KVIG Informative

Nevada bars former legislators from being paid to lobby until the end of the next regular session after they leave, and bars other former state and local officials for one year from representing clients on matters their agency handled. Neither rule limits who can hire them.

Nevada law bars a former legislator from receiving compensation to act as a lobbyist from the day they leave the Legislature until the end of the next regular session in which they are no longer a member, under NRS 218H.950. Because Nevada’s Legislature meets in regular session every two years, the length of the wait depends on when the lawmaker leaves office.

The rule came from Assembly Bill 273 of 2015, which the governor signed on May 27, 2015. It applies to legislators whose terms began on or after Nov. 8, 2016. It does not reach former local officials.

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The statute carves out exceptions, including one for a full-time employee whose job includes significant duties other than lobbying.

A separate provision covers everyone else. NRS 281A.410(1)(b) bars a former state or local officer or employee, for one year after leaving, from being paid to represent or counsel a private person on a matter the agency considered during their service. The bar covers cases, applications, contracts and determinations. It does not cover legislation or regulations.

NRS 281A.550(5) adds a limit on hiring, but only in one situation. For one year, a non-clerical state or local officer or employee may not seek or accept a job with a company that received a government contract worth more than $25,000 in the 12 months before they left, if their position let them affect the award. The Ethics Commission can grant relief through an advisory opinion. The provision is written around contracts for supplies, materials, equipment and services, and no published opinion found says whether a land sale, development agreement or franchise counts.

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Lawmakers have tried to tighten the rules. Assembly Bill 438 of 2013, which would have created a cooling-off period before former members of certain public bodies could lobby on matters before them, passed the Assembly 37-2 and died in the Senate. Assembly Bill 66 of 2023, a broad rewrite of the ethics law that revised both one-year bars, passed the Assembly 37-5 and died in a Senate committee.

The Ethics Commission’s legislative committee took up the question again in January 2026. Its minutes show the executive director’s package included a stricter cooling-off provision tied to NRS 281A.410. The director clarified that it concerns the representation bar and does not restrict where a person can work.

Nevada has revolving-door rules. They govern whom a former official can represent and whom a former lawmaker can lobby for. No statute found stops a former local official from taking a job with a company the day after leaving office, unless that company held a covered contract.