The Nevada Senate has passed Senate Bill 109 (SB109), which allows for organs to be harvested from people, potentially including prisoners, illegal immigrants, and homeless people, without their express consent. The decision to take an organ would only come up if a “procurement organization” requested a specific organ needed, and it can’t proceed if there’s an objection from a parent/guardian or someone else authorized to decide the question. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Senator Rochelle Nguyen, must still be approved in the Assembly before it can be sent to Governor Joe Lombardo for a signature. Republican Senator Robin Titus strongly opposed the bill, stating that to assume that homeless people or immigrants without identification would agree to donating organs is wrong.
The Senate vote on SB109 occurred on the same day that the Nevada Immigrant Coalition was on the steps of the Legislature supporting bills that “protect Nevada undocumented populations’ data privacy, access to healthcare and language access.” Union members were also present in Carson City to protest the possible end of a law that would eliminate COVID-era policies on hotel room cleaning practices, which unions say would cost many people their jobs. The Culinary Union has urged the Nevada Legislature to oppose Senate Bill 441 or significantly change the law to ensure that daily room cleaning provisions are intact and enforced.
