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Senator Ellison urges stronger service requirements for alarm companies as rural Nevadans report long maintenance delays
Summary
Senator Ellison introduced SB 311 to require alarm companies to repair or replace defective systems or allow customers to cancel without penalty. Rural senators pressed to quantify "as soon as possible" response time; industry groups largely agreed to a conceptual amendment exempting Clark and Washoe counties.
Carson City — Senator Ellison introduced Senate Bill 311 to the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, saying the measure would require alarm companies that install monitored systems to respond promptly to reports that systems are defective or inoperable and to repair, replace or allow cancellation without penalty if they cannot remedy the problem.
Senator Ellison, sponsor of the bill, said the measure responds to repeated complaints from rural Nevada: “When these systems go down, they don't even know they're down,” he told the committee. “The problem we're having … is the maintenance — maintain what you're selling.”
Patrick Ashton of the Legislative Counsel Bureau read the bill summary and the conceptual amendment. Under the bill as presented, an alarm company that installs a system and charges a monthly monitoring fee must act “as soon as possible” when notified of a defective or inoperable system, repair or replace defective components, or cancel the remaining contract without imposing cancellation penalties; a violation would be treated as a deceptive trade practice and subject to enforcement by the attorney general or a local district attorney as provided by law.
Committee members pressed the sponsor to quantify the phrase “as soon as possible.” Senator Lang said, “as soon as possible means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I would quantify that in a number of hours or in a certain period of time.” Ellison agreed to draft an amendment setting an objective timeframe, saying he expected to provide that language to the committee.
Trevor Parish, manager of government affairs for the Vegas Chamber, told the committee the Chamber had met with the bill sponsor and supported the conceptual amendment that would exempt Clark and Washoe counties from the bill's deceptive-trade-practice provision, noting the level of services available in those urban counties. With that amendment the Chamber said it would move to a neutral position.
Several senators recounted local examples in which alarm companies either did not dispatch service personnel in a timely fashion or failed to notify public safety agencies; Senator Rogich said the lack of timely response once prompted a homeowner to call 911. Senator Ellison and other members said the bill is intended to create accountability for monitoring and maintenance obligations sold to customers.
Chair Pezzino and committee members asked the sponsor to submit an amendment that replaces “as soon as possible” with a specific response window and to incorporate time frames used in comparable statutes (committee staff suggested reviewing prior home-warranty response language as a model). Senator Ellison said he would provide the amendment.
The committee took no vote on SB 311 at the hearing; the hearing record shows public testimony was limited and no callers registered on the broadcast lines. The sponsor said he would return with amendment language for committee consideration.
