39°09′42″N 119°45′58″W / 39.161643°N 119.766139°W / 39.161643; -119.766139 The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year terms from single-member districts. Each district contained approximately 64,299 people as of the 2010 United States Census.[1] Term limits, limiting assembly members to six 2-year terms (12 years), took effect in 2010. Twelve members of the Nevada Assembly were termed out with the 2010 election serving their last legislative session in 2011.

The Nevada Assembly met at the Nevada State Capitol in Carson City until 1971, when a separate Legislative Building was constructed south of the Capitol. The Legislative Building was expanded in 1997 to its current appearance to accommodate the growing Nevada Legislature. Since the 2012 session, Assembly districts have been formed by dividing the 21 Senate districts in half, so that each Assembly district is nested within a Senate district.

Meetings

The Assembly, like the Senate, is composed of citizen legislators, receiving a relatively small ($130) per diem fee for the first 60 days of a given session. This tends to self-selection, with legislative service difficult for those without flexible jobs and/or large outside incomes, such as doctors and lawyers. The Assembly, again like the Senate, meets however long is necessary for the completion of all its business, up to a maximum of 120 days, beginning the first Monday in February of every odd-numbered year. While this is designed to limit the amount of time a legislator is away from their first job, in recent years 120 days has often not been enough time to complete legislative business, and after four straight regular sessions, special sessions had been called to finish up legislative business. This trend ended in 2011, which was not followed by a special session.

Leadership of the Assembly

The Speaker of the Assembly presides over the Assembly in the chief leadership position, controlling the flow of legislation and committee assignments. The Speaker is elected by the majority party caucus, followed by confirmation of the full Assembly on passage of a floor vote. Other Assembly leaders, such as the majority and minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses according to each party's strength in the chamber.

Assembly Chamber

The Nevada Assembly convenes in the south chamber of the Legislative Building. The carpet in the Assembly chamber is mainly red, in comparison to the Senate chamber, which is blue. The chamber galleries reflect the same carpet schemes. Many legislative documents and binders are colored red and blue to distinguish them between the Assembly and the Senate. Although the chamber is separated by a center aisle, the Assemblymen are not seated by party. Rather they are seated at the discretion of the Speaker. The Speaker's desk is always the first desk in the front row to the right, if you are looking out at the chamber from the Speaker's rostrum. Above the Speaker is a large gavel, which is engraved with the name of Speaker Joe Dini; the longest serving Speaker of the Nevada Assembly. Above the gavel is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, who was President when Nevada became a State in 1864. To the left of the main door to the chamber is a podium with a Bible, which is changed to different passages by the Assembly Sargeant-at-Arms.

Since 2003, one floor session has always been held in the Old Assembly Chambers in the State Capitol. The session usually begins with a presentation from the State Archivist regarding the history of the chamber, and then legislative business proceeds as usual. Because there are no screens or voting equipment in the old chamber, all business is hand-written on a chalk board, as it would have been done when the Assembly still met in the Capitol.

All joint-meetings and joint-sessions are held in the Assembly chamber, including the State of the State Address, the State of the Judiciary Address, and addresses from Nevada's federal delegation. Unlike in Congress, where the Speaker of the House presides over all joint-meetings and sessions (except when Congress counts the Electoral Votes after a Presidential election), the President of the Senate presides over joint-meetings and sessions instead of the Speaker of the Assembly.

Composition

2814
DemocraticRepublican
AffiliationParty
(Shading indicates majority caucus)
Total
DemocraticLibRepublicanVacant
Begin 77th
February 2013
27015420
End 77th
November 2014
2514393
Begin 78th
February 2015
17025420
End 78th
November 2016
124420
Begin 79th
February 2017
27015420
September 22, 2017[2]
14411
End 79th
November 2018
Begin 80th
February 2019
29013420
May 4, 2019[3]28411
Begin 81st
February 2021
26016420
Begin 82nd
February 2023
28014420
Latest voting share67%33%

Leadership of the Assembly

The Speaker of the Assembly presides over the Assembly in the chief leadership position, controlling the flow of legislation and committee assignments. The Speaker is elected by the majority party caucus, followed by confirmation of the full Assembly on passage of a floor vote. Other Assembly leaders, such as the majority and minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses according to each party's strength in the chamber.

PositionNamePartyDistrict
SpeakerSteve YeagerDemocratic9
Speaker pro temporeDaniele Monroe-MorenoDemocratic1
Majority LeaderSandra JaureguiDemocratic41
Assistant Majority Floor LeaderVacantDemocratic
Majority WhipHoward Watts IIIDemocratic15
Assistant Majority Whip (North)Sarah PetersDemocratic24
Assistant Majority Whip (South)Selena TorresDemocratic3
Minority LeaderP. K. O'NeillRepublican40
Assistant Minority Leader (North)Jill DickmanRepublican31
Assistant Minority Leader (South)Danielle GallantRepublican23
Minority WhipRich DeLongRepublican26

Members

DistrictNamePartyResidenceFirst elected/appointedTerm
1Daniele Monroe-MorenoDemocraticNorth Las Vegas20164th
2Heidi KasamaRepublicanLas Vegas20202nd
3Selena TorresDemocraticLas Vegas20183rd
4Richard McArthurRepublicanLas Vegas2008, 2016, 2020[a]5th
5Brittney MillerDemocraticLas Vegas20164th
6Shondra Summers-ArmstrongDemocraticLas Vegas20202nd
7Vacant[4]
8Duy NguyenDemocraticLas Vegas20221st
9Steve YeagerDemocraticLas Vegas20164th
10Vacant[5]
11Bea DuranDemocraticNorth Las Vegas2018†3rd
12Max CarterDemocraticLas Vegas20221st
13Brian HibbettsRepublicanLas Vegas20221st
14Erica MoscaDemocraticLas Vegas20221st
15Howard Watts IIIDemocraticLas Vegas20183rd
16Cecelia GonzálezDemocraticLas Vegas20202nd
17Clara ThomasDemocraticNorth Las Vegas20202nd
18Venicia ConsidineDemocraticLas Vegas20202nd
19Toby YurekRepublicanHenderson20221st
20David OrentlicherDemocraticLas Vegas20202nd
21Elaine MarzolaDemocraticHenderson20202nd
22Melissa HardyRepublicanHenderson20183rd
23Danielle GallantRepublicanLas Vegas20221st
24Sarah PetersDemocraticReno20183rd
25Selena La Rue HatchDemocraticReno20221st
26Rich DeLongRepublicanReno20221st
27Angie TaylorDemocraticReno20221st
28Reuben D'SilvaDemocraticLas Vegas20221st
29Lesley CohenDemocraticHenderson2012†, 2016[b]5th
30Natha AndersonDemocraticSparks20202nd
31Jill DickmanRepublicanSparks2014, 2020[c]3rd
32Alexis HansenRepublicanSparks20183rd
33Bert GurrRepublicanElko20221st
34Shannon Bilbray-AxelrodDemocraticLas Vegas20164th
35Michelle GorelowDemocraticLas Vegas20183rd
36Gregory Hafen IIRepublicanPahrump2018†3rd
37Shea BackusDemocraticLas Vegas2018, 2022[d]2nd
38Gregory KoenigRepublicanFallon20221st
39Ken GrayRepublicanDayton20221st
40P. K. O'NeillRepublicanCarson City2014, 2020[e]3rd
41Sandra JaureguiDemocraticLas Vegas20164th
42Tracy Brown-MayDemocraticLas Vegas2021†2nd
  • † Member was originally appointed.

Past composition of the Assembly

See also

Notes

  1. ^ McArthur served nonconsecutive terms between 2008-2012 and 2016-2018.
  2. ^ Cohen served a nonconsecutive term between 2012-2014.
  3. ^ Dickman served a nonconsecutive term between 2014-2016.
  4. ^ Backus served a nonconsecutive term between 2018-2020.
  5. ^ O'Neill served a nonconsecutive term between 2014-2016.

References

  1. ^ "Nevada State Assembly - 2011 Districts : Population Report" (PDF). Leg.state.nv.us. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  2. ^ Republican Paul Anderson (District 13) resigned to take another job. [1]
  3. ^ Democrat Tyrone Thompson (District 17) died. [2]
  4. ^ Cameron Miller resigned on October 30, 2023 to run for a seat on the Las Vegas City Council. [3]
  5. ^ Sabra Newby resigned on September 6, 2023 after being appointed as a deputy city manager of Las Vegas. [4]

External links