Nevada could temporarily drop cage-free rule to lower egg prices

A bill moving through the Nevada Legislature could address egg shortages and rising egg costs by allowing the state to temporarily suspend a law requiring the sale of cage-free eggs. The bill has already passed the Assembly and is moving on to the Senate.

An avian flu outbreak that began in 2022 has wreaked havoc on the national egg supply chain, leading to the killing of more than 156 million birds and causing egg prices to rise 36.8 percent from December 2023 to December 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Egg prices are predicted to rise another 20.3 percent this year, the USDA said in a January food price outlook report.

Nevada has another layer that is contributing to the rising costs. Existing law, passed in 2021, sets cage-free standards for eggs produced and sold in the state.

Assembly Bill 171, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager and Assembly member Howard Watts, both D-Las Vegas, would authorize the state’s quarantine officer to order the temporary suspension of cage-free egg requirements during “any ongoing event that negatively impacts the national supply chain for egg products or shell eggs,” according to the bill as introduced. Events could include a foreign animal disease outbreak or a federally declared disease emergency or national disaster.

The intent is to increase purchasing options at a time when egg supply is already low.

“Ultimately, when our supply chain is working well, we’re still going to have affordable and high-quality eggs for everybody,” Watts said during the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources on Monday afternoon. “But when we’re facing this severe supply chain issue, we want to make sure that we take every action that we can while protecting the health and safety of Nevadans.”

AB 171 would allow only a 120-day, roughly four months, suspension at a time. It also allows no more than two temporary suspensions in a calendar year and requires the state quarantine officer to give no less than 14 days’ notice of the suspension’s ending.

During its first hearing Monday, the bill was amended to include more authority for state officials to explore other regulatory suspensions during a particular event, such as allowing the sale of grade B eggs or streamlining rules for owners of small flocks to sell eggs. It also was amended to include a requirement to report potential price discrepancies to the Legislature after 60 days.

The Assembly Committee on Natural Resources unanimously amended and approved the bill Monday evening. The Assembly uanimously approved it on Tuesday morning; it now must go through the same hearing process in the Senate.

The bill, if passed, is not expected to be an immediate fix to inflated egg costs. Nevada Department of Agriculture Director J.J. Goicoechea said it would likely be “a slow change at the grocery store.”

“As soon as we get those contracts ramped up and in place, within 30 days we should start to see a lot more eggs on the shelf,” Goicoechea said. “And if we can keep those transportation costs where we need them, we can see that dollar amount start coming down.”

Egg prices are an obvious issue directly across the street from the Legislative Building. Comma Coffee, a cafe on Carson Street, has a sign on its door about its egg-based dishes.

“Due to the extraordinary increase in eggs again, we will be adding $1.00 to every egg dish at the register,” the sign reads. “Hopefully this is a temporary situation, but I can no longer absorb the increases.”

In Las Vegas, bulk shopping stores like Costco are often sold out of eggs, the Review-Journal reported in January. Other grocery stores had two-carton limits per shopper.

No one offered opposition testimony during Wednesday’s hearing, though some written testimony submitted online came from Nevada farmers who said they were concerned that this bill would not address the supply chain and bring back the risk to food safety that was targeted in the first place.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.