Nevada lawmakers approve four blockchain bills

The Nevada State Legislature has now sent 4 pieces of legislation to the Governor this session relating to blockchain technology. Three earlier bills, 162, 163, and 164, have already been sent to the Governor and signed last week, with the latest, 161, just sent as well. These bills were all introduced by state Senator Ben Kieckhefer, with the goal being to spur economic growth and promote innovation in business.

These bills aim to remove barriers for the adoption of blockchain technologies in both the public and private sectors. Specifically, SB 161 would provide businesses testing new uses of blockchain with temporary exemption from certain financial regulations. This would provide a Regulatory Experimentation Program for Product Innovation, under which companies can test the viability of blockchain without facing initial regulatory hurdles. SB 162 allows government entities to accept records on blockchain as they would other digital documents, while also prohibiting the state from collecting additional fees for blockchain based records beyond what would normally be charged for other electronic documents. SB 163 allows businesses to store their records and permits using blockchain technology. SB 164 more clearly defines cryptocurrencies for taxation purposes.

Nevada is one of many states to explore the use of blockchain technology. Colorado recently hired its first ever Blockchain Solution Architect, who will lead the state’s program investigating how these technologies can be used in state government. The state legislature also introduced a bill that would compel agencies to consider using blockchain technologies for managing its agricultural supply chain. The City of Denver tested a blockchain based application allowing overseas voters to cast their ballots in local elections in May. This followed West Virginia using the same application to collect deployed military and overseas voters ballots for their congressional elections last year as well.

These are just a handful of cases where state and local governments are considering and testing the use of blockchain technologies in a range of applications. Although its use is still somewhat exploratory, it clearly is on the agenda for these governments, and interested vendors working with this technology should continue to see if and where it continues to be considered for government use.

Source: StateScoop