Every two years, the Nevada Legislature meets for 120 days to craft bills and hear them in committees in the Senate and Assembly in Carson City. Bills that pass both houses go to the Governor’s desk for signature. This process started on February 3 and will end on June 2, 2025.

We, the senior community, will have many opportunities to give our opinions on these bills as they go through this process—and we don’t have to drive to Carson City to do it. The easiest way to participate is to follow bills online on the Nevada Legislature’s website at https://www.leg.state.nv.us/.

The Legislature’s web-based system is called NELIS, the Nevada Electronic Legislative Information System. You simply go to the website and register for free and sign in. Once registered, you can participate in the process by giving a short two-minute opinion on bills during hearings via your phone or a longer statement by email ahead of the hearing. You can sign up to follow up to ten bills for free (and pay to follow more), and NELIS will send you regular emails on upcoming hearings and the progress of the bills you are following.

In February, the Senior Coalition of Washoe County, a longtime local nonprofit made up of members of many local senior service groups and community members, decided to form a Legislative Team to speak up on bills affecting seniors at the current Nevada Legislature’s session.

Connie McMullen, Senior Coalition Chair and editor of Senior Spectrum, is the Coalition’s lobbyist at the Legislature this session. She will speak on the Coalition’s behalf to legislators and other government officials involved with the bills. I am helping identify and train Legislative Team members to assist Connie and to learn how to follow bills and how to give their opinions to legislators.

The Coalition’s Legislative Team members will attend some upcoming training (some in-person, some via zoom) to learn how to give their opinions on bills. They will learn how to use the Legislature’s website to watch hearings, make public comments/testify at hearings, follow bills, and send opinions in various ways (emails, letters, texts, etc.). Sometimes, they will organize trips to Carson City to attend hearings and are now planning their Washoe County Senior Coalition/AARP Nevada Senior Day at the Legislature set for April 17.

The Coalition’s plan is to identify and follow a short list of about ten major bills affecting Nevada seniors and team up with AARP Nevada on those bills. The Legislative Team will be alerted to actions related to those bills and will be able to participate when and where they can and will offer their own opinions on the legislation. The time commitment for members is expected to be a few hours a week.

The Senior Coalition meets on the first Friday of each month at 8:30am on zoom and in-person at the Washoe County Complex at 1001 E. 9^th Street. Senior Coalition membership for an individual is $25 a year and $75 for an organization. If you are interested in joining the Senior Coalition, please contact Marsy Kupfersmith at renotigertiger@yahoo.com  For more information on the Legislative Team, contact me right away at donnanorm1@yahoo.com or 775 240 2745.