LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Gov. Joe Lombardo has already signed the official copies of all 520 bills he approved at the end of the 2025 Legislature.
But on Wednesday, Lombardo signed eight bills for a second time, a ceremonial reenactment — complete with an official Lombardo pen — for the authors and supporters of the legislation.
WATCH | Steve Sebelius has more on Gov. Lombardo's ceremonial bill signing on Wednesday
The bills ranged from tougher penalties for DUI and animal cruelty to providing cancer screenings for first responders, to allowing patients in skilled nursing facilities to have cameras in their rooms to spot potential abuse.
The list:
- Assembly Bill 503 increases penalties for the theft of copper wire or intentionally destroying communications infrastructure. The bill was sponsored by the Assembly Government Affairs Committee.
- Assembly Bill 381, also known as Reba's Law, increases penalties for animal cruelty. The bill, by Assemblywoman Melissa Hardy, R-Clark County, failed to meet a deadline at one point, but was later resurrected and passed unanimously in the Assembly and 14-7 in the state Senate.
Reba's Law author Melissa Hardy credits animal advocates for keeping the bill alive through the roller-coaster process.
"It was an effort from the community that put on some pressure and said, 'We need to make some changes in our animal cruelty laws, and we want Reba's Bill to continue in the process.' So, gratefully, it did," Hardy said.
You can watch the signing here:
The bill was named for Reba the bulldog, who was found taped in a crate in the Las Vegas summer heat in July 2024 and later died.
- Assembly Bill 418, also known as Daisy's Law, requires businesses that handle animals to get training on safety and care. The bill was also sponsored by Hardy. Another bill — Assembly Bill 487 — would have banned the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores entirely, but it was gutted before finally failing to pass.
- Senate Bill 125, by state Sen, John Steinbeck, erases bureaucratic barriers to allow government agencies to share information with agencies that help victims after a crisis, such as the Resiliency and Justice Center that was formed after the 1 October shooting.
- Senate Bill 170, also by Steinbeck, requires cancer screenings for first responders such as firefighters. "So I was in the [firefighting] career for 35 years," said Steinbeck, a former Clark County fire chief. "I've seen a lot of our brothers and sisters pass away from cancer or battle cancer. And just cases that should have been caught earlier, especially in this field, and now they have the protections for the next generations."
Steinbeck was joined at the signing by active duty firefighters who supported the measure. Fire Capt. Rochelle Rowell, a work-related breast cancer survivor. said the bill will affect plenty of people on the job.
"We've lost a lot of people to work-related cancer, and we have a lot of people fighting it right now, so just getting this extra screening and testing is huge for us," Rowell said. "Early screening and early prevention is key."
- Senate Bill 309, another Steinbeck measure, would increase penalties for repeat DUI offenders, including a minimum jail stay of 20 days for second offenders. The bill also lowers the blood-alcohol threshold from 0.18 to 0.16 before a person is referred to alcohol treatment programs. Steinbeck said he expects to revisit the issue in future sessions until the state sees a measurable decrease in DUI cases.
- Senate Bill 372, also sponsored by Steinbeck, would ensure that parents who commit their children struggling with mental health issues to treatment facilities aren't charged with child neglect or abandonment.
Rayne Alexander, a Las Vegas parent, said he and his wife were dealing with violent children that mental health facility operators wanted to return to their home.
"So we're trying to make change so that the children themselves can get the help that they need, and families don't have to suffer and be living in fear of their own children," Alexander said. "It's a very precarious place to be."
- Assembly Bill 368, sponsored by Assemblyman Max Carter, would allow patients in skilled nursing homes to install cameras in living areas to spot potential abuse. Peggy and Mike Stephenson supported the measure after placing their mother, Ingeborg Pillmore, 94, in several top-rated nursing homes, only to see her suffer abuse.
"We weren't allowed to have cameras like you can in doggy day care, or child day care," Peggy Stephenson said. "We weren't allowed to have cameras and see what was really going on."
She added: "Let me sum up that it's important that we're able to see our loved ones, or any vulnerable population, but our loved ones on a daily basis when we want and know that they're OK."
