(The Center Square) – The Nevada Assembly Revenue committee held a hearing Thursday on a $1.5 billion tax credits bill to lure Hollywood to the state.
The proposed investment would be a look decades down the line for Nevadans with support from Warner Bros. and Sony. Supporters of the film industry bill promised $3 billion in revenue and thousands of new jobs, while opponents argued that the state had bigger things to worry about.
“ I’ve been 44 years as a union ironworker… This thing here is eight years of work,” said Freddy Visnicki, a U.S. Veteran and Southern Nevada Building Trades union member about the bill to the committee. “It’s going to give opportunity not only to U.S. union members, but to our 8-year-olds and 9-year-olds and their future here in Las Vegas.
“We need to change the culture of our kids going from high school out on the streets,” Visnicki told the Assembly committee. “We need to give ’em trades. We need to give them jobs.”
The Nevada Studio Infrastructure Jobs and Workforce Training Act, or Assembly Bill 238, faces competition from a strikingly similar bill, Senate Bill 220, proposed by Sen. Roberta Lange D-Clark County. Past that, the bill, proposed by Assembly members Sandra Jauregui and Daniele Monroe-Moreno, also both Clark County Democrats, faces likely opposition from Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who opposed a similar proposal in 2023. Las Vegas, a popular filming location, is in Clark County.
“At its core, AB 238 is about investing in Nevada’s future, creating opportunities for hardworking Nevadans, growing and diversifying our economy, and establishing a long-term sustainable industry that will benefit our community for decades.” Jauregui told the committee “More than a billion and a half dollars will be invested and thousands of construction jobs created before a single dollar is earned in tax credit.”
The bill would supply more than $1.5 billion in tax credits over 15 years. Part of the plan would be to create a major movie production studio in Summerlin, a Las Vegas Valley community. The three big companies involved in the plan are Sony, Warner Bros. and real estate company Howard Hughes.
“ Sony Pictures recognizes there is already a large pool of talented people working in Nevada on trade shows, live stage entertainment and concert productions who have transferable skills and expertise in key areas like lighting, cinematography, sound, carpentry, production design, wardrobe, and transportation.” said Michael Morgenthal, vice president of production finance for the Motion Picture Group at Sony.
“We believe that our productions can hit the ground running by growing this pool of skilled union labor,” he told the committee.
David O’Reilly, the CEO of Howard Hughes, said at the hearing,“ The proposed project is expected to create and sustain 19,000 nineteen jobs during construction and over 17,600 jobs per year upon completion.”
But not everybody agreed with the proposal, notably the Nevada State Education Association.
“ When the federal budget crisis threatens hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to our education program, Carson City is now considering a Hollywood handout,” said Alexander Marks with the Nevada State Education Association to the committee. “ We don’t need Hollywood influencing our state any more than it already does. Clearly, we’re already living in La La Land.”
Even with big figures and major companies throwing their weight behind the proposal, it’s unclear how far this bill will make it. Up against a mixed public opinion and the governor, the Nevada film industry may just have to wait a bit longer.
