The Nevada Legislature has concluded its biennial session with a bill to toughen requirements for drivers of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft and a new law opening the state’s fledgling marijuana industry to its Indian tribes.
The ride-sharing measure would require drivers to prove they have obtained a $200 state business license within three months of joining a transportation network company.
It also would require those companies to review drivers’ driving records annually and do new criminal background checks every three years.
The bill, now awaiting Governor Brian Sandoval’s signature, passed with five no votes in the Senate and 10 opposed in the Assembly.
Sandoval did sign Senate Bill 375, which allows Nevada’s 27 federally recognized Indian tribes to negotiate directly with the Governor’s Office for the cultivation and sale of marijuana, which last year was cleared by voter referendum for recreational and medical consumption.
The signing took place in the Capitol Building in Carson City before a delegation of the Nevada Tribal Cannabis Alliance, an advocacy group representing 14 tribes.
“The voters have spoken on marijuana and they’ve adopted this,” Sandoval said. “It’s important that the Native American people can participate in this and for the state to work with all of you.”
The governor also is expected to sign a bill that increases funds and permission for low-THC hemp research to extend beyond Nevada universities and select marijuana growers in the state.
According to the new law, hemp, which is made of seeds and stems of marijuana plants, could not contain more than 0.3 percent THC, the psychoactive ingredient found in marijuana. Less than 20 producers statewide currently grow hemp, according to the Nevada Department of Agriculture. A department spokesman did not say how many additional hemp growers would be added under the new law.
Sandoval vetoed two marijuana bills?one to establish state apprenticeships for marijuana and the other to include opioid addiction as a qualifying condition for a state medical marijuana card.
Lawmaker did not act on another four, covering such issues as the price of medical marijuana cards to the size and shape of edibles for sale in the recreational industry.
The legislature meets again in 2019.
