Nevada Assembly votes for measure to aid relief on egg prices

Nevada State Legislature in Carson City, Nevada Wednesday, April 27, 2022. Photo by Wade Vandervort

CARSON CITY — Across the street from the Nevada Legislature in Carson City, Comma Coffee has a sign on its door that’s become increasingly common in the United States, whether it’s a Waffle House or small business.

“Due to the extraordinary increase in eggs again, we will be adding $1.00 to every egg dish at the register,” the sign reads. “Hopefully this is a temporary situation, but I can no longer absorb the increases. Thank you for understanding.”

From the beginning of last year, the average price of eggs rose by 64% to $4.15 a dozen by December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That rise hasn’t stopped in 2025 as the bird flu continues to spread.

To bring prices back down, the state Assembly’s natural resources committee passed legislation today allowing the temporary suspension of the state’s ban on caged eggs.

“Since 2022, roughly 20 million egg-laying chickens have died or been culled as a result of this disease outbreak, and that’s caused a really significant supply chain crunch,” said Assemblymember Howard Watts, D-Las Vegas, who introduced the bill with Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas.

The suspension would last for a maximum of 120 days. It can only be triggered by the state’s director of agriculture when a “foreign animal disease” or federally declared “disease emergency or natural disaster” disrupts the national supply chain for eggs.

Only two suspensions would be allowed per calendar year. If enacted, it would more than double the number of eggs Nevada has access to.

Since last March, nearly 1,000 herds of cows have been infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 68 human cases, including one in Nevada reported over the weekend by CNN.

Nevada Department of Agriculture Director J.J. Goicoechea brought a grim report to the Assembly committee Monday.

Southern Nevada cows were hit with the avian flu variant impacting the rest of the country in December, but a new variant, D1.1, was spotted in Churchill County late last month. Goicoechea told the committee the variant “has never been seen before in dairy cattle anywhere.”

“I will not sit here and lie to you. We will be in this for months. We have a long ways to go,” Goicoechea said. “My goal … is to put this in a corner and see if (we can) let it burn out.

Around 14,000 cows in Northern Nevada have been placed under quarantine on top of the 22,000 quarantined from the December wave, the director said.

That doesn’t mean people should be worried about the milk they pick up from a grocery store. Goicoechea said the pasteurization process “renders the virus inactive,” adding that he is thankful Nevada isn’t “a raw milk state.”

Nevada prohibited the sale of caged eggs in 2021 with the unanimous support of state Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Nine other states, including California and Colorado, have also banned caged eggs.

In 2021, Watts was the chair of the natural resources committee, which originally proposed the cage-free legislation. He said the precise circumstances to trigger the bill were designed to ensure the state doesn’t “step backwards.”

“Ultimately, when our supply chain is working well, we’re going to have affordable and high quality eggs for everybody. But when we’re facing this severe supply chain issue, we want to make sure that we take every action that we can,” Watts said.

An amendment to the bill brought forward by the Humane Society would additionally give the department of agriculture powers to add and suspend regulations to address whatever crisis is ongoing during the 120 period.

Watts and Goicoechea both emphasized that that would not mean lowering health and safety standards.

“There is no way we’re going to do anything that would risk or jeopardize the health of Nevada citizens,” Goicoechea said. “Absolutely not.”