Legislative Commission Rejects Common Sense Regulations, Creating a New Roadblock to Bringing Accountability to Nevada’s Occupational Licensing Boards
After more than a year of stakeholder engagement, multiple rounds of revisions and a public rulemaking process that exceeded the requirements of Nevada law, the Legislative Commission today rejected regulations intended to establish basic administrative, transparency and accountability standards for Nevada’s 34 professional and occupational licensing boards.
The rejection of LCB File No. R074-25 represents another setback for the years-long effort to bring meaningful oversight to a fragmented, unaccountable system of professional and occupational licensing boards.
The Department of Business and Industry (“B&I”) strongly disagrees with today's action and with the characterization by Legislative Commission Chairwoman Sandra Jauregui that the Department failed to adequately engage stakeholders during the regulatory process.
The record demonstrates otherwise.
The Office of Nevada Boards, Commissions and Councils Standards (“Office”) went well beyond the minimum statutory requirements for stakeholder engagement, repeatedly sought input from the boards themselves, incorporated feedback into successive drafts and provided each of the 34 boards with the opportunity to review and respond to the final proposed changes.
“The Chairwoman had an opportunity today to examine the actual record of engagement,” said Kristopher Sanchez, Director of the Department of Business and Industry. “Instead, the Commission accepted an assertion that is contradicted by the well-documented history of extensive stakeholder engagement. The result is that an office created to bring greater accountability and transparency to these boards has been denied the administrative framework required to do so.”
The record of stakeholder engagement
The Department's response to today's action is supported by a detailed chronology of engagement with Nevada's professional and occupational licensing boards:
July 2025: The Office established a working group consisting of executive directors and representatives from the Nevada State Board of Nursing, Nevada State Contractors Board, Nevada State Funeral Board, Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners and Nevada State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.
September 2025: The Office distributed an initial draft of the regulations to all 34 board executive directors, providing a deadline of October 10 for comments. Twenty-four of the 34 boards submitted comments on the draft regulations.
September–November 2025: The Office initially scheduled a stakeholder workshop for September. At the request of the boards, the workshop was moved to November 24, 2025, to provide boards additional time to review the regulation and prepare their feedback.
March 31, 2026: Although Nevada law required only one workshop, the Office conducted a second workshop to provide stakeholders another opportunity to review the regulations, ask questions and provide input.
May 11, 2026: The Office conducted the formal public adoption hearing for R074-25, receiving testimony regarding the proposed permanent regulations.
June 9, 2026: The Office distributed its Consideration of Comments and Response to Changes document to all 34 boards, identifying the comments received and the Office's response to proposed changes. No board submitted follow-up questions or additional feedback after receiving the Office's response.
The entire regulatory process — including a document that summarized the changes made during each step of the process, drafts, board and executive director input, and workshop and hearing materials — was well-documented and made publicly available through a dedicated Proposed Regulations page on the Department of Business and Industry's website- https://business.nv.gov/boards-and-commissions/proposed-regulations.
The Legislative Counsel Bureau's public regulatory record confirms that R074-25 went through an initial draft, a proposed draft and three revised proposed drafts before the final regulation was adopted September 11, 2026.
Today’s action undermines the Office’s statutory mandate
The Department believes today's rejection is particularly consequential because SB 431 created the Office precisely because the Legislature had determined that greater consistency, transparency and accountability were necessary across Nevada's professional and occupational licensing system. These boards and commissions exercise significant regulatory authority over the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Nevadans while operating with a degree of independence that is not afforded to any other agency within the Executive Branch of state government.
Today's vote cannot be viewed in isolation. The boards that this Office was created to oversee continue to hold a veto over the very process required to define what that oversight looks like.
“Unfortunately, by taking the word of those entities and asserting that stakeholder engagement was inadequate while the Department had extensive engagement with the boards, the Chairwoman has played right into their hands by placing yet another obstacle to implement proper oversight,” said Sanchez.
The question Nevada must answer
The Department maintains that the issue is no longer whether Nevada needs greater accountability for its occupational licensing system. The Legislature has already answered that question through SB 431. The question is whether the Legislature will enable the Office created for that purpose to perform its statutory responsibilities.
The regulations rejected today did not abolish licensing boards. They did not eliminate their statutory authority. They did not transfer licensing decisions to B&I. They established basic administrative standards concerning governance, training, internal controls, financial reporting, website transparency, accessibility, legislative tracking, complaint and investigation reporting, public outreach and performance evaluation.
Those are the standards the Office was created to administer.
“The Legislature created the Office of Nevada Boards, Commissions and Councils Standards because it recognized that Nevada's system needed greater accountability,” Sanchez said. “Today, the Legislative Commission rejected the framework intended to begin delivering that accountability. We respect the legislative process, but we cannot ignore the consequence: today's decision makes it harder for the State of Nevada to provide the transparency, consistency and accountability that Nevadans deserve from entities exercising the power of government.”
About the Office of Nevada Boards, Commissions and Councils Standards
The Office of Nevada Boards, Commissions and Councils Standards was established by Senate Bill 431 during the 2023 Legislative Session and is housed within the Nevada Department of Business and Industry. The Office has administrative purview over 34 professional and occupational licensing boards and is charged with establishing centralized administration and uniform standards to promote transparency, consumer protection, efficacy and efficiency.
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