Fourteen first-time lawmakers join the 21-member Senate and 42-member Assembly in the next session of the Nevada Legislature commencing Feb. 3. Three of the freshmen join the state Senate, and 11 join the Assembly.
Ten are Democrats and four are Republicans, contributing to the 40-23 Democratic vs. Republican party makeup of the Legislature. In the Senate, the party makeup is 13-8, and the Assembly is 27-15.
While Democrats were unsuccessful in achieving supermajorities in both chambers, they’re the majority party in both the Senate and Assembly and will therefore be able to determine which bills get pushed through the legislative process.
Some of the Republican freshmen were handpicked by Gov. Joe Lombardo to help fight the odds of a Democratic supermajority in both chambers, and they’ll play a key role in advocating for the governor’s priorities in the Legislature.
Meet your legislative freshmen and learn what some of their priorities are.
IN THE SENATE
Michelee “Shelly” Cruz-Crawford, Senate District 1, D-North Las Vegas
Cruz-Crawford succeeds fellow Democrat Pat Spearman, who was term-limited. A former regent for the Nevada System of Higher Education, Cruz-Crawford is the principal of Ronnow Elementary in east Las Vegas and is an officer in the Air National Guard.
Her focus is on teacher retention in schools and finding ways to support teachers who are already in the state.
“We have a lot of retention issues, so we can’t fix … school safety or school violence or accountability until we’re fully staffed with very qualified teachers,” she said.
As a principal, Cruz-Crawford has found it difficult to get licensed school counselors, and she found it difficult for current teachers to become licensed school counselors. Her bill aims to lower the number of training hours to become a counselor from 600 to 400 hours, which is the national norm, she said.
Cruz-Crawford is also working on a rent-stabilization bill, Senate Bill 426, that was first put forward by Spearman and aims to slow rent increases to match with inflation, she said.
Lori Rogich, Senate District 11, R-Las Vegas
Rogich, who ousted incumbent Democrat Dallas Harris, is an attorney and child advocate who served as co-chair of Lombardo’s Education Transition Committee and played a large role in advocating for children with special needs in education.
Rogich’s priority is to improve special education services, and her bill draft requests will reflect that goal.
“They’re going to focus on areas in which our school districts have failed to meet the educational needs of children who learn differently, and as I promised many families, I will keep challenging policies that threaten the basic goals of the IDEA, which is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the mandates of the anti-discrimination statutes on a systemic level.”
She will also aim to improve support for special education teachers and ensure they receive more resources and training to help children with special needs, such as dyslexia, Rogich said.
Another bill draft request will address health care prior authorization. With a daughter who required special surgeries that were often only available out-of-state, Rogich often struggled getting prior authorization from her insurance in a timely manner.
“I do look forward to finalizing the language of all these bills,” she said. “I’m excited by them. I think they are issues that relate, that can help all Nevadans, and that they can be issues that we can work across the aisle on.”
John Steinbeck, Senate District 18, R-Las Vegas
Steinbeck succeeds fellow Republican Scott Hammond, who was term-limited. Steinbeck is a 35-year veteran of the Clark County Fire Department, serving as the fire chief from 2020 until late January, when he retired from the role.
Steinbeck said he looks forward to working cooperatively on “good legislation.” Many of his bill draft requests are centered around public safety. One would increase the physicals required for firefighters; another would use surcharges to improve the infrastructure of 911 emergency dispatching services.
Yet another would increase the penalties and education around driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and other substances.
“We got some people that think that since it was legalized, it’s OK to smoke like you’re smoking a cigarette in your car and drive,” he said. “We’ve had a huge increase in our marijuana-related accidents.”
He also has proposed one bill that would require mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day.
IN THE ASSEMBLY
Lisa Cole, Assembly District 4, R-Las Vegas
Cole succeeds fellow Republican Richard McArthur, who unsuccessfully ran for state Senate. Cole is a lawyer and small-business owner.
Her priority is ensuring Republican policy considerations are still heard in the language of bills. She said she won’t be “just a solid ‘no’” on a Democratic bill and will instead try to work together to craft the language in the best way possible so some conservative values are reflected.
One of her bill draft requests would fix language in Assembly Bill 220 from the last session that imposed a voluntary fee on people who have municipal water and are on septic tanks, with the funds going to help people forced to convert their septic systems to the sewer system.
“My concern was, well, OK, you can’t impose something that’s voluntary,” Cole said. “Those two things don’t work together. So this would be a fix to the language of AB220 from last session.”
She hopes to work with the Southern Nevada Water Authority to put forward overuse fees for the program instead.
Joe Dalia, Assembly District 29, D-Henderson
Dalia, a privacy and technology attorney, replaced fellow Democrat Lesley Cohen, who did not run for re-election.
He wants to focus on economic and education issues in the next session.
One of his bill draft requests seeks to amend the Nevada Constitution to establish a statewide business court with appointed judges to handle commercial litigation and business-related disputes.
“This is something that we’re seeing out of a lot of the states that compete for being the most hospitable business environments,” he said.
Dalia is also pushing legislation that addresses AI-generated pornography by closing loopholes in the law and ensuring that people who distribute porn made with AI aren’t exempt from criminal punishment.
“I think a lot of people have seen that ChatGPT and some of these other services can generate some pretty compelling images that look pretty realistic,” Dalia said.
Rebecca Edgeworth, Assembly District 35, R-Las Vegas
Edgeworth replaced Democrat Michelle Gorelow, who didn’t seek re-election after the Review-Journal reported she was hired as the director of a nonprofit that had state funds.
The legislator works at Touro University and trains medical residents, and she does community outreach in the medical field, going into underserved communities to provide medical care.
Her focus this session is to improve quality health care access in Nevada. One of her bills seeks to prevent fraud in the hospice care industry. Hospice care has always been exceptional in Las Vegas, but there is an influx of people who are perpetrating fraud against people in their last days of life, Edgeworth said.
“There’s people who are signed up for hospice, and they didn’t know they were signed up for hospice, and then they’re billing the insurance for hospice,” she said.
Edgeworth will also work to reduce Medicaid fraud in different areas of medicine, such as behavioral health.
“I think everybody wants less fraud, right?” she said.
Tanya Flanagan, Assembly District 7, D-North Las Vegas
Flanagan, a public information administrator for Clark County, succeeds fellow Democrat Cameron “C.H.” Miller, who unsuccessfully ran for Las Vegas City Council. Flanagan has experience in gaming and as a former reporter, and she has served in organizations like Susan G. Komen Nevada, a nonprofit that funds breast cancer research, and the Urban Chamber of Commerce.
As a breast cancer survivor and health care advocate, Flanagan is putting forward a bill to address reproductive options for cancer patients.
If someone is diagnosed with a reproductive cancer, such as ovarian or breast cancer, their child bearing options become more critical and is treated as a separate elective, Flanagan said. She instead wants to see it as a medically necessary option for families.
Another bill draft request looks at food insecurity and aims to increase urban gardens in lower income areas. By adding gardens in the city, it will also help decrease the heat island effect, Flanagan said.
Her goal as a first-time legislator is to look at long-term planning and find better solutions for the community, she said.
“It’s just trying to be as effective a conduit as I can between the community and the legislative environment,” she said. Her goal is to look at long-term planning and find better solutions for the community, she said.
Heather Goulding, Assembly District 27, D-Reno
Goulding — who succeeded fellow Democrat Angie Taylor, who was elected to the state Senate — is a project manager for an energy research firm.
Goulding said some of her priorities focus on creating legislation fighting congenital syphilis rates — of which Nevada has some of the highest in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and addressing abandoned vehicles and other junk left in rural communities, like Sun Valley in her district.
One of Goulding’s bill draft requests would address debt and financial abuse that often results from domestic violence. Goulding said the language is still being drafted, but it probably will include ways for the victims of economic abuse to address the debt incurred while in the abusive relationship.
“Can you imagine being a woman who is the victim of domestic violence, finally getting yourself out, physically removing yourself from a violent situation, but having an economic burden holding over you held over you that you can’t move on and take care of yourself because of this debt burden that somebody else has coerced you into?” she said.
Linda Hunt, Assembly District 17, D-North Las Vegas
Hunt succeeds fellow Democrat Clara “Claire” Thomas, who left office for an unsuccessful bid for termed-out Sen. Pat Spearman’s seat. Hunt is a Culinary Local 226 shop steward and food server.
Hunt said she ran for office because she heard many of her community members and fellow union members say they didn’t see themselves in the Legislature or have trust in their politicians. She said she’s focused on making improvements in education, housing and health care.
Her bill draft requests are centered on cutting down wait times for background checks, improving access to identification documents for homeless people and addressing dangers from street racing by requiring totaled vehicles to get a DMV inspection to check for modifications on the car.
Another bill she’s drafting will impose timeline requirements for service contracts, also known as home warranties. She said she’s considering language that would require repairs done on home appliances done within 14 days.
“So many times, people get these home warranties,” Hunt said. “In Vegas, the summers are so hot and their air conditioning unit goes out and they can’t get the repairs in a timely manner. They get it done eventually, but not in a timely manner as to where it can cause all kinds of health issues or even up to death.”
Jovan Jackson, Assembly District 6, D-North Las Vegas
Jackson succeeds party member Shondra Summers-Armstrong, who now represents Ward 5 on the Las Vegas City Council. Jackson is a mental health advocate and community organizer.
Jackson’s priorities are focused on affordable housing changes, criminal justice reform and mental health education. One of his proposed pieces of legislation is the Nevada Fair and Innocent Record Sealing Act. The bill would automatically seal arrest records for people found not guilty or who had their charges dismissed after a certain amount of time.
“Even though you were found not guilty and you were put through the whole legal system, you still have to have an arrest record,” he said. “And often, even though these individuals are not guilty, these arrest records are still used against them for housing and employment.”
The Democrat said he would also like to reintroduce a bill brought last session meant to boost female apprentices in public works roles. Lombardo called the measure “well intended” but “impracticable.” Jackson said his legislation would include veterans or people from rural communities if no women applied.
Venise Karris, Assembly District 10, D-Las Vegas
Karris succeeds Sabra Smith Newby, who resigned after the 2023 session to become the deputy city manager for the city of Las Vegas. Karris is a retired electrician who spent 27 years as a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 357.
The Democrat said she’s focused on listening and observing for her first session and championing bills that would reformulate worker’s compensation, close loopholes in infrastructure laws and establish funding for a tiny home community for people experiencing homelessness. Karris said that the bill would build communities of several small houses without kitchens, with a communal kitchen and possible services in a shared space.
“It’s also an opportunity for the community to provide social services, mental health services, maybe addiction services, job search and because they’ll actually have an address,” Karris said. “Now it’s so much easier to get a job.”
Other bill draft requests submitted by Karris involve establishing an experimental addiction treatment program through MRI waves and authorizing the state government to rent out the state capitol for special events.
Cinthia Moore, Assembly District 11, D-Las Vegas
Moore succeeds fellow Democrat Bea Duran, who did not seek re-election following a Review-Journal report on potential conflicts between lawmakers and nonprofits who received state funds. Moore works as a development manager for Make the Road Nevada, a working class and immigrant advocacy nonprofit. She also has been a real estate agent since 2019.
Moore said her priorities are centered around housing and lowering the cost of living, including a bill that would forbid utilities from shutting off service for nonpayment during extreme weather events and put the account on a repayment plan after the event. Another she’s working on would divert funds to a domestic violence nonprofit in her district to provide access to legal services and mental health care.
Another bill she proposes would remove language from the NRS that allows real estate commissions to be decided through a verbal or written agreement between the agent and the buyer or seller. Her proposal would only allow for written agreements.
“When people are going to make the biggest purchase or investment of their life, they should be able to be protected and have something in writing that they can go back and look (to),” Moore said.
Hanadi Nadeem, Assembly District 34, D-Las Vegas
Nadeem succeeds fellow Democrat Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod, who unsuccessfully ran for Clark County Commission. Nadeem is the CEO of primary care clinic Shifa Medical, as well as the former president of APPNA Alliance. Nadeem wants to focus on improving health care and mental health for children.
One bill draft request aims to improve the physician shortage in Nevada by expanding medical schools and creating more fellowships and residency programs, she said.
“I am going to work tirelessly with my colleagues and with the stakeholders to retain more quality physicians in the state of Nevada,” Nadeem said.
Another bill focuses on maternal health care and proposes bringing nurses to new mothers’ homes for care after they give birth. In other countries, nurses visit the houses of the mothers a couple times a week to address both the care of the baby and the mother, Nadeem said. She hopes to create a similar program in Nevada.
Erica Roth, Assembly District 24, D-Reno
Roth replaced fellow Democrat Sarah Peters, who declined to seek re-election. Roth is a public defender in Washoe County and served as deputy general counsel for former Gov. Steve Sisolak. Roth is focused on finding practical solutions to problems such as housing and mental health.
One bill she is bringing forward aims to address problems in forensic psychiatric hospitals, where she says there isn’t enough bed space and the wait times are too long. She hopes her bill will speed up the process and help divert certain lower-level cases through the courts to what are called “civil beds”
“There’s a lot of fixes over many sessions that we’ll have to do,” Roth said. “But as a freshman, I’m really focusing on practical, tangible changes that we can make right now.”
Another bill draft request she put forward proposes allowing providers of women’s reproductive health care to make their addresses private through a court board.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com and McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah and @mckenna_ross_
