UPDATE: The Nevada Legislature completed a special session in less than the four hours ordered by Gov. Joe Lombardo, approving Assembly Bill 1 to finish the state budget Tuesday night. One Republican — Scott Hammond — joined Democrats in backing the bill in the Senate, and three Republicans supported the bill in the Assembly — P.K. O’Neill, Danielle Gallant and Rich DeLong. Republicans in the Senate narrowly missed blocking passage again, but Hammond’s vote provided the 14-7 margin needed (two-thirds majority) to pass the bill and send it to Lombardo.
Shortly after the Legislature ended, Lombardo ordered a second special session to convene at 10 a.m. Wednesday to consider a bill providing funds for the construction of the A’s stadium on the Las Vegas Strip. Original story appears below.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Gov. Joe Lombardo called a special session of the Legislature on Tuesday night, bringing lawmakers back to finish the job on the state budget.
The session begins at 8 p.m. and must end before midnight.
In a proclamation released by the Governor’s Office, Lombardo limited the Legislature to dealing with the capital improvement project budget. That bill pushed the Legislature into a stalemate Monday night when Republicans refused to vote for it.
Lawmakers will not work on funding for a proposed A’s stadium on the Las Vegas Strip because Lombardo excluded it from the agenda for this special session.
But before the start of the 8 p.m. special session, 8 News Now’s John Langeler reported a second special session is in the works for Wednesday:
“#Breaking Two independent sources close to the negotiations say *if A’s legislation moves forward, there will be a separate special session tomorrow morning. Ball park deal may not be done yet,” Langeler tweeted.
But first, Democrats and Republicans are tasked with working together to revise a budget that was rejected just before 11:30 p.m. Monday. Republicans criticized the bill for failing to eliminate wasteful spending.
Senate Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert (R-Washoe County) said Republicans were ignored, and the budget bill they rejected didn’t align with Lombardo’s goal for fiscal responsibility.
“The irony is we’ve seen more pork bills, and there’s more bacon and lard packed in those bills than you can find in a Farmer John packing plant,” Seevers Gansert said.