S.B. 155
- *SB155*
SENATE BILL NO. 155–SENATOR FLORES
PREFILED FEBRUARY 2, 2025
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Referred to Committee on Government Affairs
SUMMARY—Revises provisions governing peace officers.
(BDR 23-326)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State: No.
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EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to peace officers; authorizing the employment as
peace officers of persons who are legally authorized to
work in the United States under federal law; prohibiting
the Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission
from adopting certain regulations; and providing other
matters properly relating thereto.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
With certain exceptions, existing law requires any officer of the State of 1
Nevada or any political subdivision of the State or any person acting under or for 2
such an officer in any office or department of the State or political subdivision of 3
the State to employ only citizens or wards of the United States. (NRS 281.060) 4
Section 1 of this bill creates an exception to this limitation, effective on January 1, 5
2026, by authorizing the employment as peace officers of persons who are legally 6
authorized to work in the United States under federal law and who satisfy all other 7
applicable limitations on or requirements relating to the employment of peace 8
officers. 9
Existing law requires the Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission 10
to adopt regulations establishing minimum standards for the certification and 11
decertification, recruitment, selection and training of peace officers. (NRS 289.510) 12
Section 2 of this bill prohibits the Commission from adopting regulations that 13
require citizenship of the United States for the appointment of a person as a peace 14
officer, if the person is legally authorized to work in the United States under federal 15
law and satisfies all other applicable limitations on or requirements relating to the 16
employment of peace officers. Section 3 of this bill voids any existing regulations 17
that conflict with this change. 18
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THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. NRS 281.060 is hereby amended to read as follows: 1
281.060 1. [Only] Except as otherwise provided in 2
subsection 3, only citizens or wards of the United States or persons 3
who have been honorably discharged from the military service of 4
the United States may be employed by any officer of the State of 5
Nevada, by any political subdivision of the State, or by any person 6
acting under or for such an officer in any office or department of the 7
State of Nevada or political subdivision of the State. 8
2. In all cases where persons are so employed, preference must 9
be given, if the qualifications of the applicants are equal: 10
(a) First: To honorably discharged military personnel of the 11
United States who are citizens of the State of Nevada. 12
(b) Second: To other citizens of the State of Nevada. 13
3. Nothing in this section prevents: 14
(a) The working of prisoners by the State of Nevada or by any 15
political subdivision of the State, on street or road work or other 16
public work. 17
(b) The employment of aliens, who have not forfeited their right 18
to citizenship by claiming exemption from military service, as 19
common laborers in the construction of public roads, when it can be 20
shown that citizens or wards of the United States or persons who 21
have been honorably discharged from the military service of the 22
United States are not available for such employment. Any alien so 23
employed must be replaced by a citizen, ward or ex-service person 24
of the United States applying for employment. 25
(c) The employment of any teacher, instructor or professor 26
authorized to teach in the United States under the teacher-exchange 27
programs as authorized by federal laws enacted by the Congress of 28
the United States. 29
(d) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the 30
employment of aliens by the Nevada System of Higher Education in 31
the technical, graduate assistant and student categories. Except in 32
the foreign language departments, not more than 5 percent of the 33
total number of persons employed in the technical, graduate 34
assistant and student categories may be aliens. 35
(e) Employment of aliens in any state or political subdivision 36
hospital. 37
(f) Employment as peace officers of persons who are legally 38
authorized to work in the United States under federal law and who 39
satisfy all other applicable limitations on or requirements relating 40
to the employment of peace officers imposed pursuant to 41
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chapter 289 of NRS. As used in this paragraph, “peace officer” 1
has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 289.010. 2
4. Subject to the exceptions contained in this section, money 3
must not be paid out of the State Treasury or out of the treasury of 4
any political subdivision of the State to any person employed on any 5
of the work mentioned in this section unless the person is a citizen 6
or ward or naturalized citizen of the United States. 7
5. Any officer of the State of Nevada, or of any political 8
subdivision of the State, or any person acting under or for such an 9
officer, or any other person who violates any of the provisions of 10
this section is guilty of a misdemeanor. The penalties provided for 11
in this section do not apply where the violations result from 12
misrepresentations made by the employee by the production of 13
fraudulent papers evidencing citizenship in the United States. 14
Sec. 2. NRS 289.510 is hereby amended to read as follows: 15
289.510 1. The Commission: 16
(a) Shall meet at the call of the Chair, who must be elected by a 17
majority vote of the members of the Commission. 18
(b) Shall provide for and encourage the training and education 19
of persons whose primary duty is law enforcement to ensure the 20
safety of the residents of and visitors to this State. 21
(c) May make necessary inquiries to determine whether the 22
agencies of this State and of the local governments are complying 23
with standards set forth in the regulations adopted pursuant to 24
subsection 2. 25
(d) Shall carry out the duties required of the Commission 26
pursuant to NRS 432B.610 and 432B.620. 27
(e) May perform any other acts that may be necessary and 28
appropriate to the functions of the Commission as set forth in NRS 29
289.450 to 289.680, inclusive. 30
(f) May enter into an interlocal agreement with an Indian tribe to 31
provide training to and certification of persons employed as police 32
officers by that Indian tribe. 33
(g) Shall develop and approve a standard curriculum of certified 34
training programs in crisis intervention, which may be made 35
available in an electronic format, and which address specialized 36
responses to persons with mental illness and train peace officers to 37
identify the signs and symptoms of mental illness, to de-escalate 38
situations involving persons who appear to be experiencing a 39
behavioral health crisis and, if appropriate, to connect such persons 40
to treatment. A peace officer who completes any program developed 41
pursuant to this paragraph must be issued a certificate of 42
completion. 43
2. The Commission shall adopt regulations establishing 44
minimum standards for: 45
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(a) The certification and decertification, recruitment, selection 1
and training of peace officers. The standards adopted pursuant to 2
this paragraph must: 3
(1) Establish requirements for evaluations to be conducted 4
during the recruitment and selection of peace officers, which must 5
identify implicit bias on the part of a peace officer on the basis of 6
race, color, religion, national origin, physical or mental disability, 7
sexual orientation or gender identity or expression; 8
(2) Establish requirements for basic training for category I, 9
category II and category III peace officers and reserve peace 10
officers; 11
(3) Establish standards for programs for the continuing 12
education of peace officers, including minimum courses of study 13
and requirements concerning attendance, which must require that all 14
peace officers annually complete not less than 12 hours of 15
continuing education in courses that address: 16
(I) Racial profiling; 17
(II) Mental health, including, without limitation, crisis 18
intervention; 19
(III) The well-being of officers; 20
(IV) Implicit bias recognition; 21
(V) De-escalation; 22
(VI) Human trafficking; and 23
(VII) Firearms; 24
(4) Establish qualifications for instructors of peace officers; 25
(5) Establish requirements for the certification of a course of 26
training; 27
(6) Require all peace officers to receive training in the 28
handling of cases involving abuse or neglect of children or missing 29
children; 30
(7) Require all peace officers to receive training in the 31
handling of cases involving abuse, neglect, exploitation, isolation 32
and abandonment of older persons or vulnerable persons; 33
(8) Not prohibit the certification of an applicant solely on the 34
basis that the applicant has engaged in the adult use of cannabis or 35
the medical use of cannabis; 36
(9) Not require the decertification of a peace officer solely on 37
the basis that the peace officer has engaged in the adult use of 38
cannabis or the medical use of cannabis; and 39
(10) Require the decertification of a peace officer upon a 40
determination by the Commission that the peace officer knowingly 41
provided false or misleading information in his or her application 42
for certification. 43
(b) An annual behavioral wellness visit for peace officers to aid 44
in preserving the emotional and mental health of the peace officer 45
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and assessing any conditions that may affect the performance of 1
duties by the peace officer. 2
(c) The reciprocity of a person who has been certified as a 3
category III peace officer or its equivalent by the certifying 4
authority of another state or who has successfully completed a 5
federal law enforcement training program that is equivalent to a 6
category III peace officer in this State. 7
3. The regulations adopted by the Commission pursuant to 8
subsection 2: 9
(a) Apply to all agencies of this State and of local governments 10
in this State that employ persons as peace officers; [and] 11
(b) May require that training be carried on at institutions which 12
it approves in those regulations [.] ; and 13
(c) Must not require citizenship of the United States as a 14
standard for appointment of a person as a peace officer if the 15
person is legally authorized to work in the United States under 16
federal law and satisfies all other applicable limitations on or 17
requirements relating to the employment of peace officers imposed 18
pursuant to this chapter. 19
4. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a law 20
enforcement agency from adopting a policy that requires a peace 21
officer to submit to a screening test as: 22
(a) A condition precedent to employment; or 23
(b) A condition for continued employment. 24
Sec. 3. Any provision of a regulation adopted by the Peace 25
Officers’ Standards and Training Commission that conflicts with the 26
amendatory provisions of this act is void. The Legislative Counsel 27
shall remove any such provision of a regulation adopted by the 28
Commission as soon as practicable after January 1, 2026. 29
Sec. 4. This act becomes effective on January 1, 2026. 30
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