LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Gov. Joe Lombardo said Thursday that a bill to centralize cybersecurity operations in Nevada would "absolutely" come before state lawmakers again, it's just a matter of when.
The bill, Assembly Bill 432, proposed by Clark County Republican Toby Yurek, would have created a security operations center overseen by the state's top cybersecurity official. It would have allowed local governments and school districts to opt-in to take advantage of state protections.
Channel 13 asked Lombardo on Thursday at a news conference if the bill would be part of a special session agenda this year.
WATCH | Gov. Lombardo responds to reintroducing cybersecurity bill in possible special session
"There hasn't been any discussion reference a special session, in bringing it back there, but absolutely an attempt will be made againi in the next regular session," the governor said.
A special session may be called later this year to address some bills that failed to pass the Legislature before lawmakers adjourned in June, including a crime bill with an emphasis on Strip safety and a film tax credit plan that could bring a Hollywood studio to Summerlin.
The next regular session of the Legislature will convene in February 2027.
It's not clear if Yurek's cybersecurity bill would have changed anything about the most recent attack, but it would have extended state monitoring for online threats to local governments and school districts.
It passed out of the Government Affairs Committee, but failed to get a vote on the Assembly floor.
WATCH | Months before cyberattack, Nevada lawmakers punted security bill
Monitoring the response 'hourly'
Lombardo said he's been monitoring the response to the cyberattack on an hourly basis since it was first detected on Aug. 24.
"Daily by the hour. Daily by the hour," Lombardo said of his management of the crisis up until Thursday, although he said updates will be less frequent as the state's computers come back online.
"Right now it's a lot of due diligence, and ensuring that that [personal information] data that I mentioned earlier has not been released, and ensure to bring confidence to the constituents here in Nevada that their data, their information, their personal identifier information is safe within the state's systems."
Lombardo said the response has been complicated by the fact that some systems have small, compartmentalized databases that are affected by the outage that have yet to be restored.
FULL PRESS CONFERENCE | Gov. Lombardo gives Sept. 4 update on Nevada's cyberattack recovery efforts
Asked what impact the cyberattack and its fallout would have on his gubernatorial campaign in 2026, Lombardo offered a clipped reply.
"I don't think it will have any effect," he said. "Because I think the people of Nevada have confidence in my ability to address a crisis. And I think I've done very well."
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