AB1 - Revises provisions relating to certain vehicles used by the Department of Corrections. (BDR 43-156)

A.B. 1 - *AB1* ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 1–COMMITTEE ON GROWTH AND INFRASTRUCTURE (ON BEHALF OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS) PREFILED OCTOBER 26, 2026 ____________ Referred to Committee on Growth and Infrastructure SUMMARY—Revises provisions relating to certain vehicles used by the Department of Corrections. (BDR 43-156) FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No. Effect on the State: No. Effect on the State Highway Fund: No. ~ EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted. AN ACT relating to corrections; revising provisions governing the use of license plates without distinguishing marks for certain vehicles of the Department of Corrections; authorizing the Department to operate emergency vehicles under certain circumstances; and providing other matters properly relating thereto. Legislative Counsel’s Digest: Existing law provides for the issuance of special license plates without 1 distinguishing marks to certain vehicles of governmental entities, including one 2 vehicle of the Department of Corrections. (NRS 482.368) Section 1 of this bill 3 makes various changes to provide for the issuance of such special license plates to 4 the following vehicles of the Department: (1) two vehicles maintained for and used 5 by the Director of the Department; and (2) those vehicles maintained for and used 6 for investigations and undercover investigations by investigators of the Office of 7 the Inspector General of the Department. 8 Existing law designates certain vehicles as authorized emergency vehicles, 9 including certain vehicles that are publicly owned and operated in the performance 10 of the duty of various law enforcement agencies, fire departments and other 11 enforcement or lifesaving agencies. (NRS 484A.480) Section 2 of this bill 12 additionally designates as authorized emergency vehicles certain vehicles of the 13 Department that are operated in the performance of a duty of the Inspector General 14 of the Department or otherwise designated as an emergency vehicle by the Director 15 of the Department. 16 – 2 – - *AB1* THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. NRS 482.368 is hereby amended to read as follows: 1 482.368 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, the 2 Department shall provide suitable distinguishing license plates for 3 exempt vehicles. These plates must be displayed on the vehicles in 4 the same manner as provided for privately owned vehicles. The fee 5 for the issuance of the plates is $5. Any license plates authorized by 6 this section must be immediately returned to the Department when 7 the vehicle for which they were issued ceases to be used exclusively 8 for the purpose for which it was exempted from the governmental 9 services tax. 10 2. License plates furnished for: 11 (a) Those vehicles which are maintained for and used by the 12 Governor or under the authority and direction of the Chief Parole 13 and Probation Officer, the State Contractors’ Board and auditors, the 14 State Fire Marshal, the Investigation Division of the Department of 15 Public Safety and any authorized federal law enforcement agency or 16 law enforcement agency from another state; 17 (b) [One vehicle] Two vehicles which are maintained for and 18 used by the Director of the Department of Corrections [, three] ; 19 (c) Three vehicles used by the Department of Wildlife, two 20 vehicles used by the Caliente Youth Center and four vehicles used 21 by the Nevada Youth Training Center; 22 [(c)] (d) Vehicles of a city, county or the State, if authorized by 23 the Department for the purposes of law enforcement or work related 24 thereto; 25 [(d)] (e) Two vehicles used by the office of the county coroner 26 of any county which has created that office pursuant to NRS 27 244.163; and 28 [(e)] (f) Vehicles maintained for and used for investigations and 29 undercover investigations by investigators of the following: 30 (1) The Nevada Gaming Control Board; 31 (2) The State Department of Agriculture; 32 (3) The Attorney General; 33 (4) City or county juvenile officers; 34 (5) District attorneys’ offices; 35 (6) Public administrators’ offices; 36 (7) Public guardians’ offices; 37 (8) Sheriffs’ offices; 38 (9) Police departments in the State; 39 (10) The Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of 40 State; 41 – 3 – - *AB1* (11) The Investigation Division of the Department of Public 1 Safety; [and] 2 (12) The Office of the Inspector General of the Department 3 of Corrections; and 4 (13) Any authorized federal law enforcement agency or law 5 enforcement agency from another state, 6  must not bear any distinguishing mark which would serve to 7 identify the vehicles as owned by the United States, the State of 8 Nevada, any other state or any county or city. The fee to be received 9 by the Department for the initial issuance of these license plates is 10 $12 per plate or, if issued in sets, per set. Such license plates are 11 renewable annually upon the payment of $12. 12 3. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 239.0115, information 13 pertaining to the issuance or renewal of a license plate pursuant to 14 paragraph [(e)] (f) of subsection 2 is confidential and must be 15 securely maintained by the Department. 16 4. It is unlawful for a person to use a vehicle furnished with a 17 license plate pursuant to paragraph [(e)] (f) of subsection 2 for any 18 purpose other than the investigation or undercover investigation for 19 which it was issued. Any license plate issued pursuant to paragraph 20 [(e)] (f) of subsection 2 must be returned immediately to the 21 Department when the vehicle for which the license plate was issued 22 ceases to be used for the investigation or undercover investigation 23 for which it was issued. 24 5. The Director may enter into agreements with departments of 25 motor vehicles of other states providing for exchanges of license 26 plates of regular series for vehicles maintained for and used by 27 investigators of the law enforcement agencies enumerated in 28 paragraph [(e)] (f) of subsection 2, subject to all of the requirements 29 imposed by that paragraph, except that the fee required by that 30 paragraph must not be charged. 31 6. Applications for the license plates must be made through the 32 head of the agency, division, department, board, bureau, 33 commission, school district or irrigation district, or through the chair 34 of the board of county commissioners of the county or town or 35 through the mayor of the city, owning or controlling the vehicles. 36 No plate or plates may be issued until: 37 (a) A certificate has been filed with the Department showing 38 that the name of the agency, division, department, board, bureau, 39 commission, county, city, town, school district or irrigation district, 40 as the case may be; and 41 (b) The words “For Official Use Only” have been permanently 42 and legibly affixed to each side of the vehicle, except those vehicles 43 enumerated in subsection 2. 44 – 4 – - *AB1* 7. The Department shall adopt regulations governing the use of 1 all license plates provided for in this section. Upon a finding by the 2 Department of any violation of its regulations, it may revoke the 3 violator’s privilege of registering vehicles pursuant to this section. 4 8. As used in this section: 5 (a) “Exempt vehicle” means a vehicle exempt from the 6 governmental services tax. 7 (b) “Undercover investigation” means an investigation that 8 requires the use of a fictitious vehicle registration and license plate. 9 Sec. 2. NRS 484A.480 is hereby amended to read as follows: 10 484A.480 1. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 11 484A.490, authorized emergency vehicles are vehicles publicly 12 owned and operated in the performance of the duty of: 13 (a) A police or fire department. 14 (b) A sheriff’s office. 15 (c) The Department of Public Safety, for vehicles that are: 16 (1) Operated in the performance of the duty of the Capitol 17 Police Division, the Investigation Division, the Nevada Highway 18 Patrol Division, the State Fire Marshal Division, the Training 19 Division and the Office of the Director of the Department of Public 20 Safety; or 21 (2) Designated an authorized emergency vehicle by the 22 Director of the Department of Public Safety. 23 (d) The Department of Corrections, for vehicles that are: 24 (1) Operated in the performance of the duty of the Office of 25 the Inspector General of the Department of Corrections; or 26 (2) Designated an authorized emergency vehicle by the 27 Director of the Department of Corrections. 28 (e) The Office of the Attorney General. 29 [(e)] (f) The Division of Forestry of the State Department of 30 Conservation and Natural Resources in responding to a fire. 31 [(f)] (g) The Section for the Control of Emissions From 32 Vehicles and the Enforcement of Matters Related to the Use of 33 Special Fuel in the Department of Motor Vehicles. 34 [(g)] (h) A public ambulance agency. 35 [(h)] (i) A public lifeguard or lifesaving agency. 36 [(i)] (j) The office of a coroner or medical examiner. 37 2. A vehicle publicly maintained in whole or in part by the 38 State, or by a city or county, and privately owned and operated by a 39 regularly salaried member of a police department, sheriff’s office or 40 traffic law enforcement department, is an authorized emergency 41 vehicle if: 42 (a) The vehicle has a permit, pursuant to NRS 484A.490, from 43 the Department of Public Safety; 44 – 5 – - *AB1* (b) The person operates the vehicle in responding to emergency 1 calls or fire alarms, or at the request of the Nevada Highway Patrol 2 or in the pursuit of actual or suspected violators of the law; and 3 (c) The State, county or city does not furnish a publicly owned 4 vehicle for the purposes stated in paragraph (b). 5 3. Every authorized emergency vehicle must be equipped with 6 at least one flashing red warning lamp visible from the front and a 7 siren for use as provided in chapters 484A to 484E, inclusive, of 8 NRS, which lamp and siren must be in compliance with standards 9 approved by the Department of Public Safety. In addition, an 10 authorized emergency vehicle may display revolving, flashing or 11 steady red or blue warning lights to the front, sides or rear of the 12 vehicle. 13 4. An authorized emergency vehicle may be equipped with a 14 system or device that causes the upper-beam headlamps of the 15 vehicle to continue to flash alternately while the system or device is 16 activated. The driver of a vehicle that is so equipped may use the 17 system or device when responding to an emergency call or fire 18 alarm, while escorting a funeral procession, or when in pursuit of an 19 actual or suspected violator of the law. As used in this subsection, 20 “upper-beam headlamp” means a headlamp or that part of a 21 headlamp which projects a distribution of light or composite beam 22 meeting the requirements of subsection 1 of NRS 484D.210. 23 5. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, a person shall 24 not operate a motor vehicle with any system or device that causes 25 the headlamps of the vehicle to continue to flash alternately or 26 simultaneously while the system or device is activated. This 27 subsection does not prohibit the operation of a motorcycle equipped 28 with any system or device that modulates the intensity of light 29 produced by the headlamp of the motorcycle, if the system or device 30 is used only during daylight hours and conforms to the requirements 31 of 49 C.F.R. § 571.108. 32 6. A person shall not operate a vehicle with any lamp or device 33 displaying a red light visible from directly in front of the center of 34 the vehicle except an authorized emergency vehicle, a school bus, 35 an official vehicle of a regulatory agency or a vehicle operated 36 pursuant to NRS 408.437. 37 7. A person shall not operate a vehicle with any lamp or device 38 displaying a blue light, except a motorcycle pursuant to NRS 39 486.261, an authorized emergency vehicle or a vehicle operated 40 pursuant to NRS 408.437. 41 Sec. 3. This act becomes effective on July 1, 2027. 42 H