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Agriculture asks for lab equipment, inspection staffing and food‑program data transfer from DHHS
Summary
The Nevada Department of Agriculture requested funding for lab equipment and replacements, new permanent positions to replace long‑running contract staff, and a consolidation of certain inspection accounts including a proposed transfer of food inspection functions from DHHS contingent on enabling legislation.
The Nevada Department of Agriculture told the Legislative Commission's budget subcommittee it needs to replace aging lab instruments, convert several long‑term contract positions to state FTE and consolidate plant health and pesticide inspection budget accounts to improve efficiency.
Administrator Kathy Balcon and Deputy Director Doug Farris described a biennial governor's recommended budget and asked for a list of one‑shot and ongoing items across divisions. NDA said it is roughly 82% federally funded, 14% fee supported and that it depends on federal grants and fees for most programming.
Key requests included equipment replacement and laboratory upgrades in the animal disease and pesticide labs — including an automated ELISA plate reader for equine infectious anemia testing and a replacement triple/quad liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer for pesticide residue analysis — and cryogenic sample preparation gear. The agency also highlighted the need to replace aging specialty trucks used for scale and livestock inspections (one vehicle dated to 1992) and requested new UPS units to protect petroleum sulfur analyzers.
NDA proposed converting several contract roles to state positions to reduce contractor overhead (staffing agencies were quoted as adding roughly 24–34% on top of base wages). Examples included an information technology technician (currently contracted through March 2023), a food‑warehouse administrative assistant and a program officer in the nutrition education team. The department also asked the Legislature to approve a cost‑neutral consolidation of two budget accounts (4552 and 4545) covering plant health and compliance to remove duplicated fiscal/administrative work.
On food programs, NDA staff said they administer USDA school lunch, summer food and Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and handle two state food warehouses; they said they would provide county‑level meal and participation figures to the committee on request.
The department also noted the E905 decision unit — a contingent transfer of budget account 3194 (work currently in DHHS) into NDA that would bring 12 FTE and associated fees and grants into the agriculture budget if enabling legislation passes. NDA told members the transfer is intended to reduce duplication of inspection work in rural counties.
Committee members asked about federal funding exposure, school nutrition counts and coordination with DHHS and NDOT on facility siting. No formal votes were taken; presentations concluded with staff offering to provide additional spreadsheets and detailed counts after the hearing.
