NV lawmakers vow to target power bills, heat island effect, and extreme workplace heat

Assemblywoman Cinthia Zermeño Moore and Sen. Dina Neal are among lawmakers sponsoring bills to tackle the toll heat takes on Nevada’s public health, economy, and workforce. (Photo: Richard Bednarski, Nevada Current)

With the start of the Nevada Legislature coming up Feb. 3, lawmakers are working on measures to address the toll of climate change on Nevada’s public health, economy, and workforce.

Several lawmakers have submitted bill draft requests this session focused on protecting Nevadans from the growing impacts of climate change, an effort Nevada has lagged behind on compared to other Southwest cities. So far, lawmakers have announced ambitions to introduce bills that would reduce the heat island effect, improve worker safety during extreme weather events, and prevent utility shut offs in the summer months.

Despite having two of the fastest warming cities in the nation — Reno and Las Vegas — Nevada has taken little action to help minimize the effects of extreme weather on residents in the state, said Democratic Assemblywoman Cinthia Zermeño Moore, who was elected to represent District 11 in North Las Vegas in November.

After several bills intended to mitigate climate change failed to pass in 2023 — including a bill to protect workers exposed to extreme heat — Moore said she was motivated to leave her advocacy role with the Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition and run for the assembly. 

“My family members have worked in construction, while my uncle still works in construction. He has experienced heat illness because of what he was exposed to, and that’s what kept me motivated,” Moore said during a legislative panel hosted by the Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition last week.

According to the National Weather Service, the summer of 2024 was the hottest on record for Las Vegas, with June and July being the hottest months ever. 

Record breaking temperatures have also contributed to skyrocketing utility rates, said Moore.

After being elected, Moore picked up a bill draft request originally submitted by former Democratic state Sen. Dallas Harris, who lost her reelection bid last year. The bill would restrict utilities’ ability to shut off power due to nonpayment during extreme weather months. It would also require utilities to create payment plans for struggling customers who can’t make full payments.

“We all know that during the summer our NV Energy bill is just ridiculously high,” Moore said. “I’m trying to make sure that people have a peace of mind, knowing that even if they weren’t able to pay their $700 bill this month, they will still have electricity.”

“In our city, having access to the air conditioner is not a luxury. It’s a need. It’s a necessity,” Moore continued.

Nevada law does offer some protection for utility customers from power shut-offs during periods of extreme heat, but those protections are limited. Utilities in Nevada can shut off customer power at any temperature below 105 degrees. However, prolonged temperatures between 90 -105 degrees are known to cause heat exhaustion, which can lead to heat stroke if not treated, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

While lawmakers failed to advance a 2023 bill to protect workers exposed to extreme heat, the Nevada Division of Industrial Relations eventually approved a less stringent heat-stress regulation for indoor and outdoor workers in November, after seeing a surge of heat-related workplace injuries in Nevada.

Another bill, sponsored by state Sen. Edgar Flores (D-North Las Vegas), would expand worker protections to include air quality. 

Flores said the bill will focus on setting an air quality standard for employees working during wildfires and other climate disasters. Nevada does not have an enforceable air quality standard to protect workers from exposure to dangerous wildfire smoke.

Flores, who works as an immigration lawyer, recalled that during the Davis Fire 20 miles south of Reno in September air quality even in Southern Nevada degraded to the point where immigration officers were kept out of the field because of hazardous conditions. 

“They said that the immigration officers weren’t working because the air quality was so horrendous. So that’s crazy,” Flores said during a Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition legislative panel last week, adding that most workers in the state do not have those same protections.

Air quality reached “unhealthy” levels throughout the entire state due to the Davis Fire, according to data from the US Air Quality Index. At “unhealthy” air quality levels, all groups of people are vulnerable to health effects, while members of sensitive groups may experience even more serious health effects.

Flores said construction industry leaders are aware of the health hazards caused by wildfire smoke. 

“They will admit that there’s been situations where they are obligated to go to the work site and work when there is a fire happening, just a few miles from them. They’re breathing all that in and become ill,” Flores continued.

State Sen. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas) also submitted a draft request for an environmental justice bill, which she described as an “omnibus bill.” 

The bill package would include provisions to allocate funding from the Nevada State Infrastructure Bank to finance heat mitigation improvements in areas affected by the urban heat island effect — a phenomenon that creates higher temperatures in cities due to an abundance of superheating man-made surfaces like roads and pavement.

Las Vegas has the most intense summer urban heat island effect of all U.S cities, according to research by Climate Central. Combined, growing extreme heat waves and the urban heat island effect have proven deadly in Southern Nevada. In 2024, there were 491 heat-related deaths in Clark County, a 58% increase from 2023, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.

“I’m going to push for these bills and fight for these bills,” Neal said. 

Neal said her environmental justice bill would also include provisions prohibiting the sale of certain products known to contain PFAS — artificial compounds often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment. A similar bill introduced by Neal in 2023 made it out of the Senate and Assembly with significant bipartisan support, before being vetoed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. 

“My biggest concern is that I want our community to live a long life. I don’t want us to live a life that’s filled with sickness because of capitalism, because folks want to just poison us for money,” Neal said.