary for legitimate reasons and no less discriminatory alternative exists. This change aligns Nevada law with federal standards for addressing systemic housing bias while maintaining due process for providers.

Maddy summarySB 193 establishes a state pilot program to reduce mortgage interest rates for eligible first-time homebuyers. The program, administered by the Housing Division, provides interest rate buy-downs for owner-occupied homes to families meeting specific criteria: household income at or below 160% of the county median, first-time homebuyer status (with defined exceptions for displaced homemakers and single parents), and mortgage loan eligibility. Participants can apply through the Division, with the program covering up to the full duration of the mortgage loan. The bill includes an appropriation for program implementation but does not affect local or state government budgets beyond the specified funding.

Maddy summarySB 301 expands collective bargaining rights to include specific state peace officers. It revises Nevada law to define "employee" for bargaining purposes to cover category I, II, and III peace officers working in the unclassified service of the State. This directly affects those peace officers, who were previously excluded from collective bargaining under existing law (NRS 288.400-288.630). The bill’s key mechanism is amending the definition of "employee" in state law, allowing these officers to negotiate wages, hours, and working conditions with the Executive Department. The change applies solely to state-level employees and has a fiscal impact on the state, per the bill's note.

Maddy summarySB 266 expands Nevada's Student Loan Repayment Program for healthcare providers in underserved communities by adding new professions to the eligible list. It specifically includes marriage and family therapists, clinical alcohol and drug counselors, and licensed/certified alcohol and drug counselors as "providers of health care" under the program. This change makes loan repayment benefits available to these mental health and substance abuse professionals who work in underserved areas. The bill amends NRS 226.454 to add these roles to the existing list of covered healthcare providers and takes effect July 1, 2025.