AN ACT relating to collective bargaining; authorizing collective bargaining for certain state employees; providing for the recognition of professional organizations; providing for the establishment of bargaining units and the designation of exclusive representatives; establishing certain rights for professional organizations and professional employees; establishing procedures for collective bargaining and for making collective bargaining agreements; authorizing the Government Employee-Management Relations Board to collect certain fees; prohibiting certain practices relating to collective bargaining; authorizing a state professional employer to use the services of the Division of Human Resource Management of the Department of Administration and the Attorney General for certain purposes; authorizing the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada to conduct collective bargaining negotiations and enter into collective bargaining agreements with certain employees; providing a civil penalty; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Sponsored By: Erica P. Roth (Democratic), Natha C. Anderson (Democratic), Steve Yeager (Democratic), Roberta Lange (Democratic)
Failed
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
16 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 4 costs, 9 mixed.
Unlawful state worker strikes bring steep penalties
A strike started or continued against a court order can bring fines up to $50,000 per day for the organization. A responsible officer can face fines up to $1,000 per day or imprisonment. Courts can also dismiss or suspend participating state employees.
State workers gain protections against unfair practices
The law bars specified willful interference, discrimination, retaliation, and refusals to bargain by employers and professional organizations. Race protections include hair texture and protective hairstyles, and state employers must provide breastfeeding accommodations. The labor relations Board can order remedies, restore benefits, and award reasonable costs and attorney fees. Complaints must be filed within six months; hearings generally occur within 180 days after the Board decides to hear them. Certain violations require hearings within 45 days, and decisions generally are due within 120 days after a hearing.
University workers gain bargaining agreement protections
Beginning July 1, 2025, the Board of Regents can negotiate agreements for university employees meeting the law’s professional-employee definition. The Regents handle bargaining and the employer’s representation in discipline, investigations, and grievances for the system’s unclassified personnel. For covered student employees, graduate assistants, resident physicians, and postdoctoral fellows, agreements override conflicting Regents personnel rules. The same priority applies to covered employees working on the Institute’s contractual or sponsored research. These rules do not guarantee specific pay or benefit increases.
State worker agreements continue, but funding matters
Existing agreement terms stay in force after expiration until a new agreement takes effect. Lawful agreement terms override conflicting employer policies, but cannot override statutes unless the Legislature changes them. Terms needing legislative funding apply only to the amount funded. Either side can reopen only an underfunded term; the agreement’s remaining terms stay in force. Employers must include agreement funding in their budgets, and the Governor must explain funding shortfalls.
State workers bargain over pay, with limits
State employers and exclusive representatives must bargain over pay, leave, work hours, discipline, safety, and listed workplace policies. Insurance and health benefits are included, except pensions, Public Employees’ Benefits Program benefits, and deferred compensation participation. Employers keep authority over hiring, work assignments, services, and public safety, with limits on disciplinary transfers. Employers must provide reasonably requested, necessary bargaining data kept in normal business, but not their negotiators’ advice or training. Bargaining does not guarantee higher pay or better benefits.
State workers gain organizing and representation rights
Covered Nevada state workers can organize, join a professional organization, or choose not to participate without membership-based discrimination. Employers must recognize organizations that submit required governing documents, officer lists, and information identifying the workers they seek to represent. Recognized organizations gain workplace, communication, meeting, and onboarding access, subject to reasonable employer rules and bargaining agreements. In represented units, only the exclusive representative gets these special access and representation rights, apart from access open to the public. That representative must serve every worker in the unit, including nonmembers, and bargain in good faith.
State workers gain workplace dispute protections
Covered workers can raise grievances directly; settlements must follow their agreement, and exclusive representatives get participation opportunities and settlement copies. Agreements must provide a grievance process for all unit workers, ending in binding arbitration. For claims under NRS 281.755, workers must choose that process or the NRS 288.115 process and cannot switch after filing. Workers can bring a lawyer or chosen representative to questioning or investigations that may lead to dismissal, demotion, suspension, pay cuts, restitution, or similar action. Written waivers and statutory or agreement limits apply; employers cannot retaliate for using the representation right.
Bargaining judgments generally spare personal assets
Professional organizations and state professional employers can sue or be sued as entities under the bargaining law. Judgments against those entities do not make individuals or their personal assets liable under these provisions. Another statute can specifically provide an exception.
Emergencies can suspend state worker agreements
During a state-proclaimed emergency or disaster, state professional employers can suspend some or all bargaining agreement terms. Suspension must be necessary to carry out employer responsibilities and cannot last beyond the emergency or disaster. Such action does not count as refusing to bargain in good faith.
Public access to bargaining proceedings is limited
Specified bargaining talks, mediation, arbitration, and employer meetings with management representatives are exempt from public-meeting requirements. The exemption also covers Board deliberations on complaints, appeals, and requests to clarify legal rights. Beginning July 1, 2025, these closure rules take priority over general open-meeting rules. Records covered by sections 28 or 45 are exceptions to Nevada’s general public-records access rule. Agreement ratification still requires a public hearing before the Regents or State Board of Examiners.
State employers pay bargaining administration fees
State employers with recognized organizations owe an annual Board fee of up to $10 per qualifying represented employee. Counts use the first pay period of the preceding fiscal year, regardless of organization membership or full-year employment. Payment is due July 31; employers cannot pass this fee to employees and face penalties up to $10 per unpaid employee. Employers choosing Human Resource Management support can owe another annual per-employee fee, with its amount and payment date set by the Division. Employers using Attorney General services can also be charged; the law states no amount.
Binding arbitration resolves state worker bargaining disputes
Negotiations must begin within 60 calendar days after written notice to bargain. After 120 calendar days without agreement, either side can request federal mediation, unless both agree in writing to a later date. The mediator has 21 days to resolve the dispute; failed mediation leads to arbitration, with costs split equally. Arbitration begins within 15 days of appointment, and a decision is due within 15 days after proceedings end. The arbitrator chooses one final offer unchanged, using job comparisons, consumer prices, and employer finances; the decision is binding.
Existing state worker agreements get transition protection
The transition date is the later of July 1, 2025, or the first July 1 after enactment. Existing bargaining groups and representatives continue covering the same workers until changed under the law. Conflicting amendments do not apply during the current term of an agreement made before that date. The amendments apply to extensions, renewals, and agreements made on or after that date.
State worker bargaining groups face membership limits
Employers must consult professional organizations when forming bargaining groups, using shared work interests as the main guide. Managers and confidential employees are excluded; supervisors cannot share a group with the workers they supervise. Confidential employees can still join group benefit plans offered by the group they otherwise belong in. Nevada’s higher education system has special shared-interest presumptions for occupational groups and some branch-based academic faculty. The labor relations Board decides disputes over whether an employee is a supervisor.
State workers can authorize payroll dues payments
State employees can request payroll payments to professional organizations in writing, including electronic authorization allowed by state law. For covered professional employees, employers must withhold authorized dues or similar fees for a recognized organization. Authorization binds employees for its stated period; revocation follows its terms, and the organization must process it promptly. In represented units, payroll withholding is limited to the exclusive representative’s dues or similar fees. The law does not require employees to join or authorize payments.
State workers get rules for choosing representatives
Without an existing representative, verified support above 50% lets an organization become the exclusive representative without an election. Support from 30% through 50% allows a requested election, with no election in the previous 12 months. Changing or ending existing representation requires verified support above 50%. When the agreement-expiration rule applies, requests must be filed 225 to 270 calendar days before expiration. A majority of votes cast chooses an organization or no exclusive representation.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
Erica P. Roth
Democratic • House
Natha C. Anderson
Democratic • House
Steve Yeager
Democratic • House
Roberta Lange
Democratic • Senate
Cosponsors
Angela D. Taylor
Democratic • Senate
Brittney M. Miller
Democratic • House
Cecelia González
Democratic • House
Cinthia Zermeño Moore
Democratic • House
Daniele Monroe-Moreno
Democratic • House
David Orentlicher
Democratic • House
Duy Nguyen
Democratic • House
Elaine H. Marzola
Democratic • House
Erica Mosca
Democratic • House
Hanadi Nadeem
Democratic • House
Heather Goulding
Democratic • House
Howard Watts
Democratic • House
Joe Dalia
Democratic • House
Jovan A. Jackson
Democratic • House
Linda F. Hunt
Democratic • House
Max E. Carter II
Democratic • House
Reuben D'Silva
Democratic • House
Sandra Jauregui
Democratic • House
Selena La Rue Hatch
Democratic • House
Selena Torres-Fossett
Democratic • House
Shea M. Backus
Democratic • House
Tanya P. Flanagan
Democratic • House
Tracy Brown-May
Democratic • House
Venicia Considine
Democratic • House
Venise Karris
Democratic • House
Fabian Doñate
Democratic • Senate
Julie Pazina
Democratic • Senate
Michelee "Shelly" Cruz-Crawford
Democratic • Senate
Nicole J. Cannizzaro
Democratic • Senate
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
Actions Timeline
(No further action taken.)
6/3/2025HouseFrom printer. To engrossment. Engrossed. First reprint. To committee.
4/15/2025HouseTo printer.
4/14/2025HouseRereferred to Committee on Ways and Means. Exemption effective.
4/14/2025HouseTaken from General File.
4/14/2025HouseRead second time. Amended. (Amend. No. 72.)
4/14/2025HouseFrom committee: Amend, and do pass as amended.
4/10/2025HouseNotice of eligibility for exemption.
3/9/2025HouseFrom printer. To committee.
2/5/2025HouseTo printer.
2/4/2025HouseRead first time.
2/4/2025HouseReferred to Committee on Government Affairs.
2/3/2025HousePrefiled.
2/3/2025House
Bill Text
As Introduced
Reprint 1
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