Governor Joe Lombardo's Safe Streets and Neighborhoods Act looks to soon be law in the Silver State.

Back in April, the Governor, Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks, along with many Nevada Sheriffs, came together to support the 'tough-on-crime' bill.

The proposed legislation died during the regular session, but a new, amended version of it was in the Governor's proclamation for the special session.

It passed out of both chambers and still awaits a final decision from the Governor, but in a statement sent to 2 News Nevada, a spokesperson from his office says he intends to sign it into law.

"Assembly Bill 4 marks one of Nevada’s most extensive updates to public safety in recent years. It revamps criminal justice and juvenile justice statutes, raises penalties for violent crimes, strengthens DUI offender regulations, and seeks to protect the Las Vegas Strip for workers and visitors by speeding up the handling of certain offenses," said the statement in part.

Some of the bigger changes from the bill's original language involved the retail theft threshold and lowering the qualifications for different levels of fentanyl traffickers.

"AB236, which was a criminal justice omnibus reform bill that passed in 2019, really took accountability out of our criminal justice system in a lot of ways in drug possession, theft, and I believe that's why we've seen an explosion in some of these areas," Hicks said.

DA Hicks has been a part of this process for years with Lombardo and says he thinks the legislation will do great things for the Silver State, despite not having everything they wanted.

"We started off with, you know, something we felt very good about, but that's legislation," he said. "That's the process. It's not uncommon for it to get dwindled down."

Let's take a deeper look at what Assembly Bill 4 is looking to go after.

The legislation does include a retail theft component. If someone willingly causes property damage while stealing something in a store, and the value of both the theft and the damage is $750 or more, they can be charged with a category C felony.

It also updates the state's stalking laws.

"We saw a void in our stalking laws. It just wasn't keeping up with the times, and so to be able to add the cyber stalking component, where you know you can address people stalking other individuals on social media sites, for example, is just a necessary change," Hicks said.

The legislation also expands the definition of domestic violence to include kidnapping or an attempt at other crimes associated with it.

It helps prosecutors go after repeat offenders to get bigger sentences.

The act also increases punishments for child porn possession.

"Under the old law, one person could possess, for example, one child pornography image and another person could possess a thousand, and they'd both be subjected to the same sentencing range," the DA said.

Hicks said that the current law has the same punishment range for driving under the influence (DUI) that causes bodily harm and that kills someone.

This bill looks to change that.

"If you take somebody's life because you're driving drunk, you should be facing larger penalties, and that's what this does," Hicks said. "It actually raises the potential sentence to up to 25 years in prison with parole eligibility after 10 years."

Before the bill passed out of the Senate floor, some amendments were added. The bill does not allow law enforcement officers, including the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be on school property unless they have a warrant, are conducting an investigation, are in a direct pursuit, or for educational purposes.

The Governor's Office responded to claims of this going against previous comments that Lombardo said Nevada would not be a sanctuary state.

"AB4 is in line with the state’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Justice regarding efforts to coordinate policies with federal immigration enforcement, including adherence to FERPA, a federal law that safeguards students' privacy. In reality, AB4 enhances laws against theft, domestic violence, and driving under the influence—crimes fueled by the addiction epidemic driven by cartel activity in our country." 

The bill goes into effect on January 1. The Washoe County District Attorney says he is working with his prosecutors to implement the changes and encourages law enforcement officers to start training.

There are also portions of the bill that look to not automatically seal records for people charged with abuse or neglect of a child, elderly, or vulnerable person.

A section in the bill would require juvenile court to have a child evaluated by a mental health professional if battery against a school employee or child welfare worker occurs. They would be detained until the evaluation is complete or for not more than 14 days.