As Lombardo Signs Special Session Laws, Nevadans Left With Mixed Bag

CARSON CITY - Yesterday, Gov. Joe Lombardo signed the remaining bills from the 36th Special Session. That includes AB4, a stripped-down version of the governor’s original crime bill from the 2025 regular legislative session. The second, SB5, establishes a new health care access grant program that will help widen the availability of health care in the face of damaging federal cuts. Late last month, Lombardo also signed measures providing additional funding for Windsor Park. 

Shelbie Swartz, Executive Director of Battle Born Progress, issued the following statement:

“Despite the fact that Joe Lombardo called this special session to sell the state to big businesses, legislative leaders like Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro were still able to pull some good from the bad. SB5 will widen resources for key health care services at a time when the federal government has done nothing but strangle those same services. And, most critically, SB3 will provide relief to Nevadans in the event of another government shutdown, as the bill allows Nevada to fund SNAP regardless of the Trump Administration holding those funds hostage.

But Lombardo’s crime bill remains an unnecessary, expensive boondoggle more concerned with Lombardo’s reelection effort than Nevadans’ safety. We’re thankful to lawmakers for amending that bill to include protections for schools at a time when ICE has weaponized enforcement and terrorized communities. But a special session ought to be just that – special. To see such a clear focus from Governor Lombardo on pleasing special interests at a time when Nevadans need genuine help sets a precedent that will ultimately hurt, not help, the very Nevadans the state government should be trying to serve.”

Laura Martin, Executive Director of PLAN Action Fund, issued the following statement: 

“Special sessions are meant for special circumstances, but Governor Lombardo used November’s special session to acquiesce to corporate donors and billionaires. Thankfully, progressives and labor prevailed in fending off the Hollywood tax scheme, because economic diversification should not come at the expense of life-sustaining public services. Additionally, much-needed and overdue investments were made for Windsor Park, protections for Nevada immigrants were enshrined in the crime bill, and though it didn’t pass, a much-needed, bipartisan discussion on corporations hoarding homes and driving up rent prices set us up for strong legislation in the future.

“The real story of this special session is progressive legislators standing up to leadership and refusing to blindly vote for another billionaire tax giveaway. We’re looking forward to new legislative leadership that will prioritize improving the lives of Nevadans, not just the corporations that fund their campaigns.”

Barbara Hartzell, Executive Director of Native Voters Alliance NV, issued the following statement:

“This special session showed us something we know too well. When the state feels pressure, Indigenous voices are the first ones pushed out of the room. Our communities have survived generations of government-inflicted trauma, and every time we fight to be heard, we are reminded how quickly we are forgotten. Closing off public testimony while opening the door to corporate power was not a misunderstanding. It was a choice. And it told every Tribal Nation in Nevada that our stories, our families, and our futures were not worth the drive it would take for us to speak. We are done carrying the cost of being ignored. We are standing in this moment to make sure the state can no longer pretend not to see us.”

Beth Osborne, Steering Committee, Indivisible Las Vegas

“The Special Session was clearly a ploy by Governor Lombardo, as he needed something to run on in 2026 besides a record number of vetoes and a failing economy. His crime bill was passed, although altered with amendments to restrict the actions of ICE in our community. This bill does nothing except put more people in an already overcrowded and understaffed system. As the ACLU of Nevada has pointed out, the bill targets the vulnerable without any foundation to help them. It certainly won’t make us any safer. It’s one more reason why Lombardo has and continues to fail Nevadans.”

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