Tag Archives: Nevada Laws 2021

Nevada Public Lands and Resources bills passed 2021

In their 2021 session, our lawmakers in Carson City passed Bills governing all areas of the law even during the pandemic they were focused on the issues facing our State. Many of these laws focused on our public lands and natural resources here in Nevada. In fact, there were so many Bills passed in this area that this topic will be two blogs, and this is part two of two. Our legislature was busy addressing many issues regarding wildlife and endangered species on our state.

The following is one of two of a summary of the Bills regarding Natural Resources that were passed by our Nevada legislature during the 2021 session.

Natural resources (Part 1 of 2)

Assembly Bill 71: Often times, laws are passed at the urging of various political groups or through extreme lobbying efforts. Assembly Bill 71 appears to be such a Bill. This law is really about the open meeting law and access to public information. This statute requires that certain information which is related to rare plants or animals or ecological communities that is included in the data systems maintained by the Division of Natural Heritage of the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources be kept confidential. There is really no explanation for keeping specific information regarding our environment, which in the past was public information, confidential. The link below allows you to review the minutes and the meetings for the passage of each Bill. Specifically, this Bill was opposed by many community groups in our state and there was not one offering of support from the public for this Bill. In fact, this Bill was opposed by such groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Nevada Open Government Coalition, the Nevada Press Association, the ACLU of Nevada, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, the Sunrise Movement of Las Vegas, and the Great Basin Water Network. Despite unanimous public opposition offered to our legislature, this Bill was passed. The Bill received 42 votes in the assembly of which 26 were yea and 16 were nay and in our state Senate 16 votes were yea and 5 were nay. It is not unusual, sadly, for Bills that clearly, on their face, appear to be against the best interests of the general public to be passed through the efforts of lobbyists. In this case, time will tell what the reasoning was for keeping specific ecological data out of the view of the public. It is surprising that our governor did not veto this Bill.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7324/Text

Effective immediately.

Assembly Bill 72: Nevada assembly Bill 72 is another effort by our lawmakers to be inclusive of all cultures on state decision-making boards. This Act relating to the geographic names of our natural parks and resources requires that the State Board of Geographic Names include a representative of the Nevada Indian Commission as one of the 11 members on the voting board. This Bill also clarifies that the chair and vice chair of the board must be designated by the other voting members. The naming of national parks and even public places and sports teams has become the focus of great concern in recent years. We have seen protests regarding the names of certain national parks as offensive to Native Americans and even seen long-standing sports franchises change their names as a result of public pressure. This Bill is in direct response to those issues and requires that a representative of our native American community be on the board of geographic names for our state to prevent any offensive naming’s from occurring in the future regarding Native Americans.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7325/Text

Effective October 1, 2021.

Assembly Bill 84: Assembly Bill 84, again, is in response to recent tragic events in our state as well as around the country relating to wildfires. This Bill authorizes the state Forrester Fire Warden to enter into private-public partnerships and allows for the purchase of certain equipment for the early warning or detection of wildfires. As is obvious on its face, this Bill is directly aimed at attempting to prevent the massive wildfires that have ravaged our state the past several years. It is shocking to me that if there is such equipment available for the early warning and detection of such fires that this has not been purchased and used in the past. However, at least going forward maybe these tragic events can be better controlled in the future.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7354/Text

Effective October 1, 2021.

Assembly Bill 85 Assembly Bill 85 relates to agriculture and revises the provisions relating to the control of noxious weeds. In a nutshell, existing law authorized the State Quarantine Officer to declare by regulation which weeds of the state are noxious but prohibited the state quarantine officer from designating a weed as noxious if the weed was so well established in the state that the Quarantine Officer judged its control to be impractical. This Bill removed that prohibition and authorized the State Quarantine Officer to declare any weed noxious by regulation.
OK so I had to do a little digging deep to figure out why this was an issue before our legislature. In fact, the Eureka county manager opposed this Bill. Apparently, once a weed is considered to be noxious, there is a requirement to control the weed by the city or county. Weeds have a significant effect on wildfires, and this was a Bill aimed at controlling more weeds to lessen the impact of wildfires. It places the burden on counties and municipalities to be increased by requiring the control of any weed determined to be noxious by the State Quarantine Officer. The Bill was also opposed by the Nevada Mining Association. They were concerned primarily that the specific weed of cheatgrass in Nevada which is difficult to control and widespread on private and public lands. They believe this Bill will place an undue burden on private landowners already in control of extensive ranching lands to have to address the weed issues on rural lands. This is a good example of a law that seems to be inconsequential on its face but in fact can impact a very small percentage of our population in a very drastic way. It is always a balancing act of public protection versus the burden on private citizens and business https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7354/Text

Effective October 1, 2021.

Assembly Bill 86: Assembly Bill 86 creates larger legal liability for the starting of wildfires. Under existing law, a person, firm, association, or agency that willfully or negligently caused a wildfire which threatened human life could be held liable for expenses incurred in extinguishing the fire. This Bill was revised to remove the requirement that “human life is threatened.” This Bill provides expanded liability for causing any wildfire regardless of the threat to human life. Really, it is a Bill to hold big business, primarily energy companies, liable for starting wildfires. It is clear that a wildfire started by an individual really would be unaffected as most individuals do not possess the resources to even come close to covering the cost of fighting a major fire. However, this law places a greater burden on companies to make sure that their equipment is updated and functioning and less likely to cause wildfires.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7355/Text

Effective October 1, 2021.

Assembly Bill 89 Assembly Bill 89 relates to hunting licenses and authorizes the board of wildlife commissioners to establish a program where a person can transfer his or her hunting tag of a big game animal to a qualified organization for use by certain persons. The Bill further authorizes a family member of a deceased big game hunter to transfer a tag of a big game animal. In the past, big game tags were not transferable unless the person could demonstrate to the board of wildlife commissioners the existence of extenuating circumstances which caused the person to be unable to use the tag. This Bill provides a lengthy process to provide more circumstances under which these hunting tags can be transferred.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7370/Text

Various effective dates through July 1, 2021.

Assembly Bill 101: Assembly Bill 101 authorizes a licensed veterinarian to administer animal products containing him for CBD which do not contain more than .3% of THC in order to treat animals. This Bill prevents the Nevada state Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners from taking disciplinary action against a licensed veterinarian or the facility in which she or he practices for prescribing or administering CBD products to animals.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7402/Text

Effective October 1, 2021.

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New Nevada Healthcare Laws 2021

Our lawmakers in Carson City passed bills governing all areas of the law in their 2021 session, even during the pandemic they were hard at work. Many of these laws focused on healthcare. In fact, there were so many healthcare bills passed that this topic will be two blogs, and this is part one of two. Our legislature was busy addressing many inequities based upon race, immigration status and socio-economic position. They updated our Medicaid laws to provide expanded coverages to address these disparities. The Nevada legislature passed laws to require our Department of Health and Human Services to study maternal mortality rates in different demographic areas to determine the need for additional services. This study will allow our lawmakers to determine whether to laws passed expanding coverage for maternity regardless of residency and expanding coverage to allow for Doula services will cut down the maternal mortality rates impacting those communities.

They also addressed issues of drug overdose and passed into law a bill allowing school district personnel to administer life-saving opioid overdose drugs to students. It is shocking and sad that this bill is necessary. However, the fact that it is necessary, and our legislature was brave enough to step up and address the issue head on will hopefully save lives of students. This law is indicative of the progressive nature of our state. The legislature also addressed pandemic issues in allowing employees to take their sick leave to take care of family members. The following is part one of a summary of the healthcare bills that were passed by our Nevada legislature during the 2021 session.

Health and Health Care (Part 1 of 2)

Assembly Bill 59: Assembly bill 59 seemed to sneak in under the radar. I was quite surprised that there was not a lot of press or social media regarding the passage of this bill. This bill is our legislatures attempt to curb this shocking and distressing trend towards kids smoking and vaping. It is sad to see kids starting these activities at such a young age that are so bad for their long-term health. It is my hope that this bill possibly curbs this trend toward of kids under 21 using nicotine and tobacco products. This new law raises legal age to use or buy tobacco or nicotine products to 21, from 18. Various effective dates through July 1, 2021. https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7312/Text

Assembly Bill 119: Existing law establishes a Maternal Mortality and Review Committee, and that committee has traditionally been required to perform studies and make recommendations to reduce maternal mortality. This bill increases the duties of the committee to identify and review disparities in the incidence of maternal mortality in the state including disparity by race and economic position. Basically, the legislature has asked the committee to review and include in their report whether there is race and economic issues that contribute to maternal mortality so that the state can address and hopefully remedy those disparities. This law revises the duties of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee to look at factors of race, ethnicity, age, and geographic region in mortality which were not previously considered. https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7440/Text

Effective May 25, 2021.

Assembly Bill 177: Senate Bill 177 is another attempt to make our state inclusive of all races. This bill requires pharmacies to print prescription labels in different languages if requested by the patient. https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7541/Text

Effective July 1, 2022.

Assembly Bill 187: This law Designates September as “Ovarian and Prostate Cancer Prevention and Awareness Month.” Assembly bill 187 specifically designates the month of September each year as the ovarian and prostate cancer prevention and awareness month in the state of Nevada. This law is put into place to bring attention to the factual information regarding the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian and prostate cancer. Hopefully , this recognition of these terrible cancers will make our citizens more aware of the early signs of these conditions to prevent death and encourage proactive health screenings.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7618/Text

Effective May 27, 2021.

Assembly Bill 189: Expands Medicaid coverage for pregnant women. Existing law requires the department of health and human services for State of Nevada to determine coverages under Medicaid for pregnancy. This bill requires the department to expand coverage under the state plan for Medicaid for pregnant women to provide Medicaid for pregnancy without submitting an application for enrollment and Medicaid which includes additional proof of eligibility. The bill also prohibits the imposition of the requirement that a pregnant woman who resides in the state and who is otherwise eligible for Medicaid must reside in the United States for a prescribed period of time before enrolling in Medicaid. This bill is to protect the health and safety of babies born in the state of Nevada by providing proper medical care for their mothers regardless of their residency status.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7577/Text

Effective July 1, 2022.

Assembly Bill 190: Assembly bill 189 is another Covid-based law that requires private employers to allow employees to use sick-leave to take care of a family member. This new law allows certain employees to use sick leave for any purpose, including to take care of an immediate family member with illness and/or medical needs. https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7578/Text

Effective October 1, 2021.

Assembly Bill 191: Senate Bill 191 basically updates the Medicaid laws to recognize the treatment by physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners. Many of the existing laws refer to doctors; however, as we all know, we are seeing these medical providers much more frequently than medical doctors. This law allows coverage for physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners and other community health workers to be covered services under Medicaid. This law adds Medicaid coverage for services of different community health workers besides medical doctors. https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7582/Text

Effective July 1, 2021.

Assembly Bill 192: This new law changes procedures and requirements for testing pregnant women for syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases. The new law requires that physicians treating pregnant woman test for additional sexually transmitted diseases unless the pregnant women opt out of such tests. This law also removes the penalty for a woman who refuses treatment.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7583/Text

Effective July 1, 2021.

Assembly Bill 205: Bill 205 authorizes a school nurse or other designated school employee or administrator to administer medication to reverse an opioid drug overdose. Is a sad state of our country and schools that this is a necessary law. However, if any child can be saved by quick action by school personnel it is a much-needed law

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7583/Text

Various effective dates through July 1, 2021.

Assembly Bill 216: This bill adds Medicaid coverage for cognitive assessment and care planning for patients showing signs of impairment including memory loss. This bill provides that the director of Medicaid shall require that the state pay the non-federal share of expenditures incurred for patients receiving cognitive assessments and care planning services due to symptoms or signs of cognitive impairment including short term memory loss, orientation as to time in place, deductive or abstract reasoning or other cognitive impairments.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7583/Text

Effective July 1, 2021.

Assembly Bill 256: This bill requires state Medicaid to pay for Doula services for pregnant women. The law further requires that applicants seeking payment for Doula services must provide prove that they possess the require training and qualifications to perform such services that are prescribed by the department of health and human services. This law is another expansion of Medicaid coverage for services.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7720/Text

Effective January 1, 2022.

At TheOneLawyer.com, we are here to serve our community and provide legal services in the Henderson and Las Vegas area. We are a boutique law firm providing experienced and personal representation to injured clients. At the Law Offices of Laura Payne-Hunt, TheOneLawyer.com we provide professional and personal service to each and every one of our clients on various legal matters and have over 15 years of experience in reviewing insurance policies and in Nevada insurance law. If you have a question regarding any type of personal injury or paying your medical bills from an accident, please don’t hesitate to call the offices of TheOneLawyer.com and speak directly to attorney Laura Marie Payne-Hunt, Esq. a Henderson Injury Attorney for over 15 years. Laura is recognized as one of Nevada’s Top 100 Lawyers. She has the experience and knowledge to obtain the maximum settlement you deserve. Please call our office if you or a loved one is injured. We can make sure that you receive the care you need and deserve and advise on how to preserve evidence.

At the Henderson and Las Vegas Accident injury law offices of TheOneLaweyer.com, Laura Marie Payne-Hunt and her staff are here to help you and your family in the event that accidents and tragedies occur. For any of your legal needs, do not hesitate to contact our Henderson and Las Vegas Accident injury offices. TheOneLawyer.com is a boutique, family-owned law firm that specializes in helping injured people and the community of Las Vegas and Henderson Nevada with legal issues involving auto accidents, wrongful deaths, slip and falls, truck accidents, injuries to children, bicycle accidents, dog bites, product liability claims, and all types of injury claims. Please do not hesitate to call us anytime you have a legal question or you or a loved one has sustained an injury at 702-450-(HUNT) 4868 and text 24/7 at 702-600-0032.