Committee hears bill to extend industrial-insurance coverage to civilian crime‑scene investigators

Assembly Bill 142 would add civilian crime‑scene investigators who respond to and investigate crime scenes to the statutory list of "first responders" eligible for industrial‑insurance compensation for stress‑related injuries, Assemblymember Elaine Marzola told the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee.

The bill, Marzola said, aims to align statutory protections with the realities of modern public‑safety work: crime‑scene analysts routinely document violent and fatal incidents and may experience long‑term psychological effects similar to sworn officers and paramedics.

"Civilian crime scene investigators within law enforcement agencies are eligible for industrial insurance benefits for stress‑related injuries or diseases incurred due to their employment," Marzola summarized. The measure defines "law enforcement agency" to include any office, bureau, department, unit or division created by statute, ordinance or rule that has a duty to enforce the law and employs persons upon whom some or all powers of peace officers are conferred. The bill also defines "public safety agency" to include fire departments, fire protection districts, law‑enforcement agencies and certain medical services.

Why it matters: supporters said crime‑scene analysts repeatedly work long hours on severe incidents — homicides, suicides, traffic fatalities and mass‑casualty events — that expose them to graphic imagery and biological material. That exposure, they said, produces professional and personal harms for which industrial‑insurance coverage for stress is appropriate and consistent with prior law that extended similar protections to firefighters, police officers and dispatchers.

Rick McCann, who testified for the Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers and several law‑enforcement labor groups, said AB 142 builds on a 2023 measure (AB 410) that allowed gradual mental stress to be treated as an injury arising out of employment for identified first responders. "This bill AB 142 merely seeks to add civilian employees of a law enforcement agency whose primary duties involve responding to and investigating crime scenes, otherwise known as crime scene investigators or CSIs," McCann said. He added: "These people are heroes to me, and they need to be protected as such."

Multiple crime‑scene analysts from Las Vegas Metro described the nature and frequency of their calls. Sabrina Steinmetz, identified as a senior crime‑scene analyst with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said analysts respond to deaths ranging from newborns to geriatric cases, and to mass‑casualty events. She told the committee she worked 54 dead‑body calls last year and assisted on many others.

Samantha Halm, a crime‑scene analyst who described herself as a survivor of childhood sexual assault and later an intensive‑outpatient therapy participant, testified about long‑term effects and told senators, "Being knee deep in the worst of humanity and society does a number on mental health." Senior analyst Glazelle Teppay described repeated intrusive associations between everyday sights and past scenes she has documented.

McCann provided department figures for Las Vegas Metro in calendar year 2024: CSIs responded to 841 dead‑body calls (traffic fatalities, homicides, suicides, autopsies, overdoses and suspicious deaths). He said the average supervisor handled about 37 dead‑body calls, the average day‑shift CSI handled about 64 autopsies or dead‑body calls and the average non‑day‑shift senior CSI responded to about 38 such calls. Those counts, McCann said, exclude repeated exposure to living victims and other disturbing evidence recovery tasks.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about the bill's coverage and whether it was limited to employees of public agencies. Senator Daley pressed whether the definition could be read to include private emergency medical services; McCann and Marzola said the intent follows AB 410 to cover public agencies and that an amendment will be drafted to make that explicit.

There was no vote; the committee took testimony from agency representatives and labor groups and heard support from Las Vegas Metro employee Joshua Martinez and callers representing the Las Vegas Police Protective Association civilian employees. The bill will be returned to the committee for any drafting fixes before further action.

A final note: supporters urged precise statutory language be added to avoid unintended coverage of private providers; sponsors said they would file technical amendments to clarify that the bill applies to public agencies as intended.