The tourism industry fuels Las Vegas, and many workers were hit especailly hard during the 2020 global pandemic. Howard Stutz reported progress made on ''Right to Return’ legislation, first reported about in the Nevadan Independent, and noted that the bill now heads back to the state Senate for a final vote.
As Stutz recalled: "The Assembly gave quick party-line approval to legislation that would guarantee the rights of laid-off gaming and tourism industry workers to return to their jobs. The 26 Democratic Assembly members outvoted 16 Republicans to send SB386 back to the Senate for final concurrence on an amendment. The Senate voted along party lines last Wednesday to approve the legislation."
He also noted that lawmakers adopted an amendment that exempts small businesses. (A small business is defined as ones taht prior to the pandemic employed 30 or fewer workers.) This exemption prevents these vulnerable businesses from being affected by the so-called “Right to Return” legislation. The amendment likely exempts small restaurants and vendors operating in casinos from having to comply with the hiring requirements in the bill, though this is not explicitly clear.
Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas) urged lawmakers to vote against the legislation. She argued that the bill would ultimately harm small businesses and that the cut-off of 30 employees “seemed like an arbitrary number.”
However, Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton (D-Las Vegas) disagreed, calling the "Right to Return" legislation in SB386 somethign that “protects the people that built this state. They are the economic engine of Las Vegas.” Carlton went ton to say that the 78-day shutdown of the gaming industry in an effort to slow the spread of the pandemic a year ago March, “was done for the right reasons. This is also the right thing to do. This protects everyone.”
The larger parties involved -- namely that of gaming and the Culinary Union -- struck a deal on the legislation earlier last week. They agreed to limit the scope of the bill and to exempt a number of employee classifications, such as including managers and performers. The Nevada Resort Association reported that they were taking a neutral position on the bill in return for the concessions for managers and performers.
The proposed bill, SB386, would allow workers in the gaming and travel sectors the right to return to their jobs, covering those workers laid off after March 12, 2020, and who were employed for at least six months in the year before the governor’s first COVID-19 emergency declaration.