Relating to: permissible financial aid reductions in higher education. (FE)

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Elijah Behnke and 4 co-sponsors

AB 486 ties NDOT project reporting to wildlife connectivity, raises cost-benefit analyses to $50M, and broadens deputy director qualifications, boosting transparency and oversight.

Failed to concur in pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1

Summary — AB 486 (2025) — Makes various changes related to transportation (BDR 35-678)

Status: Enacted in 2025 (approved by the Governor and chaptered into 2025 session law). Effective date: July 1, 2025 (as provided in the bill).

Purpose
- To increase transparency and regulatory detail around Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) highway project planning and reporting, with specific attention to projects that affect wildlife connectivity and wildlife-vehicle collisions; and to revise certain NDOT leadership qualification requirements.

Key provisions (what the law changes)
1. Annual NDOT performance report (NRS 408.133 — amended)
- The Director’s annual performance report must include, for current and proposed highway projects, the progress of any project identified in NDOT’s inventory of connectivity needs and the documented need for those projects. This explicitly connects the Department’s reporting to wildlife-connectivity priorities.

Deputy Director qualifications (NRS 408.178 — amended)

Lowers/changes the formal education requirement from a master’s to a bachelor’s degree in business, economics, or public/business administration (or a BS in certain engineering fields, or licensure as a professional engineer).
Broadens acceptable experience to include 15 years of progressively responsible experience in engineering, project management, business, or economics (or alternate shorter administrative experience routes).

Written cost‑benefit analyses for large highway projects (NRS 408.3195 — amended)

Raises the threshold requiring a written cost‑benefit analysis from projects costing at least $25 million to projects costing at least $50,000,000.
Requires those analyses to include: (a) the number of wildlife‑vehicle collisions in the relevant highway district, and (b) an assessment of the value of any mitigation of wildlife‑vehicle collisions achieved by wildlife crossings (design, construction, and use).

Other procedural/administrative points
- Analyses must be made available to the NDOT Board and the public when the Board agenda is posted.
- The amendments require NDOT to consult with Nevada Department of Wildlife when prioritizing connectivity/mitigation projects.

Who is affected
- Nevada Department of Transportation (reporting and project-analysis requirements).
- NDOT leadership hiring and Deputy Director candidates (changed education/experience qualifications).
- Project proposers and the NDOT Board (fewer projects under $50M will require the formal written cost‑benefit analysis).
- Wildlife and public-safety stakeholders: the law increases transparency about wildlife‑vehicle collisions and the role of wildlife crossings in mitigation.

Notable legislative history / removed provisions
- Earlier drafts of AB 486 (and some committee materials) included provisions establishing or changing funding for a Wildlife Crossings Account (including a tire fee). Those revenue/funding provisions were removed in later amendments; the enacted law focuses on reporting, project-analysis thresholds, and personnel qualifications.

Fiscal impact
- Committee analyses reported: No anticipated effect on state or local government expenditures (per bill fiscal notes).