Supporters of construction defect reform filled hearing rooms in Carson City and Las Vegas to listen to testimony on AB125, a comprehensive construction defect reform bill in the Nevada Legislature. AB125 could receive a vote in committee as early as this Friday.

The committee’s hearing room was packed full in the Legislature Building in Carson City and it was standing-room only in a hearing room at the Grant Sawyer Building in Las Vegas with supporters also viewing the proceedings in an overflow room in the building. Nearly 200 people attended the hearing in Las Vegas.

The hearing was a joint meeting of the Senate Judiciary and Assembly Judiciary committees. It was led by Assemblyman Ira Hansen, who is the Chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and is also a plumbing contractor. Assemblyman Hansen noted the sign-in sheets for the hearing totaled 32 pages of names of attendees, with only 2 people registering in opposition and just 1 person testifying against the bill.

AB125 contains changes to indemnity language, incorporating the entire text of AB1 that the NSA had worked with homebuilders and a bipartisan group of legislators to develop. It also includes provisions defining what constitutes a construction defect and several other reforms to Nevada’s Chapter 40 construction defect laws.

About a dozen people testified in favor of AB125, including NSA General Counsel Craig Marquiz and NSA Treasurer Darren Wilson. Wilson revealed that his Las Vegas air conditioning company pays as much as 10 times the amount in general liability insurance premiums than similarly-sized AC companies in other states because of the effects of Chapter 40.

Assembly Majority Leader Paul Anderson testified in favor of AB125, stating that between 2006 and 2012 construction defect lawsuits increased by 355% while home construction declined by 86% and that virtually no multi-family housing is being built in Las Vegas because of the effects of Chapter 40.

Just one person testified in opposition to AB125.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee has scheduled a work session on AB125 during its meeting on Friday, February 13, 2014 during which amendments to the bill could be considered and a vote to advance the bill to the full Assembly could be held.

You can contact members of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and let them know you support AB125.
Ira Hansen – Chair (Assembly District 32), [email protected]
Erven T. Nelson – Vice Chair (AD 5), [email protected]
Michele Fiore (AD 4), [email protected]
David M. Gardner (AD 9), [email protected]
Brent A. Jones (AD 35), [email protected]
P.K. O’Neill (AD 40), [email protected]
Victoria Seaman (AD 34), Victoria.Se[email protected]
Jim Wheeler (AD 39), [email protected]
Elliot T. Anderson (AD 15), [email protected]
Nelson Araujo (AD 3), [email protected]
Olivia Diaz (AD 11), [email protected]
James Ohrenschall (AD 12), [email protected]
Tyrone Thompson (AD 17), [email protected]