DeLong's Download Week 1 (2025)

Hello Friends,

 

As a Freshman, I committed to keeping you informed by writing a weekly recap throughout the legislative session. This session, I want to continue those efforts and make sure to send you a regular "download" after each week as well as consistently ask for your input.

 

With that in mind, here is your week one “Delong’s Download.”

Last week started the 17-week long session after your Assemblymen and Assemblywomen were sworn in by the Chief Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court. The Assembly floor sessions for the week were short with the introduction of bills.

The session started with the remaining 22 Assembly bills (ABs), from the last session which our Governor had previously vetoed being read into the record. 18 of those bills will not be further considered but four (AB 218, AB 319, AB 340, and AB 383) were placed on the clerk’s desk. From there, committee meetings were largely consumed with presentations from the various government agencies.

There was one rule change this year that Democrat leadership decided has put into place that you need to be aware of. Despite Republican opposition, members can no longer be called men or women, they must be called members. So, if you come to the building or listen to the meetings you will see and hear the term "Assemblymember" used a lot. Fortunately, Democrats have yet to require that the men and women names on bathrooms be changed as well. 

Every session we see quote a few bill drafts introduced, and this session is no different. As of Friday, February 7th, 988 bill draft requests (BDRs) have been submitted to the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB). 423 of those have been submitted as bills to either the Assembly or Senate and the Assembly currently has 231 bills that are in the process. This is about the same number of bills we had by week four of the 2023 session and it appears that LCB is processing bills at a faster rate this session.

For this week I would like to highlight two of my bills in the Assembly geared towards promoting fairness and transparency:

The first bill is geared at securing Nevada’s election integrity and the will of you, the voter. AB229 would require mailed ballots to be postmarked by the last day of early voting. In addition, it would also require all ballots to be received by the clerk before the close of the polls on the day of the election, as opposed to the current system allowing ballots to trickle in after election day.

The second bill outlines clear and fair practices for the county fair and recreation board. AB 114 would ensure that all board members are eligible to become chairman of the board, and that all members are also able to vote for the chair, in a county with a population between 100,000 and 700,000 like Washoe County.

This legislative session I am honored to serve again on the Government Affairs Committee and the Natural Resources Committee. I will also be joining the Education Committee this session.

My office in the legislative building this session is room 4107. If you are going to be in Carson please contact my attaché, Roxanne Reichert at 775.684.8848, and schedule an appointment to come by and see me. 

I am glad to be representing all of you in District 26. Please contact me if you have concerns or issues about particular bills. The office number is above and my email address is rich.delong@asm.state.nv.us.

Rich DeLong

Assemblyman, District 26