Nevada Democrats disappointed by Lombardo vetoes but promise to keep working

Nevada State Sen. Edgar Flores, right, speaks during a legislative town hall at the Make the Road Nevada office on Washington Avenue Wednesday, July 30, 2025. With Flores are State Assemblyman Max Carter and Assemblywoman Shea Backus. Photo by: Steve Marcus

Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

Lawmakers delivered a clear message at a town hall Wednesday night hosted by the advocacy group Make the Road Nevada: The fight isn’t over.

Community members packed into a Make the Road Nevada office off East Washington Boulevard to hear Democratic lawmakers from Las Vegas — state Sen. Edgar Flores and Assemblymembers Shea Backus and Max Carter — discuss the legislative session that concluded in June.

The lawmakers celebrated the passage of Assembly Bill 420, which requires school districts in Clark and Washoe counties to report data on use of force against students, including situations where pepper spray or tasers are used.

However, they also expressed disappointment over bills vetoed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, including Assembly Bill 217, which would have prohibited school districts from granting access to district facilities or providing student or family information to authorities investigating federal immigration cases without a court order or warrant.

Lombardo also vetoed a gun safety bill that would have prohibited firearms within 100 feet on an election site, writing in his veto message that voter intimidation is already illegal.

“We need to keep vigilant, keep fighting and keep focusing on protecting the vulnerable while not letting the other side win,” Carter said. “Our communities matter. This is my community; this is your community; it’s our community and we need to stick up for each other.”

That advocacy was on full display throughout the legislative session, where Make the Road members from Las Vegas, Reno, Pahrump and Winnemucca played instrumental roles in advancing legislation, organizers said.

Community members delivered approximately 250 testimonies during the 120-day legislative session, an effort that Backus called “pretty incredible.” The achievement was particularly noteworthy given the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Nevada throughout the session, she added.

Make the Road developed a legislative agenda based on feedback from Nevada’s Latino community and collaborated with legislators like Backus, Carter and Flores to advance key bills.

The organization supported 29 bills, including streamlining the street vendor licensing process, safeguards against immigration raids, gun safety measures, securing basic rights — such as fair wages — for Nevada farmworkers and honoring Latino figures.

Lombardo ended up vetoing 87 bills.

“We have to continue doing the work,” Flores said. “These proposals, we’re going to continue to present them, but if we don’t change the leadership of the Legislature, don’t change the governor to support hardworking Nevadans, then we’re going to continue being here. We have to change hearts and minds, and these heads at this moment are not looking out for us.”

AB 217, the proposal banning immigration agents from conducting sweeps on school property, is expected to be reintroduced in the 2027 session. It passed overwhelmingly in the Democrat-controlled Assembly and state Senate before being vetoed.

“Our community feels paralyzed in many ways because of what they’re going through with the fear tactics through propaganda,” Flores said, referring to the immigration raids spurred by President Donald Trump’s vision to deport millions of migrants.

He believed that bill was a “super simple (and) commonsense approach,” but after discussions “in good faith” with Lombardo, Flores was disappointed to see that “not even our kids have the support of this governor.”

Lawmakers at the town hall were also displeased with vetoes to proposals that would have created holidays to honor Indigenous people and Chicano civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers Association with Cesar Chavez.

Carter said he heard conservative lawmakers boast about opposing these bills and said there was an “empowering of racism … clear up to the governor’s office” that they “saw over and over again.”

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