About 275 bills died on Friday

When Nevada lawmakers closed up shop Friday, it was the death knell for about 275 proposed laws.

Friday was the deadline for all non-exempt bills to move out of committee in the house where they originated. Those that didn't make it are officially dead for this session.

Lorne Malkiewich, director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, said staff is still compiling the list of which bills were left behind in committee. He said the preliminary totals are 160 in the Assembly and 115 in the Senate. While those numbers may change, Malkiewich said they are close.

Malkiewich said staff hopes to have a link on the legislative Web site within a day or so listing all the bills that died in committee.

Two weeks ago, when the deadline for introductions passed, there were a 707 bills in committee - 316 in the Senate and 391 in the Assembly.

As of Monday, he said, there were about 120 bills on the floor of the two houses. That means more than 300 bills came out of committee - the majority awaiting amendments before they come to the floor.

The task facing the research and legal divisions over the next week or so is to prepare all those amendments because the next deadline is in one week, April 26. All non-exempt bills must pass the first house by then. If they don't, they are considered dead.

The remaining workload for lawmakers is the exempt bills - most of which are those containing appropriations which have an effect on the state budget.

As of a week ago, there were about 100 bills in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and 75 in the Senate Finance Committee.