LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — When members of the 2025 Legislature take the oath of office in February, there will be a lot of new faces.
A total of 15 lawmakers — representing 105 years of legislative experience — will not be returning to Carson City because they ran for other offices, chose not to seek re-election, were forced to quit by term limits or were defeated.
Two former Assembly members — Angie Taylor, a Democrat from Reno, and John Ellison, a Republican from Elko — will join the state Senate. But 14 lawmakers — three in the state Senate and 11 in the Assembly — will be brand new to Carson City when they take their seats. They represent 22% of the 63-member Legislature.
One of the former lawmakers, Scott Hammond, who represented Las Vegas in the Assembly and state Senate, said experience is key to working in Carson City, where new lawmakers are often overwhelmed.
"It really was like drinking from a fire hose, because there was so much information and so quickly, that you can't really process all the information," Hammond said of his initial experience in the capital.
"Just as you think you start to know everything, then the session begins, and then that's the pressure cooker, right?"
Hammond said that while the legislative staff is professional and helpful, it takes time for new lawmakers to get their bearings.
"I think it takes at least two sessions before you really get to know where a lot of things are, and it takes about five or six sessions before you're really, really effective," he said.
David Damore, a UNLV political science professor who is executive director of The Lincy Institute and Brookings Mountain West, has studied the Legislature and agrees that new lawmakers are in for a deluge, especially in their first time in Carson City, and that the voters who sent them there don't always understand that.
"Voters don't understand, don't have the sense of how quickly things get rushed at the end [of a session] in general," Damore said. "But when you have inexperienced legislators, I think things can go off the rails a lot quicker there."
Unlike local governments, the Legislature is not subject to the Open Meeting Law, so bills can be added to agendas at the last minute and are often amended multiple times in the rush to end a session by the voter-approved 120-day deadline. Any legislation that's not finished in time is considered dead and either has to come back to the next session in two years or be approved in a special session.
WATCH: What are the statutory initiatives in Nevada?
In addition to the steep learning curve — Hammond recalls even little words making a huge difference when drafting new laws — most lawmakers have to travel to Carson City from Las Vegas and spend four months in the capital, commuting back on weekends and holidays. They receive a stipend for travel and lodging and a modest pay for their four months of service to the residents of the state.
Those residents, by the way, are generally suspicious of Carson City: They have approved a limit on the duration of the session, term limits for lawmakers and have resisted efforts to have annual sessions rather than the biennial sessions that have endured since statehood in 1864. Proposals to change those features have gone nowhere.
But both Damore and Hammond say the public should take the time to appreciate what happens in Carson City, and the people the voters send there because it has a bigger impact on the public than many higher profile races.
"The reality is, what happens in our state government has a much, much bigger impact on your quality of life than what happens in Washington, D.C.," Damore said. "You're going to determine zoning at the local level, it's going to determine funding for education and social services. So people sort of don't make that connection the way that they should."
Said Hammond: "I think it is of paramount importance while we're having a discussion because those are the people that have more effect on your day-to-day life than the president of the United States."
WATCH: Here are your 13 takeaways from the 2024 election
Saying goodbye
Here's a look at the lawmakers who won't be returning to Carson City for the next session and the reasons for their departure.
State Sen. Pete Goicoechea, R-Elko, was forced to retire by term limits after serving a combined 22 years in the Assembly and state Senate. He represented a sprawling district that stretched from the Idaho border down the entire eastern half of the state to Primm, at the southern border with California, and was known for championing rural Nevada issues including the use of public lands.
State Sen. Scott Hammond, R-Las Vegas, left last year to take a state job after serving one term in the Assembly and three terms in the state Senate. He would have been prohibited from running again under term limits. Hammond was known for his efforts to increase school choice in Nevada.
State Sen. Dallas Harris, D-Las Vegas, was defeated for re-election. Harris was first appointed in 2018 and was elected in 2020. In the 2023 session, she chaired the Growth and Infrastructure Committee. She successfully passed a bill prohibiting people convicted of hate crimes from possessing firearms, but that bill was vetoed by Gov. Joe Lombardo.
State Sen. Heidi Seevers-Gansert, R-Reno, opted not to run for re-election. She served three terms in the Assembly before being elected to the state Senate in 2016 and serving two terms. She was the Republican leader in the Senate during the 2023 session. During the 2021 redistricting, Gansert's seat was redrawn to favor Democrats.
State Sen. Pat Spearman, D-North Las Vegas, didn't run again because of term limits. She served 12 years in Carson City and is most well-known for pushing for an equal rights amendment for the Nevada Constitution that took effect in 2022.
Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod, D-Las Vegas, who chaired the Assembly Education Committee, left after serving four terms to run unsuccessfully for an open seat on the Clark County Commission.
Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen, D-Henderson, chose not to run for re-election. Cohen served one term from 2012 to 2014, was defeated, but returned in 2016 and served until this year. She chaired the Assembly Revenue Committee in the 2021 session and the Natural Resources Committee in the 2023 session.
Assemblywoman Bea Duran, D-Las Vegas, was appointed to the Assembly in 2018, after then-Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz was elected to the Ward 3 seat on the Las Vegas City Council. She was elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2022. Before serving in the Legislature, she worked as a server at the Four Queens and worked to bring union representation to the property. She later worked for the Culinary Union Local 226.
Assemblywoman Michelle Gorelow, D-Las Vegas, was first elected in 2018 and served three terms, chairing the Legislative Operations and Elections Committee in her final session. She chose not to run for re-election. In 2023, it was reported Gorelow had directed money in a funding bill to a nonprofit organization for which she was going to work.
Assemblyman Richard McArthur, R-Las Vegas, served five terms total in three different stints, before leaving this year to run unsuccessfully for state Senate. A former FBI special agent, McArthur waged a lonely crusade in his final session to cap the number of bills that lawmakers are allowed to introduce in each session, in the hopes of cutting down on the crush of legislation. His bill died in a committee.
Assemblyman Cameron C.H. Miller, D-North Las Vegas, who served four years, chose not to seek re-election and instead ran for the open Ward 5 seat on the Las Vegas City Council. He was defeated in that race by fellow Democratic Assemblywoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong, D-Las Vegas, who also had four years of service.
Assemblywoman Sabra Smith Newby, D-Las Vegas, who was appointed to the Assembly in January 2023 to fill a vacancy created when state Sen. Rochelle Nguyen was elected to the upper house, resigned after the 2023 session to take a job as assistant city manager with the city of Las Vegas.
Assemblywoman Sarah Peters, D-Reno, chose not to seek re-election after serving three terms. She was chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee in her final term.
Assemblywoman Angie Taylor, D-Reno, served one term before running successfully to replace former state Sen. Heidi Seevers-Gansert in the state Senate. She was one of three lawmakers to take over a seat previously represented by a member of the other party. (The others were Republican Lori Rogich in Senate District 11, and Dr. Rebecca Edgeworth in Assembly District 35, Gorelow's former seat.)
Assemblywoman Clara "Claire" Thomas, D-North Las Vegas, served four years before leaving to run unsuccessfully this year for the open state Senate seat held by Spearman. An Air Force veteran, Thomas during the 2023 session differed with state Sen. Dina Neal, also D-North Las Vegas, over a bill that Thomas alleged Neal was using to retaliate against the city of North Las Vegas.
Do you have a question about politics, elections or the Nevada Legislature? Email Steve using the Ask Steve linkon our website and he will endeavor to answer via email, on air or online.