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Committee hears bill to raise automatic wage and bank-account protections from garnishment
Summary
Senate Bill 142 would raise automatic protections against wage garnishment and bank-account seizure and remove inflation-indexing in an amendment; supporters described effects on low-income families, while lenders and creditors warned of lending impacts. The committee held testimony but took no vote.
The Assembly Committee on Judiciary heard Senate Bill 142, a measure proposing higher automatic exemptions from wage garnishment and stronger self-executing protections for funds in personal bank accounts.
Sen. Jabin De Niante, the bill sponsor, described SB 142 as intended to "strengthen Nevada self executing bank account protections and enhance wage garnishment safeguards," citing national and local debt trends and arguing that current protections leave many families vulnerable. He said the bill—after negotiation—would raise automatic wage protections and increase the dollar amount protected in bank accounts.
A reprint of the bill discussed during the hearing referenced an $850 weekly baseline protection and an automatic $5,000 bank-account exemption; an amendment described by proponents removed indexing to the consumer price index and adjusted the wage-protection formula. Jonathan Norman of the Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers summarized the amendment as removing CPI indexing and moving garnishment protections in statute to a tiered formula (a base protected amount and different percentages for income above that amount). "So we have three different tiers," Norman said, describing a protected base and percentage protections for amounts above that base.
Legal-aid presenters and advocates said the change would help low-income Nevadans avoid immediate financial crises. Taylor Altman, staff attorney at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, explained common barriers to using the existing "wild card" exemption—currently available but administratively difficult to apply for—and described how automatic protections reduce the need for repeated court filings. To illustrate, Altman said that, under current practice, a consumer may have to return to court every pay period to protect wages using the wild card. She summarized the statute's technical meaning of disposable earnings: "thinking of it as net pay makes the most sense," she said, noting that disposable earnings are the portion of a paycheck remaining after legally required withholdings.
Supporters who testified included Leah Cartwright of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, who said protections for bank accounts would help patients pay for treatment, and Kailin Cardavani of New Day Nevada, which "strongly support[s] SB 142" as protecting financial stability.
Lenders, creditor groups and collection-industry representatives opposed the bill as written, warning of unintended consequences for credit availability and cost. Daniel Stewart of Clark County Collection Services and Brian Reeder on behalf of Nevada Credit Unions said they appreciated negotiation efforts but remained concerned about changes that shift the calculation from gross pay to net pay and the size of the exemptions. Caller Matt Schriever of Creditor Rights Attorneys of Nevada testified that increasing the weekly exemption to $850 would, on an annualized basis, make many consumers effectively judgment-proof and could reduce lending to borrowers earning below the threshold. Donald Maurice, outside counsel to the Receivables Management Association International, said expanding exemptions "on its face" can harm consumers by prompting tighter credit and higher costs.
Committee members asked detailed technical questions about how garnishment calculations would work week by week, whether the protections apply regardless of the reason for garnishment, and whether exceptions exist for so-called "super creditors" such as the IRS or child-support collectors. Altman said super-creditor rules could still allow some collections from otherwise exempt income and that the bill targets ordinary garnishments by creditors and banks.
No committee vote was taken. The sponsor said negotiations had produced a compromise amendment, but he also reported that a compromise discussed the previous evening was later withdrawn. The hearing was opened and closed without formal action recorded.
What’s next: The bill remains under committee consideration; proponents and opponents signaled ongoing negotiations and asked the committee to consider the technical details of the calculation (gross vs. disposable/net pay, weekly application, and treatment of the wild-card exemption).
