Las Vegas area casinos are going to have some added pressure to keep their patrons safe. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has signed off on a bill putting additional responsibility on operators to submit emergency response plans, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Bill 69, which was approved by the state Senate and Assembly recently, states that casinos must file updated emergency plans every year before November 1. It also recommends a special task force to oversee security plans. It also recommends finding new ways to fund an electronic system of tracking emergency plans.
These recommendations are intended to help support the Nevada Resort Planning Task Force, an agency that was created as a response to the Mandalay Bay shooting of 201 that saw 58 murdered during a concert. At the time the task force was created, casinos had not had their security plans reviewed for five years.
If a casino does not file updated emergency plans on time, the task force may now report them to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and possible incur fines, a suspension of their license, or lose their right to operate entirely.
It goes beyond casinos though, also requiring local governments to file plans as well. Sisolak said of the new law:
“I was proud to sign legislation into law that strengthens requirements for emergency response plans for cities, counties, schools, and resort hotels to improve our ability to keep Nevadans and visitors safe.”
The emergency plans must provide maps of the casino building and grounds, with descriptions of access routes and an evacuation plan. Casinos also need to provide a list of employees responsible for maintain compliance.
The effort to create this new security plan, spanning republican and democratic governors, is just a common sense reaction to the potential dangers of our current world. It might cost the operators a little bit more money to maintain the safety of their staff and customers, but that cost is far outweighed by the potential to save lives from another massacre, and the bad publicity that would come with it.
