If you’ve never sat through a city council or school board meeting in Nevada, here’s how it works:
The agenda gets posted. The public shows up. People speak. Votes happen out in the open.
That’s the rule for almost every public body in this state.
Except the Legislature.
A recent analysis from Nevada Policy Institute says 2025 showed Carson City has a transparency problem. And it’s getting worse.
One Law for You, Another for Carson City
Nevada’s Open Meetings Law exists for a reason. It’s supposed to keep government honest by letting the public see decisions being made.
Lawmakers exempted themselves from that law decades ago. When they updated it in 2013, they didn’t fix the loophole. They locked it in tighter.
The result is a Legislature that can move fast, behind closed doors, with little warning to the people affected.
The 2025 regular session and the 36th Special Session put that problem on full display.
Rushed Into Session
The special session was announced on a Wednesday night. Lawmakers were back in Carson City hours later.
Special sessions are meant for real emergencies. Fires. Floods. Budget collapses.
What Nevadans got instead were major policy fights rushed through with late bill language and limited chances for public input.
Nevada Policy says the process further damaged public trust.
When Did Subsidies for Hollywood Become an Emergency?
The best example was the film tax credit push.
Assembly leaders used rarely seen procedural moves to keep the bill alive. There was an hour-long recess while votes were counted.
Some lawmakers were allowed to vote remotely after the bill was labeled an emergency.
The public didn’t get the same treatment. Remote testimony was restricted by legislative leadership and session rules.
One lawmaker even voted remotely from her office to prove a point. If subsidizing movies counts as an emergency, then the word doesn’t mean much anymore.
Back From the Dead
Then there was Senate Bill 10.
It had already failed during the regular session. A similar bill had already been vetoed by Governor Joe Lombardo. It wasn’t even on the special session agenda.
Still, lawmakers tried to revive it using a novel legal maneuver. The bill failed again, but the attempt raised eyebrows.
For conservatives, the issue isn’t whether you liked the bill. It’s whether rules matter when leadership wants a different outcome.
Last-Minute Rules for Your Ballot
The final controversy came in the last hour of the session.
Senate Joint Resolution 1 was introduced and passed with little debate. It would require mail ballots to be sent to all Nevada voters unless they opt out. It also expanded ballot drop box hours and locations.
Supporters say it makes voting easier. Critics warn it raises ballot harvesting risks and invites mistakes.
Either way, changing election rules at the last minute during a special session doesn’t exactly scream “We’ve thought this through.”
The Cost of Closed Doors
Nevada Policy’s conclusion is blunt: None of these moves looked like real emergencies. They looked like power being exercised without accountability.
This isn’t about left versus right. It’s about trust.
If school boards and city councils have to follow open meeting rules, lawmakers should too.
As Nevada heads toward the 2026 session and major election fights, transparency is becoming a front-line issue. Voters may disagree on policy. That’s normal.
But most Nevadans agree on this.
Government shouldn’t write the rules, dodge them, and expect people to stay quiet about it.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology was used in the research, writing, and production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
