Aaron Ford’s Top Accomplishments as Nevada Attorney General

Past performance is solid evidence of future accomplishments, so let’s take a look at what Ford has done for his constituents since taking office in 2019.

After four years in office, Attorney General Aaron Ford is asking Nevadans to reelect him in November. He’s focused his campaign on defending abortion rights, voting rights, and other key American freedoms that are increasingly under attack from the Trump wing of the Republican Party. But he’s also highlighting his successes, including efforts to hold big drug companies accountable for their role in the opioid crisis.

Past performance is solid evidence of future accomplishments, so let’s take a look at what else Ford has done for his constituents since taking office in 2019.

1. Protecting and Expanding Voting Rights

One of Ford’s priorities has been protecting the constitutional and civil rights of every Nevadan, no matter that person’s age, sex, gender identity, race, religious faith, political affiliation, or national origin. 

Ford’s office assisted the Department of Motor Vehicles in working with voter advocacy groups, drafting regulations, and coordinating with other agencies to implement the state’s new automatic voter registration law. 

After the Nevada legislature restored the right to vote for formerly incarcerated people, Ford’s office also created guidance for Nevadans seeking information about whether they were eligible to vote and conducted a public outreach campaign to ensure every eligible Nevadan understands their rights to vote under state law.

2. Criminal Justice Reform

Ford has also worked to reform Nevada’s criminal justice system. Upon taking office, he directed his staff to examine current policies and procedures for opportunities to remedy existing structural inequities. 

This resulted in a slate of new justice-promoting policies, including:

• Actively notifying victims about cases and seeking input from victims;
• Considering alternatives to pre-trial incarceration when the offender does not pose a public safety risk;
• Avoiding over-charging offenders and making sure all offenders are charged fairly, based on the crime committed; and
• Utilizing treatment services and alternatives to incarceration if an offender has a substance abuse disorder.

3. Protecting Consumers

Ford made protecting consumers from fraud, scams, and anti-competitive activity a top priority in his time as attorney general. 

Under Ford, the AG office’s Bureau of Consumer Protection recovered $40 million from corporations on behalf of Nevada consumers, in addition to obtaining assurances and protections for consumers moving forward. The Bureau obtained several settlements with companies responsible for a range of illegal behavior, bringing justice for Nevadans and millions of dollars to the state and its residents in recoveries, restitution, and penalties.

4. Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault

Ford worked to protect Nevadans from domestic violence, sex trafficking, and sexual assault and harassment in his first term as attorney general. He oversaw the clearing of Nevada’s rape kit backlog, developed and distributed a Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights document, and provided direct services to survivors. Ford and his staff also sought other ways bring justice to victims of these terrible crimes, such as by supporting a number of new laws that will help protect survivors and hold abusers, traffickers, and assailants accountable, including measures that:

• Protect survivors of domestic violence, trafficking and sexual assault from being located by the perpetrator through public records;
• Increase penalties for domestic violence crimes, including repeated domestic battery, battery against pregnant victims, and battery resulting in substantial bodily harm;
• Update Nevada’s anti-stalking law and increase penalties for stalking generally and stalking minor children; and
• Increase penalties against predators who solicit children for sex and expanding the statutory authority for law enforcement to conduct undercover operations against those seeking to solicit and abuse children.