Senate committee hears cleanup bill to clarify 'logging operations' language

The Senate Committee on Natural Resources on April 29 heard Assembly Bill 86, a short technical revision that would remove the word “cutting” from several statutory passages to clarify permitting for logging operations.

Assemblyman Ken Gray, who introduced the bill, told the committee "Assembly Bill 86 is pretty straightforward." Gray said the bill deletes the word "cutting" in three places because, he said, "cutting is not defined in the law." He added the change would make the law "much more straightforward and easy to understand."

Ryan Shane, deputy administrator with the Division of Forestry, described the measure as a narrow cleanup and gave the committee a brief history: "In 2017 was the first time that logging operations was defined officially in the statute. In the text that you see is edited in the bill, they used logging operation and cutting operations synonymously, which is now causing a little bit of confusion amongst our staff and the public. So eliminating those words in those 3 areas makes us a very clear, subject for us to administer and offer the permits required for logging operations."

Committee members asked no substantive policy questions during the hearing; a lighthearted remark from Senator Ellison drew laughter but no change in the bill text. There was no public testimony in support, opposition or neutral on the record either in Carson City or on the phone. The committee closed the hearing on AB 86 after the presenters offered brief closing remarks.

Because AB 86 is presented as a statutory wording cleanup rather than a substantive policy change, the presenters and staff described it as administrative clarification to reduce inconsistent uses of the terms in statute and to help staff and permitting applicants understand which operations require permits. No vote or formal committee action on AB 86 was recorded in the hearing transcript.