CARSON CITY — A high-stakes initiative to attract two Hollywood studios to Southern Nevada faltered as Nevada’s legislative session came to a close, engulfed in unexpected drama.
On the final night of this part-time Legislature, tensions escalated when the sponsor of a competing bill suggested that lawmakers abandon the current endeavor in favor of studying the feasibility of bringing studios to the state.
Amidst procedural maneuvering, Republican state senators conducted a lengthy filibuster that stretched past midnight, an effort directed at last-minute proposed changes to the Legislative Commission, an interim government body.
Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus expressed her frustration after the session concluded, noting that she had only received notice of the changes 30 minutes before the adjournment. “This whole session has been about communication; this whole session has been about getting along, and it truly was,” Titus said. “And it’s terrible that it ends like this.”
With just hours remaining before lawmakers adjourned, an amendment was introduced that proposed to strip nearly all provisions from Assembly Bill 238, which aimed to aid the Summerlin Studios project. Instead, the amendment focused on conducting a study to explore the development and support of a “sustainable film and creative media industry” in Nevada.
Ultimately, neither the amendment nor the bill received a vote in the Senate, signaling the end of the road for this major legislative effort.
Meanwhile, the governor’s significant crime and health care reform bills also succumbed to the session’s expiration, with a spokesperson for the governor’s office indicating that while a special session was not currently being planned, it remained a possibility.
The proposed amendment was driven by state Sen. Roberta Lange, D-Las Vegas, who is championing a similar initiative aimed at expanding the state’s film tax credit program. Her legislation, Senate Bill 220, intends to facilitate the creation of a studio campus along with an educational and vocational media facility.
Lange shared her attempts to get the supporters of Assembly Bill 238 to collaborate on a merged approach, an effort that did not yield interest. “I think this puts everybody on equal footing to look at how we can diversify the economy in Nevada,” she noted.
The presence of the unforeseen amendment complicated the bill’s trajectory, prompting Democratic leaders in the Senate to prioritize it at the bottom of their agenda. Following a narrow Assembly vote of 22-20 to advance AB 238 late Sunday, the bill faced an uphill battle in the final hours. With no Senate hearing provided, its consideration was relegated to the last day of the session.
AB 238 proposed a comprehensive overhaul of Nevada’s film tax credit program, seeking to extend incentives for the establishment of a massive 31-acre film studio campus called Summerlin Studios.
Prominent lobbying efforts from Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros. Discovery, and developer Howard Hughes Corp. galvanized support for the initiative, which aimed to raise the state’s film tax credit cap from the current $10 million to an impressive $95 million annually over 15 years, starting in 2028 once studio development commenced.
Senator Lange had first raised the idea of utilizing film incentives to entice studios into Southern Nevada during the 2023 legislative season. However, her initial effort did not successfully progress to a floor vote. Subsequently, her current bill, SB 220, too failed to advance out of committee.
Proponents of the Summerlin Studios project claimed that upon completion, it could yield a staggering $3 billion economic impact to the region. However, opponents criticized the potential return on investment for the state, citing a report which indicated that for every dollar spent on tax credits, the government could expect to reclaim only 52 cents in tax revenue.
In response to concerns about expanding incentives amidst economic uncertainty, AB 238 was recently amended to include stricter financial parameters and increased capital investment requirements. Notably, it proposed to create a special entertainment district on the studio’s land to allocate certain taxes towards expanded pre-K programs within the Clark County School District.
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