February 2022
The Full-Time Legislative Interim
S
INE DIE – THE LATIN TRANSLATION IS “WITHOUT DAY” OR AS IT’S USED in legislative parlance, the adjournment of a legislative session without a day set to reconvene the concluded session. When the legislature adjourned sine die in 2021, while the body of the whole will not meet again until 2023, the standing committees were given more authority to set their own agendas and priorities for the interim period, giving rise to a new, full-time interim. Last legislative session, Assemblyman Steve Yeager proposed Assembly Bill 443 with the goal of streamlining Nevada’s interim committee process. The previous interim had consisted of 21 statutory committees, 7 study committees and 41 non-legislative committees. Assemblyman Yeager said about the process, “The system is at best inefficient. At worst, it really does relegate some exceptional policy solutions to the legislative graveyard.” The legislation consolidated the many interim committees into nine newly formed Joint Interim Standing Committees to mirror the committees that meet during the legislative sessions, with the
By Bryan Wachter
Bryan Wachter
goal of having many of the same legislators sit on both the interim and legislative committees so committee members aren’t always starting over at zero when the next session begins. The only committees left out of the reorganization include the Interim Finance Committee, Legislative Commission, and Economic Forum. Now we must learn to navigate this new interim structure. These new committees have very different scopes than in previous years; they have the authority to request reports and updates, draft legislation and hear testimony, all things that would typically be done during the legislative session. The hope is that they can do a lot of the explorative work between sessions,
letting them move the ball further when the 120-day clock starts. With more time, committees can go more in-depth investigating issues. This new structure means the legislative process will continue into the interim more than ever before, setting the scene for the next session, and into the future. When Assemblyman Yeager proposed this new structure, many in the building were optimistic for a streamlined, organized interim, and only time will tell if that happens. What we’re seeing today is the learning curve as committees Continued on page 5
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