California vs Nevada: Local Ordinance Comparison (2026)

Beekeeping

California law requires every beekeeper, apiary owner, broker, or person possessing an apiary in the state to register each colony's number and location by January 1 each year with the county agricultural commissioner, plus an annual fee up to $250.

Nevada law makes it unlawful to keep bees in anything other than movable-frame hives, so inspectors can open colonies to check for disease. The State Department of Agriculture enforces Chapter 552 and can condemn and destroy non-conforming hives.

Chickens & Livestock

California Food and Agricultural Code section 16902 forbids any owner from willfully or negligently letting livestock stray onto, or stand unattended on, a public highway that is fenced or built up on both sides.

Nevada is a fence-out, open-range state. Under NRS 569.440, a livestock owner is liable for trespass only when animals break through a legal fence enclosing your property. Without a legal fence, the burden falls on the landowner to keep livestock out.

Exotic Pets

California prohibits importing, transporting, or possessing wild and exotic animals classified as restricted species, including ferrets, hedgehogs, monkeys, sugar gliders, and most big cats, unless you hold a revocable permit from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is not issued for ordinary pet keeping.

Nevada takes a negative-list approach to exotic pets. NAC 503.110 bars possession of specific species such as foxes, raccoons, skunks, coyotes, and alligators, while primates, most large cats, and elephants may be kept without a state permit.

Wildlife Feeding

California law makes it illegal to knowingly feed big game mammals, deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, black bear, and Nelson bighorn sheep, anywhere in the state. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife enforces this statewide prohibition, and there is no permit exception.

Nevada Department of Wildlife prohibits feeding big game mammals like deer, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, antelope, and mountain lions. NAC 503.145 makes intentional feeding unlawful statewide to prevent habituation, disease spread, and human-wildlife conflicts.

Tobacco Retail License

California requires statewide licensing of tobacco and vape retailers under the STAKE Act and the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act. Business and Professions Code 22970 establishes uniform retailer licensing, while local governments may adopt stricter rules.

Nevada requires vapor and other tobacco product retailers to hold a Tobacco Retail Dealer's License from the Department of Taxation, verify buyers are 21, and remit the 30 percent other-tobacco-products wholesale tax on vapor products.

Dispensary Zoning

California licenses cannabis retailers under MAUCRSA, but Business and Professions Code section 26200 preserves each city's and county's power to zone, permit, or completely prohibit dispensaries within its borders.

Nevada sets statewide minimum setbacks for licensed cannabis retailers from schools, parks, and similar uses under NRS 678B.250, while authorizing cities and counties to impose additional zoning conditions within those statutory floors.

Home Cultivation

Health and Safety Code section 11362.2 grants every adult 21 or older the statewide right to cultivate up to six cannabis plants indoors, and bars local governments from completely prohibiting indoor personal cultivation.

Nevada permits adults 21 and older to cultivate up to six cannabis plants per person, capped at twelve per household, only when the residence is more than 25 miles from a licensed dispensary, under NRS 678D and the state constitution.

Paid Leave Preemption

California's Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act under Labor Code 245-249 mandates paid sick leave for nearly all employees statewide. SB 616 (2023) raised the minimum to 40 hours or five days annually effective January 2024, applying universally.

Nevada requires private employers with 50+ employees to provide paid leave, with statewide standards limiting local government modification of leave rules.

Erosion Control

California requires anyone clearing, grading, or disturbing one acre or more of land to obtain coverage under the State Water Board's Construction General Permit, file a Notice of Intent through SMARTS, and implement erosion and sediment controls before ground disturbance begins.

Nevada bans discharging sediment-laden stormwater or any pollutant into state waters without an NDEP permit under NRS 445A.465, the core of the state's erosion and construction-runoff controls.

Flood Zones

Government Code sections 65302 and 65962, together with Water Code section 8401 and the State Building Code Chapter 16, set uniform floodplain mapping, disclosure, and construction standards binding every California jurisdiction.

Nevada participates in the National Flood Insurance Program through the Division of Water Resources under NRS Chapter 540, requiring participating local governments to adopt floodplain management ordinances meeting FEMA minimum standards as a condition of flood insurance availability.

Propane Storage

California uniformly applies the State Fire Marshal's propane storage standards through the California Fire Code, which all local jurisdictions must enforce as a minimum.

Nevada regulates liquefied petroleum gas storage and handling statewide under NRS 590 and NAC 590, adopting NFPA 58 by reference and licensing dealers, installers, and bulk storage facilities through the Board for the Regulation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

Open Carry

California broadly prohibits open carry of firearms statewide under Penal Code 25850 (loaded firearms in public) and Penal Code 26350 (open carry of unloaded handguns). The prohibition applies uniformly across all California cities and counties without local variation.

Nevada generally permits open carry of firearms by adults without a permit, subject to location restrictions and the state preemption framework.

Social Gambling Rules

California law exempts private home card games from gambling regulation entirely. Penal Code § 337j(e)(2)(D) excludes any card game played in a private home or residence from the definition of a "controlled game," so long as no one profits from operating it except as a player. Add a house rake or entry fee and the same game becomes an unlicensed "controlled game," a crime carrying up to a year in jail.

Nevada's gambling laws exempt one narrow category from licensing: card games played in a private home or residence where nobody profits from running the game, with winnings going only to players. NRS 463.0152 excludes these games from the definition of gambling game entirely, so a home poker night without a house cut needs no state gaming license, unlike any dice game, slot machine, or public card room.

Sports Betting Law

California has no legal sports betting, in stores or online. Penal Code section 337a criminalizes bookmaking, pool-selling, and placing or accepting any bet on the result of a sporting contest, with first-offense penalties up to a year in county jail or state prison and a $5,000 fine. Voters killed the only paths to legalization, Propositions 26 and 27, in November 2022, leaving no licensed sportsbook and no regulator for sports wagers.

Nevada legalized sports wagering statewide long before other states, but you can only bet through a sports pool licensed under NRS 463.160. Operating a race book or sports pool without that license is a category B felony under NRS 463.360, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Mobile wagering runs through the same licensed operator's app.

CC&R Enforcement

California overrides HOA governing documents on several owner protections. The Davis-Stirling Act and related Civil Code sections bar HOAs from prohibiting solar systems, U.S. flag displays, drought-tolerant landscaping, EV charging stations, and most noncommercial signs, even where local city rules are silent.

Nevada law overrides HOA restrictions in several areas: NRS 278.0208 voids CC&Rs that prohibit or unreasonably restrict solar energy systems, NRS 116.320 protects display of the U.S. flag, NRS 116.325 protects political signs, and NRS 116.330 guarantees owners the right to install drought-tolerant landscaping (xeriscape).

Drought Landscaping Rights

Civil Code section 4735 voids any HOA rule that bans low-water plants, turf replacement, or artificial turf, and bars fines for cutting back watering during a declared drought emergency. Homeowners associations statewide must let owners xeriscape and cannot force water-efficient yards back to grass once an emergency ends.

NRS 116.330 bars a Nevada homeowners association, and its governing documents, from prohibiting an owner from installing or maintaining drought tolerant landscaping in the yard and other areas the owner occupies exclusively, and the statute names the front yard and the back yard specifically. Nevada defines drought tolerant landscaping to include decorative rock mulch and artificial turf, so this is a full xeriscape right and not merely a synthetic-grass conversion right. The owner must still submit a detailed description or plans for architectural review and design the yard to be compatible with the community's style to the maximum extent practicable, but the board may not unreasonably deny approval or unreasonably call the design incompatible, and the whole subsection must be construed liberally in favor of xeriscape. Subsection 2 separately clears the way for boards to strip turf out of common elements without treating it as a change of use.

Flag Display Rights

Civil Code § 4705 bars every California homeowners association from limiting a member's display of the United States flag on their own lot or within their exclusive-use common area. The only carve-out is a restriction genuinely required for public health or safety. An HOA that violates the statute pays the prevailing party's attorney's fees and costs under subdivision (c).

NRS 116.320 forbids a Nevada homeowners association, and the association's own governing documents, from banning display of the flag of the United States or the flag of the State of Nevada anywhere an owner has the right to occupy and use exclusively, which covers a front yard, back yard, patio, balcony or window of the unit. The protection is deliberately narrow: only those two flags are named, so a military branch, POW/MIA, first-responder, team or seasonal flag has no statutory shield in a Nevada common-interest community. The board may still adopt rules that reasonably restrict the placement and manner of the display, and the flag itself must be cloth, fabric or paper flown from a pole or staff or hung in a window. Whoever wins a lawsuit brought to enforce the section recovers reasonable attorney's fees and costs.

Lien & Foreclosure Limits

A California homeowners association cannot foreclose on a member’s home over unpaid dues until the delinquent assessments alone reach $1,800, or until the assessments secured by the lien are more than 12 months delinquent. Civil Code section 5720(b) deliberately strips accelerated assessments, late charges, collection fees and costs, attorney’s fees and interest out of that $1,800 count, so an association cannot pad a small balance with penalties to reach the foreclosure line. Below the threshold the association may still record a lien, sue in small claims court, or collect any other way short of foreclosure. Disciplinary fines are further out of reach entirely: Civil Code section 5725(b) forbids treating a penalty for breaking the CC&Rs as an assessment that can become a lien enforceable by sale.

A Nevada association gets a lien the moment an assessment, fine or construction penalty falls due, and NRS 116.3116(3) puts part of that lien ahead of the first mortgage: nine months of common-expense assessments computed on the periodic budget without acceleration, any abatement charges under NRS 116.310312, and enforcement costs capped by subsection 5 at $165, $325, $90, $400 and $400 for the five listed steps, with no attorney fees. That super-priority slice is why an association foreclosure sale in Nevada can extinguish a first deed of trust outright, and NRS 116.31162 and NRS 116.31164 give the lender the escape hatch: pay the prior portion no later than 5 days before the sale and record the satisfaction no later than 2 days before, and the sale still happens but the security interest survives. Fines ride in the lien but never in the super-priority, and NRS 116.31162(6) bars foreclosing by sale on a fine at all unless the violation is an imminent threat to health, safety or welfare.

Rental Restriction Limits

Civil Code § 4741 bars every California homeowners association from adopting or enforcing a rule that prohibits, or unreasonably restricts, renting out a separate interest, and sets a statewide floor requiring associations to permit at least 25 percent of units to be rented, while still allowing bans on stays of 30 days or less.

Nevada rewrote NRS 116.335 effective July 1, 2026, and the section now runs in the association's favor rather than the owner's. The version in force lets an association whose declaration already authorizes a leasing prohibition or restriction, or already sets a maximum number or percentage of rentable units, adopt rules and regulations restricting residential leasing to the extent the restriction is reasonably related to meeting the underwriting requirements of institutional first-mortgage lenders or of insurance companies that write policies for associations or units. The owner grandfathering that Nevada carried from 2005 to 2026, which barred an association from banning rentals or requiring rental approval unless the declaration already said so when the owner bought, expired on June 30, 2026 and is not in the current text. Two owner protections survive: an economic hardship waiver when a rental cap is full, and a rule that declarant-owned units are not counted when measuring the cap.

Cottage Food Operations

Government Code section 51035 forbids any California city, county, or city and county from prohibiting a cottage food operation in a residential dwelling. The local agency must pick one of three routes: classify the operation as a permitted residential use for zoning purposes, grant a nondiscretionary permit, or require a use permit that must be granted if the operation meets reasonable local standards, and those standards may reach only spacing and concentration, traffic control, parking and noise control. What the state does control is scale. Health and Safety Code section 113758 still prints $75,000 for a Class A operation and $150,000 for a Class B, but the same subdivision requires an annual CPI adjustment, and the California Department of Public Health puts the ceiling in force from January 1, 2026 at $88,878 and $177,756.

Nevada moved its cottage food rule out of NRS chapter 446 in 2025. The section in force today is NRS 580.600, which keeps a home cottage food operation outside the definition of a food establishment so long as gross sales stay at or under $100,000 per calendar year, the goods come from a closed list of shelf-stable items, every package carries the words MADE IN A COTTAGE FOOD OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENT FOOD SAFETY INSPECTION, and every sale is an in-person transaction. Selling by telephone or over the Internet is what takes you out of the exemption, not the size of the batch. You must register with the food safety authority before your first sale, but there is no permit, no plan review and no routine inspection, and no Nevada city or county may adopt an ordinance prohibiting a person from preparing food in a cottage food operation.

Home Daycare

Health and Safety Code sections 1597.40 through 1597.465 require all California cities and counties to treat licensed family daycare homes as permitted residential uses, preempting any local prohibition or restrictive zoning.

Nevada requires state licensing through the Division of Public and Behavioral Health for any home caring for more than four unrelated children, setting uniform background-check, capacity, and safety standards under NRS 432A that override most local prohibitions.

DUI Checkpoint Legality

Sobriety checkpoints are lawful in California and stopping at one is a statutory obligation, not a courtesy. Vehicle Code § 2814.2(a) requires a driver to stop and submit to a sobriety checkpoint inspection conducted by a law enforcement agency when signs and displays are posted requiring that stop. The rest of the section, added by AB 353 (Stats. 2011, Ch. 653) and effective January 1, 2012, exists to stop checkpoints being used as vehicle seizure operations: § 2814.2(b) bars impounding a car at a sobriety checkpoint when the driver’s only offense is driving without a license under Vehicle Code § 12500, and § 2814.2(c) requires the officer to try to release the car to the registered owner or to a licensed driver the owner authorizes before the checkpoint ends.

The word "checkpoint" does not appear anywhere in the Nevada Revised Statutes or in the Nevada Administrative Code. What Nevada does have is a two-part roadblock scheme in NRS chapter 484B, and the way it is drafted is the answer. NRS 484B.570(1) lets police establish an administrative roadblock "for any lawful purpose other than identifying the occupants of a vehicle or because of the existence of an emergency," so the general suspicionless-stop power carves occupant identification out of itself. The only power to stop cars in order to identify who is inside them is the temporary roadblock, and NRS 484B.573(1) confines that to two purposes: apprehending people known to be wanted and using the highways to escape, and controlling traffic at or near an emergency or hazard. A sobriety screen of every passing driver fits neither grant.

Stop & Identify Laws

California has no general stop-and-identify statute. The old Penal Code § 647(e), which required a person lawfully detained to give "credible and reliable" identification, was held unconstitutionally vague in Kolender v. Lawson (1983), and subdivision (e) today punishes unlawful lodging instead. Two genuine identification duties survive: Vehicle Code § 12951 requires a driver to carry a valid license and present it on a peace officer’s demand, and Penal Code § 853.5 lets an officer who arrests you for an infraction require your license or other satisfactory evidence of identity, with custody as the consequence if you have none and refuse the statutory alternative.

Nevada is a stop-and-identify state, and the duty sits in a statute rather than in case law. NRS 171.123 lets a peace officer detain anyone the officer encounters under circumstances reasonably indicating a crime or civil infraction, and subsection 3 says the person detained "shall identify himself or herself, but may not be compelled to answer any other inquiry of any peace officer." Subsection 4 caps the whole detention at 60 minutes and keeps it at the place where it began unless the person is arrested. Refusing to give a name is charged under NRS 199.280 as resisting, delaying or obstructing a public officer, a misdemeanor when no weapon is involved, and that is the prosecution the United States Supreme Court reviewed in the Humboldt County case of Hiibel.

Native Plants

AB-1572 prohibits using potable water to irrigate non-functional turf at commercial, institutional, and HOA-common areas, accelerating native and low-water landscape conversions statewide.

NRS 527.260 through 527.300 establishes a statewide program to protect, conserve, and restore native flora threatened with extinction, requiring permits from the State Forester Firewarden before any listed species can be removed or destroyed.

Abandoned Vehicles

California Vehicle Code sections 22651 and 22669 set uniform rules allowing peace officers and authorized agents to remove abandoned vehicles from public and private property after defined waiting periods, with statewide notice and lien procedures.

Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 487 governs the removal, storage, and disposition of abandoned vehicles statewide, setting uniform notice, lien, and title procedures that local governments must follow when impounding or selling abandoned vehicles.

Eviction Notice & Process

California evictions run through the unlawful detainer process. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 1161, nonpayment requires a 3-day notice to pay rent or quit (excluding weekends and holidays), and lease violations require a 3-day notice to cure or quit. No-fault terminations of covered tenancies require 30, 60, or 90 days. Self-help lockouts are illegal.

For nonpayment, NRS 40.253 requires a 7-judicial-day pay-or-quit notice before summary eviction. Nevada uses a unique 'tenant-initiated' process: the tenant must file an affidavit (answer) with the justice court to contest the eviction, and a court order issues if no affidavit is filed in time.

Just Cause Eviction

Civil Code 1946.2 requires landlords statewide to have just cause to terminate tenancies of qualifying tenants who have lived in a covered unit at least 12 months.

Nevada eviction procedures are exclusively set by state law under NRS 40.251 through 40.254, allowing summary eviction for nonpayment, lease violation, or no-cause termination after lease expiration, with no general just-cause requirement.

Landlord Entry & Notice

California Civil Code § 1954 limits when a landlord may enter a rented home. Except in emergencies, abandonment, or with tenant consent, the landlord must give reasonable written notice (24 hours is presumed reasonable) and may enter only during normal business hours, for specific permitted reasons such as repairs, inspections, or showings.

NRS 118A.330 requires a Nevada landlord to give the tenant at least 24 hours' notice before entering and to enter only at reasonable times during normal business hours, except in an emergency. The landlord may not abuse the right of access or use it to harass the tenant.

Late Fees & Grace Periods

California sets no fixed dollar or percentage cap on rent late fees, but a late fee in a residential lease is treated as liquidated damages. Under Civil Code § 1671, such a fee is valid only if it reasonably estimates the landlord's actual loss from late payment; arbitrary penalty fees are unenforceable.

NRS 118A.210 caps a Nevada late fee at 5 percent of the periodic rent and requires it to be set out in the rental agreement. For tenancies longer than week-to-week, no late fee may be charged until at least 3 calendar days after rent is due, and fees may not be compounded.

Lease Termination & Notice to Vacate

To end a California month-to-month tenancy, a tenant gives 30 days' written notice. A landlord gives 30 days if the tenant has lived there under a year, or 60 days if a year or more, under Civ. Code § 1946.1. AB 1482 requires just cause after 12 months; military and DV tenants may exit early.

Under NRS 40.251, either party may end a month-to-month tenancy with 30 days' written notice (7 days for week-to-week). Tenants who are 60 or older or have a disability may request an additional 30 days. Fixed-term leases end on their stated date; military servicemembers may terminate under the federal SCRA.

Rent Increase Notice

California requires written notice before raising a month-to-month tenant's rent. Under Civ. Code § 827, increases of 10% or less in 12 months need 30 days' notice; increases above 10% need 90 days' notice. AB 1482 separately caps yearly increases on covered units.

Under NRS 118A.300, a Nevada landlord may not raise rent without serving written notice 60 days before the first increased payment, or 30 days in advance for a periodic tenancy of less than one month. Nevada sets no cap on the amount of an increase and bars local rent control.

Repairs & Habitability

California landlords must keep rentals fit to live in. Civil Code §§ 1941 and 1941.1, reinforced by Green v. Superior Court, imply a warranty of habitability covering plumbing, heat, water, electricity, and sanitation. If repairs fail after notice, a tenant may repair and deduct up to one month's rent under § 1942 or withhold rent.

NRS 118A.290 requires Nevada landlords to keep rentals habitable: sound structure, weatherproofing, working plumbing, heating, electrical, and a safe water supply. NRS 118A.360 lets tenants repair-and-deduct after written notice, and NRS 118A.380 lets tenants act when essential services such as heat, water, or electricity fail.

Security Deposit Rules

As of July 1, 2024, California landlords may collect no more than one month's rent as a security deposit, regardless of whether the unit is furnished. The deposit, minus any lawful deductions, must be returned with an itemized statement within 21 days after move-out, or the landlord risks penalties of up to twice the deposit.

Nevada caps a residential security deposit, including any surety bond and last month's rent, at three months' periodic rent. After the tenancy ends, the landlord has 30 days to return the remaining deposit with an itemized written accounting. Wrongful retention can expose the landlord to the entire deposit plus an equal court-set sum.

HOA Restrictions

California Civil Code section 714 makes any HOA covenant, deed restriction, or governing document provision that effectively prohibits or restricts a solar energy system void and unenforceable. Associations may impose only reasonable restrictions that do not significantly raise cost or cut efficiency. An application not denied in writing within 45 days is automatically deemed approved. Violators face damages, a $1,000 civil penalty, and the losing side pays attorney's fees.

Nevada rebuilt its HOA solar law in 2025. Under NRS 116.333 an association that has adopted solar rules must approve or deny a request to install a residential solar system within 35 days, and the request is deemed approved if it does not answer; a resubmission that addresses the stated reasons for a denial gets a 15-day clock with the same automatic approval. An association that never adopted solar rules must approve the request within 15 days and may not deny it or attach any conditions at all. Where rules do exist, NRS 116.334 caps what they can demand: they cannot conflict with the National Electric Code, local ordinances or state law, an owner is excused from a street-facing or conduit-painting requirement whose compliance cost exceeds 3 percent of the cash cost of installation, and a rule keeping panels off the street side fails if it cuts production by more than 10 percent as measured on the federal PVWatts Calculator. Separately, NRS 111.239 makes any covenant that prohibits or unreasonably restricts a solar energy system void and unenforceable.

Flavored Tobacco Bans

California bans retail sale of most flavored tobacco products statewide under Health and Safety Code 104559.5, enacted by SB 793 (2020) and upheld by voters via Proposition 31 in November 2022. The ban applies uniformly to all California retailers.

Nevada has no statewide ban on flavored tobacco or vapor products, leaving flavor regulation primarily to federal FDA authority and limited local action.

Tobacco Age Restrictions

California prohibits sale of tobacco and vapor products to anyone under 21 statewide under Business and Professions Code 22958, enacted by SBX2-7 in 2016. The Tobacco 21 standard applies uniformly across all California jurisdictions.

Nevada prohibits the sale of tobacco, vapor, and alternative nicotine products to anyone under 21 years old, aligning with federal Tobacco 21 law.

Dash Cam & Windshield Mounting

California measures dash cam placement in square inches. Vehicle Code section 26708(b)(13) lets a video event recorder occupy a seven-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield farthest from the driver, a five-inch square in the lower corner nearest the driver and outside an airbag deployment zone, or a five-inch square mounted to the center uppermost portion of the interior of the windshield. Outside those three zones section 26708(a)(1) applies and the camera is an unlawful windshield obstruction. The exemption also carries conditions: a posted notice that a passenger conversation may be recorded, and no more than 30 seconds of storage before and after a triggering event.

Nevada never wrote a dash-cam rule, so a windshield camera is governed by the general obstruction section. NRS 484D.435(1) bars driving with "any sign, poster or other nontransparent material upon the front windshield, side wings or side or rear windows" that obstructs the driver's clear view of the highway or any intersecting highway, and a camera body is nontransparent material. Subsection 2 supplies the only carve-out: material displayed in "the 6-inch square area of the lower corner of the windshield farthest removed from the driver," which in a left-hand-drive car is the bottom passenger-side corner, plus anything federal or state law requires to be displayed. Nevada granted no behind-the-mirror allowance and no camera exemption, and a violation is a civil infraction carrying up to $500 under NRS 484A.7043(1).

Lane Splitting & Filtering

Lane splitting is lawful in California. Vehicle Code section 21658.1, added by AB 51 in 2016, defines it as driving a motorcycle with two wheels in contact with the ground between rows of stopped or moving vehicles in the same lane, on divided and undivided roads alike, and no section of the Vehicle Code prohibits the maneuver. The statute fixes no maximum speed, no speed differential and no penalty, and it lets the California Highway Patrol publish educational guidelines rather than enforceable rules. A rider who splits lanes recklessly can still be cited under the basic speed law or the unsafe lane change statute.

Nevada prohibits lane splitting outright. NRS 486.351(1) says a person other than an on-duty police officer "shall not drive a motorcycle or moped between moving or stationary vehicles occupying adjacent traffic lanes," which bans both splitting through moving traffic and filtering to the front of a stopped queue. A second rule in subsection 2 stops a motorcycle, moped or trimobile from riding abreast of or passing another vehicle inside the same lane. The single lane-sharing allowance Nevada does grant is two motorcycles or mopeds riding two abreast in one lane, and only with the consent of both riders. Since 2023 the offense is a civil infraction rather than a misdemeanor, carrying a civil penalty of up to $500.

Underglow & Auxiliary Lighting

California works from a closed list: Vehicle Code section 24003 says no vehicle may carry any lamp or illuminating device not required or permitted by the code, so an accessory light is lawful only if a section names it. Underglow is named. Section 25400 lets any vehicle carry an exterior diffused nonglaring light of not more than 0.05 candela per square inch, in any color except red showing to the front, limited to 720 square inches and kept at least 12 inches clear of required lamps. Auxiliary driving lamps, passing lamps, foglamps and spotlamps are each permitted two at a time with their own mounting heights, and blue warning lights belong to peace officer emergency vehicles alone.

Nevada counts auxiliary lamps rather than rating them. NRS 484D.180 lets any motor vehicle carry up to two spot lamps, up to two auxiliary driving lamps mounted 16 to 42 inches above the ground, up to two auxiliary passing lamps mounted 24 to 42 inches, and up to two fog lamps mounted 12 to 30 inches, each with its own aiming rule. NRS 484D.220(2) then caps how many may burn together: where a vehicle has headlamps plus any auxiliary lamp, spot lamp or other front lamp throwing more than 300 candle power, no more than four of them may be lighted at one time on a highway. Colour is fixed separately by NRS 484D.145, and a permanently mounted flashing amber warning light needs a permit from the Nevada Highway Patrol that costs $2 for a single vehicle and expires every June 30.

Window Tint Limits

California never publishes a "legal VLT" for front side windows because it does not permit aftermarket darkening there at all. Vehicle Code section 26708(d) allows only clear, colorless, transparent film with a minimum visible light transmittance of 88 percent beside the front seat, and the glass with that film applied must still meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 205 at 70 percent. The windshield may carry transparent material only above a line 29 inches above the undepressed driver seat, while side windows behind the driver and the rear window sit outside the rule and may be tinted to any darkness.

Nevada allows aftermarket film on the two windows beside the driver only if the glass and film together pass at least 35 percent of the light striking them, with a statutory tolerance of 7 percent, and only if the film is nonreflective. Behind the driver, NRS 484D.440 sets no light-transmission figure at all: the rear side windows and the rear window may be tinted to any darkness provided the vehicle carries an outside mirror on each side giving the driver a 200-foot view to the rear. The windshield may carry film only across its topmost strip, whose bottom edge must sit at least 29 inches above the undepressed seat, and that strip may not be red or amber. Nevada runs no annual safety inspection, so the rule is enforced at the roadside as a civil infraction that carries no demerit points.