1. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 4 and 5, each district attorney shall keep an office at the county seat of his or her county, which must be kept open at least from 9 a.m. to 12 m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on all days except Saturdays, Sundays and nonjudicial days. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the board of county commissioners of any county may, by an order regularly made and entered in the record of its proceedings, extend the days and hours during which the office of the district attorney must be kept open for the transaction of public business. The board of county commissioners may authorize the district attorney to rent, equip and operate, at public expense, one or more branch offices in the county.

2. In counties in which the county seat is not the principal center of population, the county commissioners may authorize the district attorney to rent, equip and operate, at public expense, a branch office at the county’s principal center of population. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 4 and 5, the branch office must be kept open for the transaction of public business on the days and during the hours specified in subsection 1, but the requirements thereof do not apply to a district attorney when called away from the branch office by official duties.

3. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 4 and 5, any district attorney violating the provisions of subsection 1 or 2 is guilty of a misdemeanor. If any district attorney is absent from his or her office, except:

(a) When called away from his or her office by official duties;

(b) When expressly permitted so to do by the board of county commissioners or a majority of the members thereof in writing; or

(c) When the district attorney first makes provision to leave his or her office open for the transaction of public business on the days and during the hours prescribed in subsection 1 and in charge of a deputy qualified to act in his or her absence,

there must be withheld from his or her monthly salary that proportion thereof as the number of days of the absence bears to the number of days of the month in which the absence occurs. This amount must be withheld from the salary of the district attorney for the next succeeding month by order of the board of county commissioners, but no order in the premises may be made without first giving the district attorney reasonable notice and an opportunity to appear before the board and defend the charge against him or her.

4. Any office of a district attorney may deviate from the hours of operation required pursuant to this section if the board of county commissioners approves the plan for the deviation submitted by the office. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 5, such a plan must be fiscally neutral or result in cost savings.

5. In a county whose population is less than 9,000, the board of county commissioners of the county may, by an order regularly made and entered into the record of its proceedings, reduce the days and hours during which the office of the district attorney must be kept open for the transaction of public business.

[1.5:178:1907; added 1955, 6; A 1955, 471] + [2:178:1907; A 1945, 340; 1955, 6] — (NRS A 1963, 382; 1967, 271, 540; 1975, 85; 1985, 258; 2010, 26th Special Session, 51; 2011, 351, 2046)