All Roll Calls
Yes: 61 • No: 2
NevadaSB46683rd Regular Session (2025)SenateWALLET
AN ACT relating to public safety; transferring the authority to regulate and permit food establishments from the Division of Public and Behavioral Health of the Department of Health and Human Services to the State Department of Agriculture; transferring the authority of the State Board of Health to adopt, amend and enforce regulations to provide for the sanitary protection of water and food supplies to the State Department of Agriculture; repealing various provisions governing food establishments; requiring, with certain exceptions, a county to pay an assessment to the Department for services relating to food establishments; revising provisions relating to cottage food operations; revising provisions relating to farm-to-fork events; revising provisions relating to the purchase or use of hemp or commodities or products made using hemp by certain persons who operate a food establishment; providing penalties; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Sponsored By: Senate Committee on Finance
Signed by Governor
BDR 51-1121
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
20 provisions identified: 6 benefits, 4 costs, 10 mixed.
Rules for cottage and craft foods
You can register as a cottage food operator to sell prepackaged food directly to people. Your yearly gross sales must be $100,000 or less; starting in fiscal year 2026–2027, the Department adjusts this cap each year for inflation and posts it by September 30. Labels must include the required “MADE IN A COTTAGE FOOD OPERATION...” warning, and sales must be in person only. Craft food operators making acidified foods have a $35,000 yearly cap and similar direct‑sale and labeling limits. Selling home‑prepared food otherwise needs a state permit. Nonprofits may occasionally sell on their own premises without a permit; off‑site sales need a permit. Local zoning cannot ban cottage food operations.
Inspections and penalties for food establishments
Inspectors give written notices that list violations and set a correction deadline. Temporary stands get no more than 24 hours to fix issues. Notices can be hand‑delivered, mailed, or emailed (for most types). The authority can suspend or revoke permits, hold or destroy unsafe food after a hearing, and require testing when a major hazard is suspected. Businesses must keep test records for two years and report positive results within 24 hours.
More hemp and CBD product options
Licensed cannabis producers may sell hemp‑made goods and CBD products to cannabis retailers. Retailers may sell hemp goods and CBD products with THC at or below 0.3%. Foods with an approved hemp ingredient are not called adulterated just for that reason.
Food safety moves to Agriculture
Beginning July 1, 2025, the State Department of Agriculture regulates and permits food businesses. Local health boards can adopt food rules that, once approved by the Department, take effect and can replace state rules. Existing local health rules stay in force and are deemed approved. Prior regulations, contracts, and actions remain valid under the new agency. Peace officers must help the food safety authority when asked.
Stronger health protections in food businesses
Smoking indoors is banned in restaurants and other indoor public places, with limited exceptions in law. If the authority suspects a food worker could spread disease, it may investigate, require exams, and exclude the worker or close the business until the danger passes. If a county requires physical exams for food handlers, each worker pays no more than $5 total for any required exams in any two‑year period.
Tougher inspections and safety penalties
The food safety authority inspects every food business at least once a year and can reinspect as needed. Inspectors may enter at reasonable times, review records, and must give an inspection report. Most violations are misdemeanors, and courts can order violators to stop. County district attorneys must prosecute violations. It is a gross misdemeanor to knowingly sell meat from a diseased animal or unstamped shellfish. Slaughterhouses that do not follow this chapter are treated as insanitary and face civil penalties.
Fines for under‑21 in smoking bars
In age‑restricted stand‑alone bars, taverns, or saloons, letting someone under 21 loiter in smoking areas is a misdemeanor for the worker who allows it. The business pays $1,000 for a first civil offense and $2,000 for a second or later offense. Believing the person was 21 or older is not a defense.
State permit controls local licenses
You must get a state food permit before a city or county can license your food business. If the state revokes your permit, your local license is revoked too. You cannot get a new local license until your state permit is valid again. The authority notifies local licensing offices of state revocations.
Certified farm producers: fees and exemptions
The Department may charge cost‑based fees to certify you as an actual producer and to inspect for that certification. If you hold that certification, you are exempt from certain taxes, permit fees, and inspections when selling unprocessed farm products.
County assessments may rise; some exempt
Starting July 1, 2025, the Department reviews its budget, current food‑business fees, and county assessments. It may raise assessments and fees to keep the program solvent. Counties with an Interim Finance Committee exemption as of June 30, 2025 remain exempt from the new agriculture assessment.
Farm-to-fork event rules and limits
A farm is not a food establishment for farm‑to‑fork events when meat and most other ingredients come from the farm or approved sources. Guests must get a notice that no health inspection was done. If a farm holds more than two such events in a month, it becomes a food establishment for the rest of that year. Farms must register, and the authority may charge only its actual registry cost. After an event, if contamination or an outbreak is found, the farm can be billed up to the authority’s actual investigation cost.
Permits and build rules for food businesses
Operating a food establishment requires a state permit. Temporary permits last up to 14 days and must list dates. You must submit plans for new builds or major remodels before work starts. Food businesses are excluded from one set of public plumbing fixture counts. Shops that cut and wrap meat, poultry, or fish may use treated sawdust in back rooms if cleaned daily.
State takes over food safety system
Beginning July 1, 2025, the State Department of Agriculture is the main food‑safety authority. Local health boards still enforce rules. Existing permits stay valid until they expire. Counties must pay the Department each quarter for services, unless they win an exemption that starts at least 6 months after approval. The state moves food‑safety staff from Health to Agriculture and repeals old statutes to fit the new system. “Food safety authority” now means officers and agents of Agriculture or local boards.
Home and craft food sales rules
If you sell craft foods by hand and follow labeling and packaging rules, you are not a regulated food establishment. Cities and counties cannot ban qualifying craft food operations in homes. Food you make at home and give away for free is also exempt, except when given to a food establishment.
Easier kitchen rules for child care
Child care facilities that limit menus to safe foods and use only commercially prepared, precooked, or pasteurized potentially hazardous foods do not have to meet standard construction or equipment rules for food establishments. This applies even if the facility includes a kindergarten.
Hair coverings required for food workers
If you prepare or serve food and your hair is longer than the limit the Department sets, you must wear a hair net, cap, or other covering while working.
Alcohol health warning signs required
Food establishments that sell drinks for on‑site use must post a clear, bilingual health‑warning sign at least 8.5 by 11 inches, with large type. A bold notice on the menu of the same size can substitute. The Department may approve alternate wording and distribute donated signs.
Hemp and cannabis rules for food sellers
Permitted food businesses that do not serve food for immediate eating may buy hemp from registered growers and use only FDA‑recognized safe hemp ingredients. Buyers, transporters, and some handlers who reasonably believe hemp was legally grown are not regulated under the hemp‑growing chapter for that activity. Certified cannabis labs must test consumable hemp or CBD products sold by cannabis businesses or covered sellers. If your facility sells edible cannabis products and local rules require food‑handler certification, at least one employee must have it.
What counts as a food establishment
The law explains what is a “food establishment” and lists exclusions like private homes that don’t sell food, some clubs, qualifying cottage or craft food operations, and certain farms at farm‑to‑fork events. It uses the FDA Food Code to define “potentially hazardous food.” Food from outside Nevada may be sold here if it meets Nevada‑equivalent safety rules.
Sidewalk vending rules in big counties
In counties or cities with 100,000+ people, local health boards must set a permit process for sidewalk food vendors and allow fee payment plans and ID workarounds. Cities may set clear time, place, and sanitary rules and restrict vending near markets, events, schools, casinos, parks, and similar sites. Counties can require vendors to follow local health rules and can stop sales that break them.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Senate Committee on Finance
Affiliation unavailable
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 6/2/2025
Final Passage - Assembly (2nd Reprint)
Yes: 40 • No: 2
Senate vote • 5/30/2025
Final Passage - Senate (1st Reprint)
Yes: 21 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Chapter 512.
6/11/2025legislatureApproved by the Governor.
6/10/2025legislatureEnrolled and delivered to Governor.
6/6/2025legislatureTo enrollment.
6/4/2025SenateAssembly Amendment No. 947 concurred in.
6/2/2025SenateIn Senate.
6/2/2025SenateRead third time. Passed, as amended. Title approved. (Yeas: 40, Nays: 2.) To Senate.
6/2/2025HouseFrom printer. To reengrossment. Reengrossed. Second reprint.
6/2/2025HouseRead third time. Amended. (Amend. No. 947.) To printer.
6/1/2025HousePlaced on General File.
6/1/2025HouseTaken from Chief Clerk's desk.
6/1/2025HousePlaced on Chief Clerk's desk.
5/31/2025HouseTaken from General File.
5/31/2025HouseRead second time.
5/31/2025HousePlaced on Second Reading File.
5/31/2025HouseFrom committee: Do pass.
5/31/2025HouseRead first time. Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services. To committee.
5/30/2025HouseIn Assembly.
5/30/2025HouseRead third time. Passed, as amended. Title approved, as amended. (Yeas: 21, Nays: None.) To Assembly.
5/30/2025SenateFrom printer. To engrossment. Engrossed. First reprint.
5/30/2025SenateRead second time. Amended. (Amend. No. 892.) To printer.
5/29/2025SenatePlaced on Second Reading File.
5/29/2025SenateFrom committee: Amend, and do pass as amended.
5/29/2025SenateFrom printer. To committee.
5/16/2025SenateRead first time. Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services. To printer.
5/15/2025Senate
Bill Text
As Enrolled
As Introduced
Reprint 1
Reprint 2
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