Nevada Gov. Lombardo will call a special session

Gov. Joe Lombardo said Monday he will call the Nevada Legislature back to Carson City for a special session, though he did not specify when or what it will be about.

“At some point over the next few months, I intend to call the Legislature back for a special session,” the governor said in a Monday statement. “The goal will be to finish what the Legislature left unfinished — plain and simple.”

The governor is responsible for calling a special session into order, and he decides what’s on the agenda.

Though Lombardo did not elaborate on which issues he plans to bring forward, there are a few possibilities, including the failed bid to bring Hollywood studios to Southern Nevada and two of the governor’s signature proposals on crime and health care reforms, both of which didn’t make it across the finish line when the regular session wrapped early June 3.

Lombardo also didn’t indicate a specific date for the special session, but discussions have centered on the second week of November, sources told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Nevada law prohibits campaign fundraising 15 days before a special session or the day after the proclamation calling a special session is issued, and the blackout period ends 15 days after a special session adjourns.

Democratic leadership of the Legislature did not weigh in Monday. Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, did not return a request for comment, and Speaker Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas, declined to comment.

Lombardo called on lawmakers to keep working in Carson City longer in June 2023, when a brief session was held to pass a capital projects budget legislators had failed to pass by the end of the 82nd regular session. A weeklong session immediately followed to approve public funding for the Athletics ballpark in Las Vegas.

Renewed effort to address crime

In his September speech announcing his 2026 reelection bid, Lombardo said his crime bill could be resurrected. He called on Nevada legislators to pass a “comprehensive crime bill that protects our residents and the 52 million tourists,” or else he will bring it to the ballot.

In addition to increasing penalties for “smash and grabs” and DUIs, the bill also included last-minute amendments that would have essentially revived a resort corridor court, a specialty court for the Strip and other areas where crime “poses significant risk to public safety and the economic welfare to the state.” At the time, a lobbyist for the Nevada Resort Association said that section of the bill was meant to address repeat offenders on the Strip who frequently trespass by going onto properties where they have been barred.

A similar court program ended in November 2024.

Athar Haseebullah, executive director of ACLU Nevada, said he has been part of conversations about the potential special session legislation on crime.

He said the organization believes “there shouldn’t be negotiations unless there are protections for immigrant communities.”

Haseebullah said if Democrats ensured those protections in a special session, it would “show strength” and that the party, which controls the Assembly and Senate, is listening to concerned community members about increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity under the Trump administration.

Film bill could get another take

Another special-session topic could be an expansion to Nevada’s film tax credit program. Two proposals were considered until the end of the 120-day session in June. One bill, which would have supported up to $95 million in tax credits dedicated to supporting a Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery-backed effort to build a film campus studio in Summerlin, narrowly passed the Assembly but was not brought up for a vote in the Senate.

The other proposal, a studio campus at UNLV’s Harry Reid Research and Technology Park, did not move out of committee in the Senate.

Budget woes part of the plan?

A special session loomed over Carson City even before the regular biennial session wrapped. Lawmakers, lobbyists and experts in the capital predicted another session would be needed because of the uncertainty of federal funding, then under discussion in the U.S. Congress. Nevada’s 2023-2025 budget was about 28% federally funded, and many expected steep cuts from Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration.

But state lawmakers have been less concerned in public statements since the omnibus funding, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, was codified in July.

In an interview with KTNV in August, Lombardo said health care-related cuts will not take effect until after the 2027 session, making the next Legislature responsible for that budget.

Cybersecurity a possible issue

The recent cyberattack that Nevada officials discovered Aug. 24 also could crop up in the special session.

Yeager launched a cybersecurity working group to make recommendations on future legislation to the Legislative Commission.

In a Sept. 12 press conference, Lombardo said he was still in discussions about a special session and what would be included, “but this cybersecurity thing would be a point of conversation.”

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