Nevada Senate Bill 150, which would improve the state's self-storage lien law for facility operators and limit operators' liability regarding protected property, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 15 with amendments and now goes to the Senate floor for a vote. Championed by the Nevada Self Storage Association (NVSSA) with financial support from the national Self Storage Association, the amended bill includes four key changes proposed by Senate Judiciary Chairperson Valerie Wiener:
- The newspaper-advertisement requirement for publicizing lien sales, present in the existing law, has been re-added to the proposed bill. It requires an operator to publicize the sale once a week for two consecutive weeks in a local newspaper. Advertising on a "publically accessible Internet website" was added to this requirement as well.
- Licensed tenants such as doctors, lawyers, realtors and stock brokers who store protected propertyfor example, data containing Social Security numbers or banking informationmust send written notice to the appropriate state-licensure board that they're storing sensitive client information.
- A step-by-step process for operators on how to dispose of protected property was added.
- Tenants storing protected property must label the exterior of the containers holding the materials.
"The important thing is we're out of committee," said NVSSA President Travis Morrow. He and the association are not pleased with the newspaper requirement being re-added, he said, but the bill can be amended again in the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which is where it will go if it passes the Senate.
After the Assembly Judiciary Committee, the bill goes to the Assembly (House) floor for a vote. Next, Sen. Weiner must approve any changes made in the Assembly. If all of this occurs, the bill can head to Gov. Brian Sandoval for approval.
The amended version of the bill is available at http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/76th2011/Bills/Amendments/A_SB150_480.pdf. The bill's progress can be followed at http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/76th2011/Reports/history.cfm?ID=363.