Legislative subcommittee approves Department of Agriculture staffing and budget moves, delays major equipment purchases pending fee approvals

A joint subcommittee of the Nevada Senate Committee on Finance and the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means on April 20, 2025 closed multiple budget accounts for the Nevada Department of Agriculture, approving new staff positions and organizational consolidations while postponing roughly $1.0–$1.1 million in planned laboratory equipment purchases until fee changes are final.

The panel voted unanimously to approve a recommendation to add a mid-level information technology technician position funded with cost-allocation revenue, and to continue funding for a public information/program officer position to implement the department’s language access plan. The subcommittee also approved a governor-recommended transfer of the Pest, Plant Disease and Noxious Weed Control budget account into the Agriculture Registration Enforcement account and directed additional oversight and reporting on accounts with declining reserves.

Why it matters: the decisions affect how the department will manage laboratory testing capacity, language access for clients, and the financial solvency of several fee-supported programs. Lawmakers deferred high-dollar equipment purchases because the department’s ability to pay depends on temporary pesticide and other fee increases becoming permanent and on future reserve levels.

Nicolette Johnston of the Legislative Counsel Bureau’s Fiscal Analysis Division presented the subcommittee’s closing recommendations for 13 Department of Agriculture budget accounts, describing the primary fiscal decisions and the tradeoffs involved. Johnston told the subcommittee the governor recommended $150,169 in cost-allocation revenue over the 2025–2027 biennium to establish an IT technician position to replace contract services and allow senior IT staff to focus on complex projects and network administration.

Johnston summarized the governor’s recommendation to continue funding a public information officer position — reclassified post-hearing to a Program Officer 3 at no additional cost — and said the Department had used a mix of one-time Interim Finance Committee funding and new base budget authority to implement a language access plan that includes translation and interpretation services, cultural competency training and outreach.

Assemblymember Cherry Anderson, who moved multiple approval motions, praised the department’s work on that plan. "I really appreciate how this department took this item seriously and really did invest in it both time and energy in finding the right person to do this," Anderson said during the hearing.

On program structure, the subcommittee approved transferring the Pest, Plant Disease and Noxious Weed Control account into the Agriculture Registration Enforcement account, moving seven positions and roughly $2.7 million in associated funding into the fee-supported account. Fiscal staff and the department said the consolidation should reduce redundant travel and improve process efficiency but noted the consolidation alone would not resolve longer-term solvency issues in the registration enforcement account.

The subcommittee considered the executive budget’s recommendation to fund replacement laboratory equipment — including a liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer, spectrometer, nitrogen analyzer and microwave digestion unit — with added fee revenue. Fiscal staff flagged that using projected added fees for replacement equipment could overstate revenue and recommended the subcommittee either fund the purchases from reserves via technical adjustments or delay purchases until fee changes are finalized. The department reported it is about a decade behind peer states on fee levels and that new or replacement lab equipment would speed internal testing and reduce out-of-state lab costs.

Chair Anderson moved (and the subcommittee approved) option B: not to approve immediate funding for replacement equipment (the transcript records the equipment total as $1,100,000 in some places and $1,000,000 in others) and instead to allow the department to request purchases through Interim Finance Committee work programs after any temporary fee increases are made permanent. The motion also approved budget adjustments to reflect a projected $3 million in additional fee revenue for the biennium (as contained in a budget amendment) and directed the department to provide annual status reports to the Interim Finance Committee on steps to restore long-term solvency.

Fiscal staff and the Department noted that if fee increases are not made permanent, the department would need to return to prior operating levels and that many laboratory services previously sent out of state could be performed in-house once equipment is replaced. Johnston said the department had seen an increase in external requests for chemistry services, including a recent request for roughly 1,200 samples.

On livestock and brand-fee supported accounts, fiscal staff recommended updating revenue projections to a five-year average after the department provided revised forecasts. The subcommittee adopted the updated projections and asked the department to implement cost-saving measures and to continue semiannual reporting to the Interim Finance Committee if reserves fall below 60 days of operating expenditures.

The subcommittee closed the remaining budget accounts recommended by fiscal staff, and authorized staff to make technical adjustments where noted in the closing packet. All recorded motions carried unanimously by members in attendance.

What’s next: the department will submit any requests for equipment purchases to the Interim Finance Committee through work programs after fee rules are finalized or reserve levels are demonstrably sufficient. Fiscal staff will prepare and the department will deliver periodic reserve-status reports as directed.

Votes at a glance: the subcommittee recorded unanimous approvals for the IT technician position ($150,169 over 2025–27), continuation/reclassification of the language-access program officer ($201,989 over 2025–27), transfer of the Pest/Plant/Noxious Weed Control account into Agriculture Registration Enforcement (7 positions; $2.7 million over 2025–27), the choice not to immediately fund replacement lab equipment and instead require post-fee-change work programs (equipment amounts in the transcript vary: $1,000,000–$1,100,000), approval of updated revenue projections and cost reductions in the Livestock Inspection account, and omnibus closures of other Department of Agriculture budget accounts as listed in the subcommittee packet.