March 26, 2021
Welcome to the 8th week of the Nevada Legislative Session! We have 67 days left until the end, and a lot of new information to cover for this week. The bills that were heard this past week were SB218 and AB213.
SB218 from Senator Ratti is a housing bill that provides additional protections for tenants. It looks specifically at security deposits, predatory fines and fees, and adds a grace period for late payment of rent. With security deposits, low-income people find it difficult to save up the money necessary for their next rental while waiting on their previous security deposit to be returned to them. Landlords will often hold onto the tenant’s security deposit and will tell them it’s because they need to repaint the walls or replace the carpet before it can be returned. This bill will require landlords to provide proof that the items they want fixed were caused by the tenant. In his live video recap, Ben shares how in college he was told to never expect to get his security deposit back, and I think we have all been told this at one point, but this is far from the truth. All tenants deserve a fair chance to get back their security deposit, and it should be expected to receive it.
AB213 by Assemblywoman Flores aims to provide in-state tuition to anyone regardless of citizenship status. If you graduate from a Nevada high school, you should be eligible for in-state tuition. As of right now, DACA recipients are not eligible for this. This bill also looks at making them eligible for scholarships and grants, and providing higher education for Native people.
Some bills that we want to be heard in committee are: AB161, AB332, SB254, and AB317. AB161 is looking to end summary evictions. Nevada is the only state that has these. Summary evictions sidestep the judicial process and are not fair to tenants.
AB332 is a bill that will create a landlord registry. It will provide important information about landlords and their homes. This bill will be extremely helpful for assisting us in making future tenant protection bills.
SB254 is a fair chance housing bill. It looks to not let anyone’s previous record affect their ability to find future housing. No one should be denied housing because of their past record.
AB317 looks at adding more protections for people who receive government assistance. People are often discriminated against because they receive money from the government and so some landlords assume they won’t be good renters. This is especially important now since in these current times so many people are receiving government assistance.
We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to protect Nevada families. We are going to be seeing so many people rendered homeless because of the unfair Nevada eviction processes. Luckily, the Nevada moratorium has been extended to June 30, so Nevadans are able to stay in their homes until then.
Remember to help us support these bills mentioned by going to this website. You can also join our Digital Activation Team or Rapid Response Team to help us out even more. All the information is on our website along with all our Legislative priorities which are now available for you to look over here.