LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — State Treasurer Zach Conine announced his candidacy for Nevada attorney general, citing his seven and a half years of executive branch experience as preparation for the role.
Conine said he wants to address what he described as threats from the federal administration, including tariffs, voting rights challenges and immigration enforcement actions.
“We’ve got to deal with threats, both external and internal,” Conine said. “We see what the federal administration is doing to Nevadans. We see the terror it’s placing on our families.”
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Federal lawsuits and tariff refunds
Conine defended the current attorney general’s lawsuits against the Trump administration, calling them consistent rather than constant.
“Every time the president violates the Constitution, attorneys general, Democratic ones around the country are suing,” he said.
Conine said illegal tariffs cost every Nevada family about $1,744, totaling approximately $2.1 billion. He said attorneys general sued and won, and he is working to ensure the money returns to Nevadans rather than large corporations.
He cited his office’s Unclaimed Property program, which has returned more than $340 million since he took office, as evidence of his ability to return money to residents.
Immigration enforcement
Conine said immigration enforcement actions are driven by fear and corruption rather than public safety concerns.
“We have stories of Nevadans who have been arrested and deported, moved to other countries without going through any due process whatsoever, just because of the color of their skin,” he said.
He said businesses like Broadacres have been affected, with people scared to work or shop there. Conine said he agrees with the ACLU that local law enforcement agencies are exceeding their statutory authority in some immigration agreements.
Workers’ rights
Conine proposed creating a division of workers’ rights within the attorney general’s office to address wage theft, which he said costs Nevada more than $120 million annually.
He said wage theft includes workers not getting paid overtime, not receiving lunch breaks and being misclassified for prevailing wage purposes. He said it generally impacts communities of color and immigrant communities more than others.
The division would be modeled after a San Francisco program created by District Attorney David Chu. That program took one investigator and targeted the worst offenders, using fines from settlements and prosecutions to hire additional investigators.
“Now it is really hard to get away with that sort of misclassification around San Francisco, which means that workers are safe going forward,” Conine said.
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