Nevada proposal seeks to strike balance for food vendors, public health

Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al inglés.

Nevada legislators are pushing forward with an initiative to refine the regulatory landscape for the state’s food vendors, aiming to strike a balance between public health safeguards and entrepreneurial opportunity.

Senate Bill 295, heard Tuesday in the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, would require local health boards to provide targeted outreach and information to sidewalk vendors. The bill also proposes establishing a dedicated task force focused on vendor-related public health policies.

This legislation builds upon the foundation laid in 2023, when lawmakers passed a law authorizing counties with populations over 100,000 to develop their own regulatory frameworks and instituting licensing requirements for food vendors.

“The 2023 bill established the pathway, and now we’re working to reduce barriers that small businesses face,” explained state Sen. Fabian Doñate, D-Las Vegas, in a statement to the Sun. “Street food vendors represent the culture and fabric of our community. These are precisely the microbusinesses we should be supporting in the Legislature.”

The proposal also would expand the list of cottage foods that can be sold. Cottage foods, which include jams, popcorn and popcorn balls, vinegars, nut mixes and certain baked goods, are prepared in private homes or in noncommercial kitchens, like those in churches or social clubhouses. The legislation would limit each vendor to cottage food sales of no more than $35,000 annually.

Doñate sponsored the legislation with Sen. Edgar Flores, D-Las Vegas, and Assemblymembers Cecelia González, Cinthia Zermeño Moore and Reuben D’Silva — all Democrats from Southern Nevada. No vote was taken on the bill at Tuesday’s hearing.

Clark County’s ordinance regulating street vending went into effect April 30, 2024.

The county rules set a 1,500-foot distance requirement for street vendors at event venues holding more than 20,000 people, such as T-Mobile Arena and Allegiant Stadium.

They additionally prohibit vendors from selling within 500 feet of a pedestrian mall or entertainment district. The county also prohibits vendors from selling near community centers, unless contracted by the county, or “the extreme outside perimeter” of any school property or child care facility.

Additionally under the Clark County rules, vendors must have a business license, permits from the Southern Nevada Health District and the Nevada Department of Taxation, and proof of liability insurance.

The Clark County rules also require vendors to detail to the county the products they are selling and obtain approval for the structure from which they are selling.

The litany of expectations has been difficult for many vendors.

Doñate said the process to get licensed in Clark County could cost nearly $20,000. This includes registering with the state Department of Taxation; securing a license; paying for a Southern Nevada Health District Plan Review; and buying a cart approved by the health district — the most costly of these charges.

Doñate, with the advocacy group Make the Road Nevada, followed local street vendor Bertin Gonzalez along his six-month process of getting licensed in Clark County. He drew the prices from Gonzalez’s experience, and saw that the approved carts alone cost around $14,500.

With SB 295, products like freshly cut fruit cups, hot dogs, nachos, frozen popsicles and elote — sweet corn slathered in mayonnaise with a coating of cotija cheese — would be considered cottage foods able to be prepared from a home kitchen.

Vendors would need to brand their products with a sticker noting they were prepared in a facility not inspected by a government agency.

Doñate said he believed some sidewalk vendors would no longer need to use food commissaries, purchase expensive food carts or get licensed by the health district — only register with them — with this cottage foods definition expansion, saving time and thousands of dollars for a group of people said to make only a couple hundred dollars a month in business.

He mentioned that another 60 sidewalk vendors associated with Make the Road Nevada wanted to get licensed, and the passage of SB 295 would help them.

“We’re not asking for privileges, we’re just asking for the opportunities to work, and SB 295 is that opportunity,” Gonzalez said to committee members through a translator, adding that language barriers and cost made it difficult for him to become licensed. “I request, with all due respect, that you support this law because behind every little cart there is a family that is struggling to get ahead.”

Doñate told the Sun that the legislation wasn’t meant to change rules enacted by the county but required health districts to “meet the community where they’re at.”

While some street vendors and their allies showed up to lend their support, county health departments and restaurant industry groups raised their shared concerns with the bill.

The Vegas Chamber, Nevada Resort Association, Nevada Restaurant Association, Clark County and health districts from various parts of Nevada worried that removing a food handler license requirement would pose “a risk to public health.”

Peter Saba of the Nevada Restaurant Association also raised a concern about the presence of some foods in the Nevada heat, where temperatures can exceed 100 degrees and affect the safety of meat or dairy products.

Jacob Billings, a senior environmental health specialist with the Southern Nevada Health District, said during the hearing that the agency had permitted 13 sidewalk vendors since 2023 under the current process — all received “A” grades, “showing the current system and regulations are working.”

He explained the health district hosted and attended workshops, town halls and council meetings to provide information on the permitting process. The district also makes bilingual staff available to assist those who need additional language services.

“SNHD supports small businesses and provides education and guidance to operators throughout their entire permitting process and beyond,” Billings said. “We strive to ensure our community is being served safe food and feel SB 295 as written will deprive our (licensed) vendors and public of this.”