Nevada AB 415: Provides for the acceptance of a tribal identification card in certain circumstances. (BDR 18-366)

Bill Text

- 83rd Session (2025)
Assembly Bill No. 415–Assemblymembers
Carter, Goulding; and Dickman

Joint Sponsors: Senators Titus, Taylor; and Lange

CHAPTER..........

AN ACT relating to motor vehicles; revising provisions governing
the disposition of certain vehicles abandoned on public or
private property; revising provisions governing the issuance
of junk certificates by the Department of Motor Vehicles;
revising provisions governing lists of operators of tow cars
used by law enforcement agencies; prohibiting the operator
of a tow car from falsely reporting the location of the
operator or tow car to a law enforcement agency for certain
purposes; and providing other matters properly relating
thereto.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
Existing law: (1) authorizes certain persons and law enforcement agencies to
request the removal of a vehicle that has been abandoned on public or private
property; and (2) requires the person who requests such a removal to inquire into
whether the vehicle was stolen and the identity of the vehicle’s owner. (NRS
487.230, 487.235) Existing law requires a person who removed an abandoned
vehicle to notify the registered owner and any person having a security interest in
the vehicle by registered or certified mail that the vehicle has been removed and
will be junked, dismantled or otherwise disposed of unless the owner or the person
having the security interest responds and pays the costs of removal. (NRS 487.250)
Existing law additionally requires a tow operator to notify the registered and legal
owner of a vehicle if the vehicle was towed and placed in storage at the request of
someone other than the owner or the owner’s authorized agent. (NRS 706.4479)
Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a junk
certificate to a tow operator or automobile wrecker for a vehicle that: (1) has been
discarded or abandoned; (2) has been ruined, wrecked, dismantled or rendered
inoperative; (3) is unfit for further use in accordance with the vehicle’s original
purpose; (4) is unregistered or is not reclaimed by the registered owner or person
having a security interest in the vehicle within a certain period of time; and (5) has
value principally as scrap which does not exceed $200. (NRS 487.260) Section 4 of
this bill increases the value of a vehicle for which a junk certificate may be issued
to include a vehicle which has value principally as scrap which does not exceed
$500. Section 4 authorizes the Department to issue a junk certificate for a vehicle
that is appraised as a junk vehicle by an automobile wrecker or tow operator in
accordance with regulations prescribed by the Department. Sections 1 and 2 of this
bill authorize certain persons, with respect to an abandoned, unregistered vehicle
which appears likely to be appraised as a junk vehicle and for which the identity of
the owner is not known or readily ascertainable, to affix to the vehicle a notice that
if the abandoned vehicle is not removed from the public or private property within
7 days, the vehicle is subject to being junked, dismantled or otherwise disposed of.
Sections 1 and 2 require the notice to include certain information, including that
the owner of the vehicle may request an expedited hearing in the local justice court
to contest the classification of the vehicle as an abandoned junk vehicle. If the
notice is affixed to certain unregistered vehicles which are appraised as junk

– 2 –

- 83rd Session (2025)
vehicles, sections 1-5 of this bill excuse the person or law enforcement agency that
authorized the removal of the vehicle and the tow operator who removed the
vehicle from other provisions requiring such persons to make inquiries into the
identity of the owner of the vehicle and provide the owner with certain notice
regarding the removal of the vehicle. Section 4 requires the person or law
enforcement agency that authorized the removal of the vehicle to provide the
contact information of the automobile wrecker or tow operator who removed the
vehicle if contacted by the vehicle’s owner.
Existing law prohibits a law enforcement agency that maintains and uses a list
of tow cars which are called by that agency to provide towing from including an
operator of a tow car on that list unless the operator meets certain requirements.
Existing law prohibits the Nevada Highway Patrol from removing an operator of a
tow car from the list used by the Nevada Highway Patrol solely on the ground that
the operator is insured under the same policy of insurance as one other operator of a
tow car who is included on the list and operates in the same geographical area.
(NRS 706.4485)
Section 6 of this bill: (1) expands the applicability of this prohibition to all law
enforcement agencies; and (2) prohibits an operator of a tow car from using any
software, device or other means to falsely report the location of the operator or tow
car to a law enforcement agency or any agent of a law enforcement agency for the
purpose of securing a