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The Culinary Union, a political powerhouse that represents Nevada’s casino workers, pushed hard for the bill as a way to encourage casinos to adhere to stricter safety regulations. Union officials had sought those high standards in honor of Adolfo Fernandez, a Culinary Union member and utility porter at Caesars Palace, who died after contracting the virus in June.

His daughter, Irma Fernandez, was present at the bill signing news conference, representing the Culinary Union along with Geoconda Argüello-Kline, the union’s secretary-treasurer. Fernandez got choked up speaking about her father during Tuesday’s Zoom meeting, saying that her family is “honored” to have the bill signed in honor of him and that he would have been happy with the new protections.

“He always had in mind that if he has a family to come home to, everyone has a family to come home to,” she said.

Argüello-Kline also spoke proudly of the bill and the protections it puts in place for those in the hospitality industry.

“Today when we see that this law has been signed by the governor, and we know that we’re going to help 280,000 workers, we feel very, very proud because this is something, these workers, they need,” she said.