Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed a LGBTQ-related bill that would have ensured equal health insurance coverage for transgender people.

Gov. Joe Lombardo has vetoed an LGBTQ-related bill, bringing his total to 30 vetoes thus far in the 2023 session.

Senate Bill 302 would have prohibited a health care licensing board from disciplining health care providers for providing gender-affirming health care services. It would have also prohibited the governor from issuing an arrest warrant for a person who was charged in another state where it’s illegal to provide gender-affirming care.

Those services would have included hormone therapy, surgery and counseling, said Sen. James Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, during an Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor on May 17.

There are 17 states where legislatures have passed statutes in which providing or receiving gender affirming services could lead to legal consequences, Ohrenschall said.

“This not only denies these individuals access to essential health care but also subjects health care providers to the risk of losing their professional licenses, damaging their reputation and possibly facing legal sanctions” said Ohrenschall.

In his veto message, signed Saturday, Lombardo said the bill inhibits the executive branch’s ability “to be certain that all gender-affirming care related to minors” aligns with state law. He also said it erodes the executive branch’s ability to ensure child safety standards for Nevadans.

“As such, I cannot support it,” he wrote.

One trans-related bill still remains up in the air.

Senate Bill 163, Las Vegas Democrat Sen. Melanie Scheible’s bill that would require certain health insurances like Medicaid to cover the costs of treatment for gender dysphoria, passed the Senate on June 2.

The purpose of the bill is to “ensure that for anybody who is covered by a health insurance plan, that health insurance plan is prohibited from discriminating against them based on their gender identity or expression,” Scheible said during a hearing Saturday.

Whatever procedures, treatments or surgeries insurance companies cover for non-transgender people must also cover those services for people who are transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming, Scheible said.

Lombardo signed on Wednesday Senate Bill 153 that will require the Nevada Department of Corrections to adopt standards for providing medical and mental health treatment for offenders who are transgender, gender non-conforming, gender non-binary and intersex, as well as the rules for their supervision, custody and care.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact Jessica Hill at [email protected]. Follow @jess_hillyeah on Twitter. Contact Taylor R. Avery at [email protected]. Follow @travery98 on Twitter.