North Las Vegas industrial park bill awaits Trump’s signature
A proposed law granting North Las Vegas rights over the Apex Industrial Park is awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature.
Apex has played a major role in driving new companies to North Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. Comprising about 18,000 acres, the industrial park hosts large facilities for businesses such as grocery chain Kroger, which operates locally as Smith’s Food and Drug, and HEYDUDE, owned by shoe manufacturer Crocs. Real estate and logistics company Prologis also purchased 879 acres for a future development.
The “Apex Area Technical Corrections Act” would give certain rights over the industrial park to the city of North Las Vegas and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association. These rights are currently held by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
In simple terms, this would allow the city of North Las Vegas to issue permits and provide utility access for businesses in the industrial park.
“What it does is it really streamlines processes in the Apex Industrial Area in terms of utilities, easements, to allow development to really accelerate out there,” North Las Vegas Councilman Scott Black said.
More than 80 percent of Nevada’s land is owned by the federal government — higher than any other state. This means many companies wanting to set up in Nevada have to acquire permits from the Bureau of Land Management, said U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.
“That process, as we all know, can take years,” she said. “And in that time, we’re losing out on economic growth and on new job creation.”
Masto said when the Apex Industrial Site was created in 1989, Congress passed a law to transfer federal land to public ownership. However, utility corridors that “criss-crossed” through the land remained under federal control.
In the same act, Congress authorized Clark County to speed up the permitting process. Neither the city of North Las Vegas nor the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association, both of whom manage Apex today, have that power.
“Every business that wants to start constructing, or even expand at Apex, has to go through the complicated federal permitting process if they want to access necessities like gas, power, sewage, access roads and broadband lines,” Cortez Masto said.
U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., first introduced the bill in the House in March 2023, but it didn’t get far afterward. He then reintroduced it on Jan. 22, alongside Cortez Masto, who brought it to the Senate.
The bill passed the House on May 13 and the Senate on Wednesday. Now, it only has one step left before becoming a law: Trump’s signature. He has 10 days to sign bills after they leave the Senate, excluding Sundays. This makes June 30 the last day the act could be signed.
“The end result is it creates great job opportunities for our community, not only in North Las Vegas but for Southern Nevada,” Black said. “So, Mr. Trump, please sign the act for Apex.”
Contact Finnegan Belleau at fbelleau@reviewjournal.com.
