Las Vegas Review-Journal (TNS), Updated May 16, 2025
A proposal to give some terminally ill patients in Nevada access to life-ending medications failed to move forward in the Legislature on Friday.
Assembly Bill 346 — which would have set up a legal framework for competent and willing terminally ill patients to self-administer life-ending drugs — has had an uncertain future all session despite bipartisan support. A similar bill made it to the governor’s desk in 2023 but was vetoed.
Gov. Joe Lombardo [pictured here] said in April he would not sign the bill this session, either. In his veto message, the Republican governor attributed his discomfort in signing the bill to medical advancements and the lack of similar policies in most other states.
Still, the bill passed out of theAssembly, 23-19, on April 17. It did not receive a hearing in the state Senate. Friday is the second house passage deadline, when bills without exemptions must be referred out of committee to be considered for a floor vote next week.
The bill had a hearing scheduled on Friday, but it was canceled. Assembly member Joe Dalia, D-Henderson, said he and co-sponsor Danielle Gallant, R-Las Vegas, kept the bill moving forward after the governor’s statement because they hoped to amend it to reach something favorable to the governor. But they realized they would not have that done in time for Friday’s deadline, he said.