Criminal Reform Bill Advancing in The Nevada Legislature

A criminal reform bill is moving ahead. The bill that seeks to roll back Nevada’s rapidly growing prison population passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. All of the republicans on the committee opposed the bill. The bill has been toughened up somewhat, with provisions that would have reduced drug possession to a misdemeanor dropped, with defendants being sent to mandatory diversion programs. The bills chief sponsor Assemblyman Steve Yeager told the Nevada Independent, he wasn’t happy about that, saying minor drug possession is a behavioral health issue more than a criminal one.