Nevada Revised Statutes are the annotated codification of Nevada’s laws, the United States and Nevada constitutions, certain court rules, various special and local acts, and other materials deemed appropriate by the legislative counsel of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.^[3]

Organized by subject matter, the laws are divided first into titles, each embracing a single topic, then into chapters covering specific subjects within that topic, and finally into individual sections, each immediately followed by its legislative history. The legislative history is denoted by numbers in brackets and parentheses corresponding to the page and year in the Statutes of Nevada where the section was originally derived or amended.^[3]

The NRS also contains comparative tables, a comprehensive index, and various annotations appearing after each provision, which may include reviser’s notes explaining substantive provisions, cross-references to related statutes, administrative or constitutional provisions, and summaries of relevant court decisions, attorney general’s opinions, or opinions of the Nevada Commission on Ethics.^[3]

The Statutes of Nevada, sometimes called the session laws, are a bound compilation of all general and special laws and resolutions enacted by the Legislature in a specific legislative year, published for every session since territorial days. Thoroughly indexed and normally available within a few months of the close of a session, they are preceded by a temporary softbound compilation known as the advance sheets, which contains the same laws and resolutions in the same order and includes an index and locator tables.^[4]

Bills and resolutions appear in the Statutes of Nevada in the same form as the enrolled copies filed with the secretary of state, with new material printed in bolded italics and deleted material enclosed in brackets with strikethrough. Laws are arranged by chapter number assigned by the secretary of state in the order received from the governor.^[4]

In addition to the complete text of all laws and resolutions, the Statutes of Nevada contain indexed copies of the United States and Nevada constitutions, along with an index and several tables identifying amended, repealed, or newly added sections and chapters of the Nevada Revised Statutes, as well as selected special and local acts. The reprint of the NRS incorporates the statutory changes adopted during the previous session.^[4]

The Nevada Administrative Code (NAC) is the codified body of permanent regulations adopted by executive branch agencies. This process is governed by the Nevada Administrative Procedure Act, contained in Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 233B. Under that law, certain bodies are exempt from these rule-making provisions and may write their own regulations, such as the governor, the Department of Corrections, and the Gaming Control Board., among others.^[5]

Rulemaking may begin when the legislature mandates it, when an agency acts within its statutory authority, or when a member of the public petitions for it. Of the three types of regulation—permanent, temporary, and emergency—only permanent regulations become part of the NAC; temporary regulations expire by limitation, and emergency regulations last no more than 120 days.^[5]

The Nevada Register of Administrative Regulations, similar to the United States Federal Register, is published monthly by the Legislative Council Bureau, a body within the Legislature that acts on its behalf in between sessions, and is available online. Permanent regulations are added to the NAC upon approval by bureau.^[5]

Temporary and emergency regulations do not become part of the NAC, though both appear in the Register. For a temporary regulation to become permanent, the agency must anticipate the expiration date and submit a permanent regulation under the normal procedures. Emergency regulations must be endorsed by the governor and a regulation may be adopted by the emergency procedure only once. Regulations of agencies exempt from Chapter 233B are not included in the NAC unless the bureau authorizes their inclusion.^[5]

The Legislature, Nevada Supreme Court, and governor originally shared the Nevada State Capitol in Carson City, which was built between 1870 and 1871. Constructed from local sandstone with a silver-colored cupola dome 120 feet tall and cost less than $100,000 in 1870 (equivalent to $2,546,053 in 2025). Just after 1900, an octagonal annex was added to the Capitol building in order to house the Nevada State Library. Later, the Capitol doubled in size when wings were added to the north and south ends of the building. However, signs of aging became apparent by 1950 when the Legislature developed a plan to demolish the building and rebuild it from the ground up. In 1959, the Legislature changed plans and decided instead to undergo a complete restoration of the building, the funding for which was passed in 1977. During its restoration, the entire building was gutted and retrofitted for modern building codes and earthquake resistance and installed a new Alaskan marble foyer. The original dome was replaced with a fiberglass construction replica.^[16]

In 1931, the Supreme Court moved into its own building, as did the Legislature in 1971 when it moved to the Nevada State Legislative Building, which made Nevada one of three states whose legislature does not meet in its Capitol building (the other two being Alabama and North Carolina). Presently, the Capitol building houses five of Nevada’s six elected executive constitutional officers, governor, secretary of state, treasurer, lieutenant governor, and controller. The attorney general’s office is in another building.^[16]

The governor of Nevada serves as the head of Nevada’s plural executive and has a duty to ensure the faithful execution of state law. A large responsibility of the governor is to appoint, as of 2024, the top position (and deputies) of 80 state agencies and departments. In addition, the governor appoints the members of around 200 boards, commissions, and committees created by law, several of which the governor is statutorily a member.^[21]

According to professors at the University of Nevada, Reno, the governor wields the most power in appointment of the Board of Pardons Commissioners, as the governor is the only member of the board with an absolute veto authority, as well as the Transportation Board of Directors as well as the Board of Examiners.^[22]

The governor serves a four-year term. Candidates must be at least twenty-five years of age and must have been Nevada residents for at least two years before election.^[23]

Similar to the federal system, Nevada’s governor can be impeached by the legislature’s lower house, the Assembly with a simple majority for the articles of impeachment. The upper house, the Senate, would conduct the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required to convict the governor and remove him from office. Unlike the federal system, both the Assembly’s vote to impeach and the Senate’s conviction and removal in Nevada are counted against the elected number of members in that body, not merely those present for the vote. As of 2025, it would require 22 votes to impeach the governor in the Assembly and at least 14 votes in the Senate.^[18]

As of June 2026, the current governor is Joe Lombardo, a Republican.

The attorney general serves as Nevada’s chief law enforcement officer, overseeing a statewide team of over 300 staff members who provide legal counsel and representation for all state agencies, including boards and commissions. The attorney general is responsible for criminal jurisdiction over consumer, Medicaid, mortgage, and insurance fraud, public integrity crimes committed by government employees, and human trafficking offenses, among others, with the goal of protecting vulnerable populations.^[24]

In addition to prosecutors, the attorney general’s office operates a criminal investigations division staffed by nearly fifty sworn peace officers authorized to investigate these offenses. The attorney general’s wide-ranging duties also include participation on multiple State boards and committees, such as the Board of Examiners, Board of Prison Commissioners, Board of Pardons Commissioners, Executive Branch Audit Committee, Advisory Committee on the Administration of Justice, Domestic Violence Prevention Council, Substance Abuse Working Group, Prosecution Advisory Council, and Technological Crime Advisory Board.^[24]

As of June 2026, the current attorney general is Aaron Ford, a Democrat.

Although the Nevada state treasurer and controller are mandated by the Nevada Constitution, the constitution does not specify any of the duties for either office. Instead, the duties and responsibilities of the officers elected to hold each position are prescribed by Nevada Revised Statutes. In effect, the treasurer and controller are two halves of the state’s financial system.^[25][7]

Because of the similarities and overlap of each office, there have been attempts to combine the offices, including in 1995 and 1999, which were unsuccessful.^[26]

The only state-wide elected officer to be successfully impeached in Nevada was Republican Controller Kathy Augustine in 2004. A special session of the state legislature was called during which the state assembly voted unanimously to impeach her on three articles accusing her of improper use of state employee and state resources regarding her 2002 election campaign. The state senate voted unanimously to convict her of one of the charges, but did not remove her from office and she finished her term as controller.^[27]

As of June 2026, the current treasuerer is Zach Conine, a Democrat, while the controller is Andy Mathews, a Republican.

Major state agencies include:^[28]