by Camalot Todd, Nevada Current
January 24, 2023
The Nevada Board of Health voted on Jan. 20 to authorize a temporary regulation implementing a 35 cent surcharge on phone bills with the proceeds going to the state’s participation in the federal 988 mental health hotline.
Gov. Joe Lombardo earlier this month issued an executive order freezing new regulations and ordering a review of existing regulations by all executive branch agencies, departments, boards, and commissions.
But the order included a half dozen categories of regulations to which the freeze would not apply, and the 988 regulation qualified under at least one of them, according to the state Division of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH).
“The purpose of this program is to protect public health and safety related to behavioral health crisis. For this reason, the Board of Health was able to proceed,” the DPBH said via email.
The temporary authorization lasts until Nov. 1 with the hopes that the more permanent regulations will be in place afterward, the DPBH said.
Nevada, along with Virginia, Colorado, and Washington, was one of only four states that set up state 988 funding. Through Senate Bill 390, the state authorized at most a 35 cent charge per line, per month in Nevada to fund the 988 system including the 988 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, support centers, and mobile crisis teams for persons considering suicide or experiencing a behavioral health crisis.
The surcharge would generate $15 million annually to support the programming, according to the Nevada Board of Health.
Reciprocity reg put off ‘until further notice’
A hearing on another new regulation that was scheduled to take place Tuesday was postponed because of the governor’s regulatory freeze order. The State Board of Architecture was scheduled to discuss a regulation providing architects certified in other states by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards to be certified in Nevada through reciprocity.
The hearing “has been postponed until further notice per” the governor’s executive order, reads the board’s meeting schedule.
An executive order that Lombardo issued in conjunction with the regulatory freeze addresses state licensing requirements, and aims to “provide a recommended pathway for facilitating licensure reciprocity.”
The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
