After becoming Nevada’s first ‘Bee City,’ new legislation would make beekeeping illegal in any city statewide
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Fri, 03/29/2019 - 7:35am
In a bizarre twist of events, not two months after Carson City officially became Nevada’s first Bee City USA, a piece of legislation was introduced to the senate that would prohibit beekeeping in any town or city in Nevada, including our very own Bee City.
An official backer of the bill was Carson City’s own Assemblyman Al Kramer, who has now submitted an amendment to have his name taken off the bill as a co-sponsor, and plans to do his best to kill the bill.
“I moved too fast,” said Assemblyman Kramer. “I didn’t realize how overreaching it was at the time, and I can own up to that. Now, I’m going to try and have it killed.”
According to Assemblyman Kramer, he was under the impression that the bill would focus on large commercial beehives being kept in residential zones. However, the bill essentially would make it illegal for anyone in the state of Nevada to possess any amount of beehives, commercial or not.
The bill reads: “A person shall not own or possess an apiary within any urban or suburban area of this State having a density of more than two residential units per acre in the urban or suburban area.”
It clarifies “residential unit” as an apartment, condominium, mobile home, single-family home, and townhouse.
Senate Bill 389 was introduced to the Senate on March 20, 2019, and was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources by Senator Ratti, according to the Senate journal entry for the day.
The bill was drafted by Republican Senator Keith Pickard of Las Vegas representing Senate District 20 and Republican Senator Joe Hardy of Las Vegas representing Senate District 12.
Joint sponsors of the bill include Assemblymen Kramer (Carson City, Washoe), Edwards (Clark), Krasner, (Washoe) Leavitt (Clark), Roberts (Clark), and Yeager (Clark).
Assemblyman Kramer said that Senator Pickard discussed adding an amendment to the bill that would exempt Carson City, but Kramer doesn’t believe that would be enough.
“If it’s a Clark County issue dealing with commercial bee hives in residential zones, then we should leave it up to the County to resolve it,” he said. “The North doesn’t have the same issues with bees that the South does, and legislation should reflect that.”
Even with the amendment, Assemblyman Kramer has decided to do his best to kill it so that it cannot pass into law.
“I like honeybees, and I want them in our community,” he said. “I don’t want to have to go outside and pollinate flowers with a q-tip.”
