Nevada Temporarily Suspends Cage-Free Egg Law Amid Soaring Prices

A dozen cage-free eggs are seen for sale for $10.99 at a grocery store in Glendale, California on January 6, 2025. Bird flu, a disrupted supply chain and other factors have contributed to a sharp increase in egg prices in California. Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP

Gov. Joe Lombardo signed legislation on Thursday allowing Nevada to temporarily suspend a law requiring eggs sold and produced in the state to come from cage-free hens.

Assembly Bill 171, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager and Assembly member Howard Watts, both Democrats, was penned in response to rising egg prices that have impacted consumers nationwide.

The measure authorizes state officials to order the temporary suspension of the cage-free law—known as Assembly Bill 399—and any regulation relating to the sale of eggs in the state during an “ongoing event that negatively impacts the national supply chain for egg products or shell eggs” for up to 120 days.

It allows for no more than two temporary suspensions in a calendar year and requires the state quarantine officer to provide the public with no less than 14 days of notice of the suspension’s ending.

Additionally, the measure allows the state to consider authorizing the sale of grade B eggs—typically used to make liquid, frozen, and dried egg products—suspending or otherwise limiting the purchase of eggs by state agencies or local governments; and permitting farm owners or operators of small egg flocks to produce, sell, or transport eggs and egg products to a retailer in the state.

The bill passed unanimously through both chambers of the Legislature before it was signed into law by Lombardo, a Republican.

Lombardo welcomed the measure and said it will “lower the cost of eggs and directly benefit Nevada families.”

“This bipartisan legislation represents how effective the Legislature can be when they work together,” the governor said in a statement to the media.

He urged the Legislature to next send a repeal of the cage-free law to his desk “so that we can permanently lower these costs and remove harmful, California-inspired legislation once and for all.”

Nevada’s Democrat-controlled Legislature passed the cage-free law in 2021 in response to concerns about animal welfare, joining several other states who passed similar measures.

Bird Flu Outbreak Drives Up Egg Prices

At the time the measure was passed, egg prices remained securely under $2 a dozen. However, the household staple has since surged in price, with the average price per dozen eggs nationwide hitting $4.15 in December 2024, while cage-free eggs are generally even more expensive.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects the price of eggs to increase another 20.3 percent in 2025.

The price increases have been driven, in part, by an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, which has forced farmers to slaughter millions of chickens.

More than 157 million poultry birds have been affected across all 50 states and the District of Columbia since avian influenza was first detected in a commercial flock in 2022.

The virus prompts the slaughter of entire flocks anytime it is found and can leave farms waiting months to resume production because of the time required to dispose of the carcasses, sanitize the barns, and raise new chickens until they are about five months old and capable of laying eggs.

Additionally, egg farmers are facing higher costs for feed, fuel, and labor and are having to fork out more on biosecurity measures to try to protect their birds.

Nevada Department of Agriculture Director J.J. Goicoechea is expected to authorize the 120-day suspension of the cage-free egg requirements within a day, according to his spokesperson, Ciara Ressel.

“We anticipate 30 days before we can see an impact at the grocery stores,” Ressel said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.