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
14 provisions identified: 6 benefits, 1 costs, 7 mixed.
Simpler rules for cottage food sellers
Cottage food made at home and sold in person to consumers is not treated as a food establishment when it meets packaging and label rules. You must register the cottage business, but routine inspections are limited to adulteration or outbreak investigations. The registration fee cannot be more than the cost to run the registry. You may sell up to $100,000 per calendar year. Starting in Fiscal Year 2026–27, the Department raises that cap each year by inflation and posts the new cap by September 30.
Stronger inspections and quick action on unsafe food
Inspectors must visit every food establishment at least once a year and may enter at reasonable times to check records. When violations are found, the agency sets a deadline to fix them; temporary vendors get no more than 24 hours. The agency can suspend or revoke permits and can immediately close places with major hazards. It can place food on hold and order it destroyed after notice and hearing, with a three-day window to appeal for a stay. For suspected serious hazards, processors must test products, keep records for two years, and report positive results within 24 hours. The agency can exclude sick food workers and seek misdemeanor penalties for violations.
Counties pay state food-safety fees
Beginning July 1, 2025, each county pays the Agriculture Department a quarterly assessment for food-establishment services. The Department reviews its budget and past fees and may raise assessments to stay solvent. A county can get an exemption only with the Governor’s recommendation and Interim Finance Committee approval, and any approved exemption starts at least six months later. Counties that already had an IFC exemption on June 30, 2025 stay exempt.
New rules for hemp and cannabis foods
Starting July 1, 2025, any hemp food or product meant for people must be tested by an independent lab and labeled to meet state rules. Also starting July 1, 2025, licensed cannabis producers and retailers may sell hemp products and CBD products with no more than 0.3% THC. If the local food authority requires food-handler certification, a cannabis business that sells edibles must have at least one certified employee.
Farm-to-fork events: limited exemption, monthly cap
A farm that hosts a farm-to-fork event is not a food establishment if meat is raised and processed on the farm or comes from inspected facilities, other dishes are made mostly from farm ingredients, and guests are told no health inspection was done. Farms must register; the registration fee cannot exceed the cost to run the registry. The state generally does not inspect ahead of events, except to investigate an item or outbreak. If a farm holds more than two qualifying events in any calendar month, it becomes a food establishment for the rest of that year.
Permits and rules for food businesses
Operating a food business in Nevada is illegal without a valid state permit. You must apply on the Department’s form, pay the fee, and pass inspection; temporary permits can last up to 14 days. The agency can tailor rules for temporary vendors and may block risky foods. If your state permit is revoked, your local license must be revoked too. Food from out-of-state businesses can be sold here if their rules are equivalent. Beginning July 1, 2025, any permit you already held on June 30, 2025 stays valid until it expires.
Hemp ingredients OK in packaged foods
Permitted food businesses that do not serve food for immediate eating may buy hemp only from registered growers or handlers. They can use a hemp ingredient the FDA says is safe or GRAS in food. Food is not called adulterated just because it contains an approved hemp component. Operators must also follow NRS 439.532.
Certified farm producers pay fewer fees
If you are certified by the Department as an actual producer, you do not pay certain fees or permit and inspection charges under sections 2 to 44. You must meet the Department’s rules to get and keep this certification.
Easier build-out for food and child care
Child care centers that only serve nonhazardous foods, or commercially prepared, precooked, or pasteurized items, do not have to meet some food‑establishment building and equipment rules. This applies to licensed centers, including those with kindergartens. Starting July 1, 2025, food establishments are also not counted under the Uniform Plumbing Code’s minimum toilet and urinal requirements for public facilities.
State agriculture now runs food safety
Beginning July 1, 2025, the State Department of Agriculture sets and enforces Nevada’s food and water safety rules. Local health boards may adopt local rules only if the Department approves them; earlier local rules in place on June 30, 2025 are deemed approved. Existing food-law sections are repealed and staff who did food work at Health and Human Services move to the Agriculture Department. Slaughterhouses must meet the new chapter’s standards. This centralizes authority and keeps existing contracts and regulations in force until changed.
New hemp testing and limited exemptions
Starting July 1, 2025, the state certifies labs to test hemp and CBD foods or animal products sold by cannabis businesses or people listed in section 18. Labs must get ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation within one year of licensure. Also starting July 1, 2025, a person in section 18 who buys or handles hemp for the listed uses is exempt from chapter 557 if they reasonably believe the hemp was grown or processed in compliance.
New hygiene and warning rules for eateries
Food workers with hair longer than the state’s set length must wear a hair covering while on duty. Places that sell alcohol by the drink must post at least one bilingual pregnancy health-warning sign or put an equivalent notice on menus, with required sizes and type. Shops that cut and package meat, poultry, or fish may use treated sawdust on nonpublic cutting-room floors if cleaned and replaced daily.
Sidewalk vendor permits in big counties
In counties or cities with 100,000 or more people, local health boards must set sidewalk-vendor rules. The rules must include a permit process, payment plans for fees, and ways to certify vendors who do not have a driver’s license or state ID. Boards must also include requirements identified by the Task Force on Safe Sidewalk Vending.
County public health assessments updated
Starting July 1, 2025, each county pays the state Division for local public health services under this law and chapters 441A, 444, and 583. Services under chapter 446 are not part of that assessment. A county may ask for an exemption through the approval process in the law.
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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