Existing law creates the Nevada Air Service Development Commission, which consists of the Executive Director of the Office of Economic Development in the Office of the Governor and the members of the Commission on Tourism. (NRS 231.680) Existing law also creates the Nevada Air Service Development Fund and requires the Commission to develop a program to make grants of money from the Fund to air carriers that will service or provide enhanced air service routes that will service certain airports in this State. (NRS 231.690, 231.710) Section 1.7 of this bill provides that the Nevada Air Service Development Commission is part of the Office of Economic Development. Section 1.7 also maintains the Executive Director of the Office of Economic Development as a member of the Nevada Air Service Development Commission, but revises the membership of the Nevada Air Service Development Commission to include: (1) one member of the Commission on Tourism who is appointed by the Governor rather than all of the members of the Commission on Tourism; (2) one member who represents the Nevada Aviation Association; (3) one member who represents the department of aviation in a county whose population is 700,000 or more (currently only Clark County); (4) one member who represents the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority; (5) one member who represents the Nevada Resort Association; (6) one member who represents the Nevada League of Cities; and (7) one member who represents the Nevada Association of Counties. Section 1.7 further provides that the terms of office for the members of the Nevada Air Service Development Commission are 2 years and must be staggered. Section 1.9 of this bill revises the entities to which the Nevada Air Service Development Commission is authorized to award grants to include governmental entities. Sections 1.2, 1.3, 1.9 and 1.91 of this bill: (1) remove the limitation that the Commission is authorized to award grants only to air carriers that will establish or enhance air service routes to nonhub or small hub airports or to large hub airports that service nonhub or small hub airports; and (2) instead, authorize the Commission to award grants to air carriers for the purpose of establishing or enhancing air service routes that service any public use airport in this State that are part of the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems published by the United States Secretary of Transportation. Section 1.6 of this bill clarifies that the air carriers eligible to receive such grants include, without limitation, air taxi operators. Section 2.7 of this bill repeals the statutory definitions of “large hub airport,” “nonhub airport” and “small hub airport” because those terms would no longer be used for the purpose of determining eligibility for the award of a grant from the Commission. Existing law creates the Fund for Aviation in the State Treasury and authorizes the Director of the Department of Transportation to award grants to counties, cities and other local governments, except for facilities owned or controlled by the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority or a county whose population is 700,000 or more (currently Clark County) for the planning, establishment, development, construction, enlargement, improvement or maintenance of any airport, landing area or air navigation facility owned or controlled by the county, city or other local government. (NRS 494.048) Section 2.5 of this bill makes an appropriation to the Fund for Aviation in the amount of $1,000,000 for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 and $1,000,000 for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 for these purposes. Section 1.4 of this bill requires the Commission to prepare and submit an annual report to the Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau relating to applications for grants received and grants awarded by the Commission during the immediately preceding calendar year.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 231.690
Reprint 1: 231.690
Reprint 2: 231.600, 231.610, 231.680, 231.710, 231.720
As Enrolled: 231.600, 231.610, 231.680, 231.710, 231.720
BDR: 231.690