LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — In a push to turn Las Vegas into Hollywood East, there are now two competing bills in Carson City.
Both bills would offer about $1.5 billion in tax credits over a 15-year period to get film studios and independent filmmakers to shoot movies in Las Vegas. Both would put an emphasis on hiring Nevadans on either side of the camera.
And both face headwinds, not just because of the cost, but because of initial skepticism from Gov. Joe Lombardo, who did not include any money for tax credits in the budget he sent to lawmakers last month.
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State Sen. Roberta Lange (D-Clark County), the assistant majority leader, says she’s been working on her bill for about five years. A version was discussed at the tail end of the 2023 session but didn’t get a vote in either house as lawmakers ran into end-of-session deadlines.
This time around, her Senate Bill 220 has been introduced under the title “Nevada Film Infrastructure, Workforce Development, Education and Economic Diversification Act.” It counts UNLV, the College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State University as partners.
Birtcher Development is also a partner. Warner Brothers Studios, which was attached to Lange’s 2023 bill, is no longer involved, she said, but a new partnership with Manhattan Beach Studios has been forged.
Meanwhile, Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui, D-Clark County, has introduced her own bill, Assembly Bill 238, also known as the Nevada Studio Infrastructure Jobs and Workforce Training Act.
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Partners on that effort include Sony Pictures and the Howard Hughes Corporation, which aim to build a studio facility in Summerlin. She said the bill would create an estimated 19,000 construction jobs, some of which would be permanent, and 15,000 industry jobs.
Both lawmakers said they’ve discussed combining their respective bills, but at this point, it appears both will go through the legislative process of hearings and floor votes independently. But they seem to agree that — given the cost — there’s little chance of both bills passing.
“If you’re looking to the future of Nevada, you know that we have to have one bill,” Lange said. “You know that two bills won’t work here … and we don’t have a state budget to be able to handle two bills.”
Thus far, the state budget doesn’t even contemplate a single bill. In an interview earlier this month, Lombardo said he was opposed to the idea as it was contemplated at the time, but would wait to see a final version.
“And I just don’t see that being good policy, good investments for the constituents and the state of Nevada,” Lombardo said. “And you also have to be really careful in trying to convince the public it’s a good way to do business when they see that there’s such massive companies and there’s a need in there.”
Jauregui said she will sell the idea to the governor as a good return on state money.
“It’s an investment, right? That says making an investment to create jobs,” Jauregui said. “But that investment is coming back to Nevada, before the state even makes a single dollar of investment. There is going to be a privately financed studio built in the state…. So before the state is even on the line for a tax credit, there’s going to be a $1.8 billion investment in the construction of the studios.”
The tax credits in the bill can be used to defray state taxes, or sold to other companies for the same purpose.
Lange said she considers it her job to persuade. “I think just like convincing the Legislature that it’s a viable project for Nevada, I have to do the same thing for the governor,” she said. “And there are lots of things involved in that, but I think that in the end, I’m hoping that he’ll see what creating a new industry does for Nevada. It’s up to me to make the case.”
Lange’s bill includes a $50 million workforce development building in conjunction with Nevada higher education institutions to train new workers for the nascent film industry.
Jauregui’s bill contemplates training as well, including partnering with state schools as well as groups such as Nevada Partners, the Asian Community Development Council and Clark County to provide a pipeline of workers to the new industry.
And, like many other tax credit programs in the state, both bills would require film studios to make concrete investments and produce films in Nevada in order to qualify for the credits. They could be rescinded, or “clawed back” in legislative parlance, under certain circumstances.
Both Lange and Jauregui said the tax credit plan is necessary to attract studios to the state. While some movies have been filmed here, taking advantage of an existing $10 million tax credit program, relocating an entire industry will take more. That’s especially true with other states, including Georgia and California, competing for film business. (Lange said California increased its tax credits after learning of the Nevada plans.)
“For me, it’s more than attracting a business to Nevada,” Jauregui said. “For me, it’s about attracting a new industry to Nevada, right? Since I first got elected [in 2016], we’ve been talking about diversifying our economy, right? It’s time to stop talking about it and actually do something about it.”
The next step for both measures is a committee hearing, for SB 220 in the Senate Revenue and Economic Development Committee and for AB 238 in the Assembly Revenue Committee. There, the bills will be dissected in detail by lawmakers, before heading to the full Senate or Assembly for a vote. If they pass, the process will repeat in the other house.
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