News - May 1, 2025 - by Ray Hagar

- Click for Full Interview

Gov. Lombardo has already said he would veto it.

Influential Nevada religious leaders have already taken ads out in major newspapers praising the governor for his stance.

But that has not stopped freshman Assemblymember Joe Dalia, D-Henderson, in leading an uphill battle to get his "Death With Dignity" bill passed in the Nevada Legislature and made into law.

Dalia's AB346 would allow physician-assisted suicides in painful end-of-life situations. It would mirror similar laws in 11 states, including California, Colorado and Montana.

Dalia said on Nevada Newsmakers this week that he feels a lot of pressure to get the bill approved.

"This is the only bill where if I don't get this passed, folks are going to die badly for the next two years," he told host Sam Shad.

"I've put a lot of pressure on myself," Dalia said. "I also feel like my co-sponsor (Assm. Danielle Gallant, R-LV) and I are just aware of the gravity of it. And we know that this is a bill that's going to impact a lot of people."

Dalia's personal story only adds to his self-imposed pressure.

He recently watched his father die a slow and painful death -- with prolonged suffering from end-stage COPD -- because physician-assisted suicide is not allowed in Nevada.

"That (father's death) just underscores how -- in a state that values personal autonomy so intensely -- for my dad to have this death sentence thrust upon him, this horrible death sentence that he had to live out in slow motion ....

"It was wrong," Dalia continued, suppressing emotions as he spoke. "And I think that personal experience is a big part of why I was willing to bring this piece of legislation."

The 2025 session marks the sixth time some lawmakers have tried to pass a law allowing for physician-assisted suicide. Yet this time is different, Dalia said. No longer is this subject debated on party lines. The AB346 co-sponsor, Assm. Gallant, voted against the measure in the 2023 session.

This session, the measure also received three Republican votes when it passed its first big test, winning the Assembly floor vote, 23-19. Now it heads to the state Senate.

"That's a new record, right?" Dalia said about the three GOP votes that AB346 received -- from Gallant, Rebecca Edgeworth of Las Vegas and Bert Gurr of Elko, whose District 33 includes White Pine County and parts of four other rural counties.

."That switched it to a bipartisan piece of legislation," Dalia said. "It was really important for me to have (Republican) Danielle Gallant as a co-sponsor in the beginning, because that really hammered home that this is something that crosses party lines."

Dalia hopes to blur party divisions even more as the legislative process continues with the Death With Dignity bill.

"So, you know, we're seeing some development there and some momentum towards making this something that isn't going to be viewed in those red-versus-blue terms," Dalia said.

However, the bipartisan support was somewhat expected before the vote was taken on the Assembly floor, Dalia suggested..

"I wasn't surprised by the vote total because I knew from private conversations we had folks who were supportive of this," Dalia said. "And as we continue forward, we might see momentum continue to build."

In 2023, the Death With Dignity bill passed the state Senate by one vote, 11-10. If it makes it past the Upper House in 2025, the governor would be a "tough sell."

The recent newspaper advertisements urging Lombardo to veto the bill were signed by leaders from the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other denominations. Catholics and LDS are the two largest religious groups in Nevada.

It would be surprising to some if Lombardo did not side with the church leaders. The first signee of the letter was the Most Reverend George Leo Thomas, Catholic leader of Nevada and Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Las Vegas.

"Assisted suicide conveys the message that human life is expendable, and that persons have diminished worth when they become weak, vulnerable or unproductive," church leaders wrote to Lombardo in their ad.

Yet Dalia hopes to sway Lombardo.

"It's about having those conversations with the governor's team to make sure this is getting closer to a place where he can feel comfortable signing it," Dalia said.

Dalia was surprised Lombardo posted on social media against the bill at this stage of the legislative process.

"I mean, you never want to find out the fate of your bill on social media," Dalia said. "That's a very 2025 result. But I was a little surprised by the timing of that because with so much of the session left, I thought maybe we could still have that conversation continue."

The governor's veto message in 2023, his recent social media post and what doctors told Dalia as his dad was painfully dying all had a similar message, Dalia said.

"What they (doctors) said was almost exactly what the veto message said last session and what the tweet said this session," Dalia said. "(They said) advanced pain management and palliative care have advanced so far that you're going to be fine."

That, painfully, did not turn out to be the case.

"We got to that day," Dalia said. "That's obviously not how it went. It was a really, really rough way to see him go because he was afraid and struggling the entire time.

"He was conscious, but couldn't talk because of the breathing," Dalia continued. "But you can tell through his eyes how he was non-verbally communicating with us, that he was aware of what was happening. And when he did get some words out, he said, she (doctor) lied. She promised. This effing sucks."

Those memories keep the underdog Dalia battling.

"I knew when we were walking into this that the odds were going to be long," he said about launching the effort for the Death With Dignity bill. "But I just think about my dad and I think about the patients like him that are suffering, some of whom have reached out and indicated that they really hope this passes so that they can take advantage of it."

- Click for Full Interview