After historic wins in 2016 and 2018, Democrats at every level of government are delivering on their promise to improve the lives of hardworking Nevada families–from our first and only female-majority legislature in the country, to the Governor’s mansion, to our female-majority federal delegation in Washington.
In 2019, NV Dems and our dedicated leaders put in the work and brought major progress to our state. Here are some of the highlights from 2019 and the work we’re doing to ensure 2020 is another major success.
NV Dems are preparing to execute the most accessible, expansive and transparent First in the West Caucus:
- First and only caucus state to offer in-person early voting
- Established nearly 80 diverse early voting sites, including the Culinary Union Hall, Chinatown Plaza, and the Wadsworth Community Building on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe’s Reservation
- Hired a diverse staff with a multilingual organizing team working in every Nevada county
- Opened a field office in the Historic Westside of Las Vegas
- Hosted fourteen presidential candidates in Las Vegas to give Nevada Democrats the opportunity to hear directly from those running to be our party’s nominee
- Created the Caucus Community Engagement Committee designed to ensure all communities across Nevada are involved in the 2020 caucus planning process
- Became the first Nevada caucus to provide Tagalog-language caucus materials in addition to English and Spanish
- Held more than 1,800 caucus trainings
- Recruited nearly 2,000 volunteers
- Contacted more than 23 thousand Nevadans
During the 2019 Legislative Session, Nevada’s historic female-majority legislature came together and passed legislation to improve the lives of hardworking families across our state:
- Increased funding for education
- Updated Nevada’s decades-old education funding formula
- Directed all funds from the marijuana retail excise tax to public schools, fulfilling the will of the voters
- Made permanent protections for pre-existing conditions
- Ended surprise emergency room billing
- Allocated millions in state general funds for family planning services
- Increased transparency for asthma medication pricing
- Ended antiquated abortion consent laws
- Removed unneccesary criminal penalties for abortion
- Created the Patient Protection Commission to review the state of health care accessibility and affordability in Nevada
- Increased law enforcement’s ability to help victims of crime
- Enhanced criminal penalties for those who commit violence against a first responder and extended those penalties to a first responder’s spouse and children
- Enacted universal background checks on all gun sales
- Banned bump stocks
- Established extreme risk protection orders to keep guns out of the hands of those who pose a risk of harming themselves or others
- Eliminated the statute of limitations for prosecuting sexual assault cases if the identity of the alleged offender can be established by DNA evidence
- Enhance protections for victims of domestic violence
- Established the Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights
- Increased the minimum wage
- Implemented protections for gender pay discrimination
- Removed barriers for union workers under public construction projects
- Implemented paid sick leave for Nevada workers
- Enacted prevailing wage
- Enabled state workers to bargain collectively
- Created a method for identifying ways for the state to reduce carbon emissions to zero or near-zero by 2050
- Increased Nevada’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to reach 50% by 2030
- Built a community-based solar energy program
- Created Office of Outdoor Recreation
- Joined the U.S. Climate Alliance
- Established the Office of Small Businesses under the Lieutenant Governor
- Created the Cannabis Compliance Board to strengthen Nevada’s legal cannabis industry
- Established the Office of New Americans
- Restored voting rights for tens of thousands of Nevadans
- Expunged the records of those convicted of now decriminalized offenses
- Expanded access to the ballot box by enacting same-day registration and extending Nevada’s early vote period
- Created a database to track payday lenders in Nevada
- Put an initiative on the 2020 ballot to remove marriage definitions from the constitution
- Put an initiative on the 2020 ballot to add the Equal Rights Amendment to the Nevada Constitution
- Passed Legislation to compensate those who have been wrongfully convicted
- Banned for-profit, private prisons
Our Democratic leaders in Washington have remained dedicated to bringing progress back to the Silver State despite Republican gridlock:
- Introduced legislation to facilitate the hiring of veterans attending an educational institutional
- Stopped legislation to relicense Yucca Mountain as a permanent nuclear waste dump
- Voted for legislation to lower prescription drug prices
- Introduced legislation to create infrastructure for the installation of zero-emission vehicles
- Introduced legislation to extend tax credits for utilizing certain renewable resources and create energy-efficient properties
- Sen. Rosen continues to hold DHS accountable for the inhumane treatment of detained immigrant families at the southern border
- Introduced legislation to identify and combat violent crime within Indian lands and of Indians
- Introduced legislation to protect Nevada’s Ruby Mountains from gas and oil drilling
- Sen. Rosen established the Senate Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism
- Passed legislation sponsored by Sen. Rosen to support and increase STEM education initiatives and increase participation of girls in computer science