Past Legislative Accomplishments
The following is a brief summary of bills that the Association was actively involved with during past legislative sessions. Through the hard work of our board and our lobbyist we were able to successfully propose or revise bills, or defeat negative legislation, for the benefit of the Nevada towing industry.
2021 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
PASSED
AB 32 – This bill establishes time limits for people who think they were towed unlawfully to file any action in a justice court. Our amendment removed the requirement that would have required tow operators to send out a notice to every non-consent towed vehicle owner and lienholder within 24 hours of the impound, informing the recipients of this NRS and their ability to contest the impound. This legislation would have also included all law enforcement tows.
AB 284 – This bill allows any person to contest a lien on a motor vehicle. While a lien is being contested, DMV is not allowed to process any changes or updates to the title until the lien is no longer contested. Our amendment carved out an exemption for tow operators so that our lien sale auctions would not be affected by this legislation.
AB 301 – This bill removed the ability for anyone to tow a vehicle solely for expired registration, and it also established an ill-defined hardship tariff. While we were unable to defeat this bill, we were able to include an amendment to remove the reporting requirement that would have required all tow companies to report all non-consent tows by zip code, and we were also able to improve the bills language regarding storage restrictions.
SB 259 – Requires Annual Training from Nevada Transportation Authority to Tow Operators for new laws. We supported this bill.
Bills That Were Defeated
AB 379 – This bill attempted to remove the statewide requirement to have a registration expiration sticker on a Nevada license plate.
2019 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
PASSED
SB 212 – Our amendment once again permitted tow operators to tag vehicles at residential complexes. It also added additional language for immediate towing of a vehicle at a residential complex to include: (1) for the reoccurrence of same or similar violation within the same residential complex, (2) three or more violations of any type during the immediately preceding six months, regardless if the vehicle was towed, and (3) a vehicle may be towed immediately if it is parked in a space that is clearly marked for a specific resident or the use of a specific unit in the residential complex.
SB 395 – Through our lobbying efforts, and with the support of NDOT and NHP, Blue Lights were allowed on Tow Trucks. Additionally, the legislation provided a provision permitting Tow Operators to charge Disposal Fees for abandon vehicles on private property.
SB 491 – The Bills original language would have allowed Copart to tow vehicles classified as abandoned. Through our efforts, all language granting salvage pools the ability to tow abandon vehicles was removed.
AB 288 – The original language would have forced tow operators to independently verify vehicle registration status before towing a vehicle for expired registration. All sections requiring tow operators to perform these verifications were removed.
2017 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Because we were not actively involved in the 2017 legislative session legislation was passed that stopped tow operators from tagging vehicles, and established tagging requirements for residential complexes. We corrected this in the 2019 legislature.
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