Nevada : 2025 Regular Session : BILL SB6
Makes an appropriation to the Desert Research Institute of the Nevada System of Higher Education to support the Nevada State Cloud Seeding Program. (BDR S-389)
Sponsor: Sen Natural Resources
Bill Details
AN ACT making an appropriation to the Desert Research Institute of the Nevada System of Higher Education to support the Nevada State Cloud Seeding Program; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
GeoLawWatch Bill Summary
SB 6 appropriates $1.2 million over two fiscal years ($600,000 each in FY 2025-2026 and FY 2026-2027) from the State General Fund to the Desert Research Institute of the Nevada System of Higher Education to support the Nevada State Cloud Seeding Program.
The Desert Research Institute is required to submit expenditure reports to the Interim Finance Committee by September 1, 2026 covering the first fiscal year's spending, and by September 1, 2027 covering the second fiscal year's spending.
Sunset provisions require that any unspent balance at the end of each fiscal year cannot be committed for expenditure after June 30 of that year, cannot be spent for any purpose after September 18, 2026 and September 17, 2027, respectively, and must revert to the State General Fund by those dates.
The bill contains no regulatory provisions or restrictions on cloud seeding activities. This represents the continuation of Nevada's biennial funding cycle for state-sponsored weather modification.
History
SB 6 was prefiled on October 16, 2024 by the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, making it one of the earliest bills of the 2025 session. The committee sponsorship rather than individual legislator sponsorship indicates this was treated as an institutional priority. The bill was read for the first time on February 3, 2025 and referred to committee.
The bill received a notice of eligibility for exemption on March 10, 2025, and the Natural Resources Committee reported it favorably on April 3, 2025. After second reading on April 7, the bill was re-referred to the Finance Committee—a standard procedural step for appropriations measures—where it remained until late in the session.
Finance reported the bill favorably on May 27, 2025, and it passed the Senate unanimously (21-0) the same day. The Assembly referred it to Ways and Means, which reported it out on June 1, 2025. The bill passed third reading in the Assembly on June 2, 2025 with near-unanimous support (39-3)—notably, the only votes against the cloud seeding program in either chamber during the three recorded floor votes since 2023.
Governor Lombardo signed the bill on June 9, 2025. It became Chapter 434 of the 2025 Session Laws, effective July 1, 2025. This marks the continuation of biennial funding that began with SB 99 in 2023, establishing the Nevada State Cloud Seeding Program as ongoing state-funded infrastructure.
- Wed 16 Oct 2024 Prefiled. Referred to Committee on Natural Resources. To printer.
- Wed 23 Oct 2024 From printer.
- Mon 03 Feb 2025 Read first time. To committee.
- Mon 10 Mar 2025 Notice of eligibility for exemption.
- Thu 03 Apr 2025 From committee: Do pass.
- Mon 07 Apr 2025 Read second time.
- Mon 07 Apr 2025 Taken from General File. Re-referred to Committee on Finance. Exemption effective. To committee.
- Tue 27 May 2025 From committee: Do pass.
- Tue 27 May 2025 Placed on General File.
- Tue 27 May 2025 Read third time. Passed. Title approved. (Yeas: 21, Nays: None.) To Assembly.
- Tue 27 May 2025 In Assembly.
- Tue 27 May 2025 Read first time. Referred to Committee on Ways and Means. To committee.
- Sun 01 Jun 2025 From committee: Do pass.
- Sun 01 Jun 2025 Placed on Second Reading File.
- Sun 01 Jun 2025 Read second time.
- Mon 02 Jun 2025 Read third time. Passed. Title approved. (Yeas: 39, Nays: 3.) To Senate.
- Tue 03 Jun 2025 In Senate.
- Wed 04 Jun 2025 To enrollment.
- Thu 05 Jun 2025 Enrolled and delivered to Governor.
- Mon 09 Jun 2025 Approved by the Governor. Chapter 434. (Effective July 1, 2025)
Consolidated Bill Text
Senate Bill No. 6 — Committee on Natural Resources
CHAPTER 434
AN ACT making an appropriation to the Desert Research Institute of the Nevada System of Higher Education to support the Nevada State Cloud Seeding Program; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. 1. There is hereby appropriated from the State General Fund to the Desert Research Institute of the Nevada System of Higher Education to support the Nevada State Cloud Seeding Program administered by the Desert Research Institute the following sums:
For the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 ................................. $600,000
For the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 ................................. $600,000
The Desert Research Institute shall:
(a) Prepare and transmit a report to the Interim Finance Committee on or before September 1, 2026, that describes each expenditure made from the money appropriated by subsection 1 from the date on which the money was received by the Desert Research Institute through June 30, 2026; and
(b) Prepare and transmit a report to the Interim Finance Committee on or before September 1, 2027, that describes each expenditure made from the money appropriated by subsection 1 from the date on which the money was received by the Desert Research Institute through June 30, 2027.
Sec. 2. Any balance of the sums appropriated by section 1 remaining at the end of the respective fiscal years must not be committed for expenditure after June 30 of the respective fiscal years by the entity to which the appropriation is made or any entity to which money from the appropriation is granted or otherwise transferred in any manner, and any portion of the appropriated money remaining must not be spent for any purpose after September 18, 2026, and September 17, 2027, respectively, by either the entity to which the money was appropriated or the entity to which the money was subsequently granted or transferred, and must be reverted to the State General Fund on or before September 18, 2026, and September 17, 2027, respectively.
Sec. 3. This act becomes effective on July 1, 2025.