News - September 16, 2025 - by Ray Hagar

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One of the biggest accomplishments in the congressional career of Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford -- Nevada's 4th U.S. House District representative -- came this past summer when President Donald Trump signed into law the Apex Area Technical Corrections Act.

The Apex act is expected to be a huge driver of economic development and job creation at the 18,000-acre Apex Industrial Park in Horsford's home town of North Las Vegas.

"Simply, it streamlines the permitting process," Horsford said on Nevada Newsmakers. "It gets federal agencies out of the way and empowers the local municipality, in this case, North Las Vegas, and the owners of the Apex Community Association."

Before the Apex Act, businesses needed to navigate through the maze of red tape in the U.S. Department of the Interior. Getting the OK to build a road, water line or power line was a major undertaking.

"(It gives them) more say in the infrastructure that they need to bring economic development to North Las Vegas, including thousands of good-paying jobs in new sectors," Horsford told host Sam Shad.

With the streamlined process, Horsford hopes Apex could grow like the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Complex, which has become the biggest economic driver in Northern Nevada in the last decade, home to major companies like Tesla, Switch, Panasonic and Walmart.

"The work that has been done over the years with the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Park is an example of what we can do when we work together in partnership -- public, private -- but with a focus on economic diversification and economic development," Horsford said.

Apex is already home to the Kroger grocery-store chain and other large businesses. Horsford mentioned gas supplier Air Liquide, which built a large hydrogen plant at Apex. Also, real estate/logistics company Prologis has purchased 879 acres in the park, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"Now that it's signed into law, the people of North Las Vegas, the developer, the businesses, and most importantly, the residents who are going to benefit from those jobs are the biggest beneficiaries of the policy becoming law," Horsford said.

Passage of the bill, however, is not the real story here and only half of the reason why it is a memorable accomplishment for Horsford.

The amazing part is that the bill was championed by a Democrat in a Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by a Republican President whose administration Horsford has openly criticized.

Despite that, the Apex Act also received unanimous approval in both the U.S. House and Senate.

Although Horsford introduced the bill in late January of this year, Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nv, guided the U.S. Senate version through the Upper House.

"In the middle of a gridlocked Congress, with an administration that is hell bent on policies that have hurt Nevadans, we (Cortez-Masto and I) were actually able to get policy passed unanimously in the House and the Senate and signed by the President of the United States."

Horsford took a victory lap during his Nevada Newsmakers interview.

"I'm really proud of this bill," he said. "It is a big deal to get something done in Congress, being in the minority. But it's part of what I've committed to for my constituents.

"I'm not here to grandstand. I'm here to get things done," Horsford added. "And this was a bill that my constituents said was important to them and we were able to deliver."

Horsford spoke to Republican leaders and brought local, North Las Vegas stakeholders to help sell the bill in Congress.

"One of the things I did was I sat and I met directly with the chairman of Natural Resources (Committee), Chairman (Bruce) Westerman (R-Arkansas), to talk about the importance of this bill and what it meant to my constituents back home," Horsford said.

I invited the mayor of North Las Vegas, Pamela Goynes-Brown, to come and give testimony, along with other advocates, including the Vegas Chamber and others," Horsford said.

"And we made it a local issue -- which every public policy ultimately should be measured on -- its impact to the people back home," Horsford added.

Then there was the issue of getting Trump to sign a Democratic-sponsored bill.

"Well, it was a good bill and we didn't make it about me or party," Horsford said. "We made it about the people back home in Nevada.

"You know, the President is the President of the United States," Horsford added. "He has a job to do. Fortunately, he did not see any objections in putting his signature on this legislation."

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