Current Status
Nevada bill AB351 was introduced on March 22, 2021 by Assemblymember Edgar Flores, District 28, and Nevada bill SB105 was introduced on February 9, 2021, by Senator Dallas Harris, District 11. Follow progress on our Legislative Tracker.
Resources
Nevada State Legislature website
Death with Dignity Legislative Tracker
Polling
A 2021 survey by Public Policy Polling shows well over 70% of Nevadans support death with dignity.
Endorsements
Organizations that have expressed support for assisted dying legislation in the past include (state chapters of):
- AARP
- ACLU of Nevada
- Libertarian Party of Nevada
- National Association of Social Workers
- Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
Organizations that maintain a neutral position on the bill include
- Nevada Psychiatric Association
- Nevada State Board of Pharmacy
- Nevada State Medical Association
While this choice is not for everyone, it is a choice those of us who want or need it should have at our end of life.
History
2019
SB 165, the Nevada Death with Dignity Act, passed out of the State Senate Health Committee and did not meet the legislative deadline for passage in the full Senate.
SB 165
- Introduced on February 14, 2019
- Full text of SB 165 (2019)
- Legislative history of SB 165
- Sponsors
- Senate – primary sponsors: Senator David Parks (D-Las Vegas) and Senators Brooks, Cancela, Ratti, and Spearman
- Senate – co-sponsors: Senators Atkinson, Cannizarro, Dondero Loop, Harris, and Woodhouse
- Assembly – joint sponsors and co-sponsors: Assemblymembers Bilbray-Axelrod, Carlton, Cohen, Fumo, Swank, Yeager, and Watts
- Heard in the Nevada Senate Health and Human Services Committee (HHSC) on February 25, 2019; following a work session on March 20 the Committee passed the bill 3 to 2
- Video recording of the 2/25/19 HHSC hearing (bill overview by our Executive Director Peg Sandeen, TS 11:26; testimony by Debbie Black, Carson City resident with cancer, TS 1:28:33)
- Our Executive Director Peg Sandeen’s testimony before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee
A page from the Fall 2018 issue of our Dignity Report newsletter
2017
Nevada State Senators David Parks (D-Las Vegas), Ben Kieckhefer (R-Washoe), Tick Segerblom (D-Las Vegas), Patricia Farley (I-Las Vegas), Yvanna Cancela (D-Las Vegas), and 4 co-sponsors, and Nevada State Assemblymembers Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas), Chris Brooks (D-Las Vegas), Maggie Carlton (D-Las Vegas), Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod (D-Las Vegas), Lesley Cohen (D-Henderson) and additional 2 co-sponsors introduced SB 261, an assisted dying bill, on March 13, 2017.
The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services Committee where it was heard on May 10, 2017. A Committee work session for the bill took place on May 15, with the bill passing 3 to 2. On May 23, the full Senate passed the bill 11 to 10, and the bill moved to the Assembly.
The Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services heard the bill on May 29. The Committee did not vote on the bill. Having missed the legislative deadline, the bill did not pass.
2015
In the 2015 session the Nevada legislature considered SB 336, Patient Self-Determination Act, introduced by Senators Parks (D-Las Vegas), Kieckhefer (R-Washoe), and 5 co-sponsors on March 16, 2015. The proposed bill failed to make a committee deadline after the Health Committee chair refused to schedule a hearing for it.
Senator Parks later stated he was motivated to pass a death with dignity law in Nevada from personal conversations and interactions he had had with people who cared for terminally ill family members.
