Nevada governor’s health care bill dies as Legislature adjourns

CARSON CITY — Gov. Joe Lombardo’s health care reform bill died in the final minutes of the session after it failed to receive a vote in the Assembly, despite the Senate passing it a couple of hours prior.

The state Senate passed the bill on party-line votes Monday night after an eleventh-hour amendment was introduced, with the governor’s own party in opposition.

But it failed to receive a vote from the Assembly before sine die.

Senate Bill 495 included additions that would prohibit new freestanding emergency rooms from being within a five-mile radius of an existing center or hospital. It also required the centers to provide urgent care services — something that proponents said is to address incorrect billing for services.

Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus, R-Wellington, said she had to vote against it because of the freestanding emergency room changes that she said would have the effect of decreasing access to care.

“I felt that initially this bill really achieved many of the governor’s goals, if not most of the governor’s goals in improving access to health care, but unfortunately as it happens in this body sometimes at this ninth hour, some things get amended into a bill that then takes that good bill and now that good bill will do harm,” Titus said before the 13-8 vote.

The Assembly must consider SB 495 before the session adjourns late Monday night.

Lombardo, a Republican, has pitched the bill as a way to tackle the state’s health care provider shortage, expand mental health services and streamline health care.

Contact McKenna Ross at [email protected]. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.