Division of Industrial Relations requests 32 new positions, stronger enforcement and IT upgrades

CARSON CITY — Officials from the Nevada Division of Industrial Relations told the Assembly subcommittee on general government during a budget hearing that they are seeking 32 new positions over the upcoming biennium, new technology and a national study of the state’s medical fee schedule to respond to growth in employers and workers, higher injury rates and elevated noncompliance with mandatory workers' compensation coverage.

Division Administrator Victoria Carrion said the agency’s functions span prevention, enforcement and regulatory oversight, and that the budget package is intended to “put safety and health first in Nevada.” She told the committee the Division’s funding is primarily drawn from the workers' compensation and safety fund and that federal grants account for about 7% of the Division’s budget.

The Division proposed a total of 32 positions across the biennium — 20 in the first year and 12 in the second — and several technology and equipment enhancements. Deputy Administrator Jody Tonkin said some of the specific requests include: three fiscal positions to bring full oversight of the workers' compensation and safety fund assessment back into the Division (decision unit E226); a business process analyst for the claims and regulatory data system known as CARDS (E227); four compliance audit investigator positions focused on mandatory coverage enforcement (E228); and funding for a national update to Nevada’s medical fee schedule (E229), which Tonkin said is required by statute and last conducted in 2015.

Tonkin told the committee the assessment oversight request responds to a workload split that developed after 2011, when fiscal staff and some functions were centralized within the Department of Business and Industry. She said the Division wants the workers' compensation section to “have responsibility of this process from start to finish and allow the division really complete oversight over the assessment.” Deputy Director Jim Kirkpatrick and fiscal staff described roughly 12 department staff who currently perform some assessment duties.

On enforcement, Tonkin said investigators will be phased to Las Vegas first because noncompliance rates are highest there. She reported noncompliance with mandatory workers' compensation coverage at about 16% in Northern Nevada and roughly 29% in the Las Vegas region. Tonkin said a compliance investigator averages about 2,400 investigations per year and described the E228 positions as aimed at outreach, education and investigations to bring uninsured employers into compliance.

Carrion and Tonkin also described major enhancements for occupational health and mechanical safety. The Division seeks funding (E225) to add 18 positions to stand up industrial hygienist teams in Las Vegas and Reno; a request that would add inspectors who perform health-focused inspections (for chemical exposure, silica, combustible dust, respiratory protection and related hazards). For the mechanical compliance section, the Division requested new boiler/pressure vessel safety specialist positions and elevator safety specialists to help address a backlog: officials said the state regulates roughly 23,000 boilers and pressure vessels, of which 32% did not have a current operating permit as of December 2024; and about 16,000 elevators and escalators, of which 23% lacked permits.

The Division also proposed a $1.7 million replacement of aging licensing/casework systems (E550) to move licensing, asbestos project notifications, permit plans, citation issuance and payments into a modern online workflow. Carrion told the committee the current software (installed in 2013) and manual paper processes create inefficiencies and delayed customer service.

Committee members pressed Division staff on workload metrics, vacancy and recruitment. Jody Tonkin said the CARDS platform has about 3,000 active users and that an upcoming system enhancement is expected to bring “hundreds” of additional users, which helped justify an additional business process analyst. Emily Servey of the Department of Business and Industry described the current split of assessment duties among about a dozen fiscal staff and said the fiscal services unit is still carrying increased workload beyond assessments.

No formal votes were taken during the hearing. Division staff characterized most requests as phased and targeted to highest-need regions; staff emphasized education and outreach as part of a strategy to raise compliance and reduce uninsured claims, which the Division said shift cost burdens to the state when uninsured employers produce claims.

Ending: The hearing moved on to other agency budgets after questions about inspectors’ ability to reach every regulated object, the role of third‑party inspection agencies for boilers and elevators, and how assessment costs are borne by insurers rather than employers. Division officials said assessments are estimated and later trued up, and that the Division will continue to coordinate with the Department of Business and Industry fiscal staff during any transition of assessment responsibilities.