Carson City, Nevada — This is a ballpark to bring more film production to Nevada.
A Union-backed efforts Millions in tax breaks failed by one vote as the Nevada Legislature’s weeklong special session concluded Wednesday.
The failure of the controversial movie tax proposal represents a loss for both Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who was expected to sign it, as well as supporters who spent more than $1 million lobbying for it.
But lawmakers — who considered more than a dozen measures in session — saw some of the governor’s priorities reach the finish line. The governor’s major crime bill has reached his desk, but with amendments that could threaten his signature.
His sweeping crime package called the “Safe Streets and Neighborhoods Act” would increase penalties for a long list of crimes, including robberies, assault and battery against hospitality employees, and drunken driving involving death. It also calls for Reviving the court program Which dealt with criminal cases that arose on the Las Vegas Strip and coincided with orders banning people from entering the strip for a year.
But the Democratic-majority Senate made changes to its bill to include immigration provisions that the governor may not be able to override. The amendment requires detention facilities to maintain a continuous list of the names of people they detain. Law enforcement officials – including immigration officials – are also prohibited from entering school campuses without a warrant or obtaining information about the student. Lombardo vetoed a similar bill in June, calling it “well-intentioned but fundamentally overbroad.”
The special session was supposed to be an opportunity for Lombardo, the former Clark County sheriff, to pass his key policy priorities before the 2026 election less than a year away. Lombardo is considered one of the most vulnerable Republican governors fighting for re-election.
“Nevadaans deserve to take action now — not years from now — on issues that significantly impact their daily lives,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
Legislation providing $95 million in annual transferable tax credits to Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery to create a new film production facility on the outskirts of Vegas previously failed in the Legislature’s regular session in June, but has since been reinstated Campaign by trade unions.
It was supposed to create the Summerlin Studios project – a production facility consisting of 10 cinemas, hotels and a medical center. The state Senate was one vote away from passing the bill Wednesday night, with three Republican senators absent.
Supporters have framed it as a “jobs bill,” saying the project would create 19,000 construction jobs and 18,000 permanent jobs — a much-needed economic boost in a state that has seen a decline in tourism.
Construction workers flocked to the Legislature to urge lawmakers to support the bill, saying some people haven’t worked a major job in Southern Nevada for two years since entertainment destinations like Fontainebleau and The Sphere were completed. They compared the project to the construction of the Hoover Dam, which employed 21,000 people.
“Southern Nevada workers in general need job opportunities,” Alfonso Lopez, an organizer with Sheet Metal Workers Local 88, said at the hearing.
But the proposal ran into difficulties from the start, with opponents on both sides arguing that it didn’t make fiscal sense when legislative fiscal staff projected a deficit of up to $260 million by 2030.
“This means we will have to either raise taxes or cut the already limited services we provide,” Assemblywoman Selina La Rue Hatch, a Democratic lawmaker who tried to block the bill, told The Associated Press.
It narrowly passed the Assembly after making efforts to sweeten the deal for those who were on the fence by allocating money for medical expenses for retired state employees and expanding pre-K programs in Vegas-area schools.
La Rue Hatch, a teacher in Reno, said that if pre-K and state employees were truly a priority, they would get more than the added “crumbs” in the movie tax.
“If Hollywood is a state of emergency, then Nevada’s leaders have lost the plot,” said Alexander Marks, executive vice director for field affairs and communications at the Nevada State Education Association, which represents teachers across Nevada. “If there is a tax on deafness, maybe our schools will be fully funded.”
Senators eventually agreed, rejecting the bill over similar concerns.
Both the resort industry and Nevada’s most powerful union pushed the proposal calling for a revival of the court program, which expired in 2024. It exclusively covered petty crimes originating from the strip and coincided with orders banning repeat offenders from the area for a year.
Supporters say it’s necessary to make the strip safer for workers and protect Las Vegas’ reputation among tourists, especially at a time when the city is seeing a decline in tourism.
“The success and failure of tourism as a destination is closely linked to providing its tourists and our employees with a safe and secure environment,” Carlos Lasan, regional vice president of government and community affairs for Caesars Entertainment, said during the hearing.
Opponents said the program unfairly targeted the homeless and did not provide them with adequate resources.
Brennan Bartley, a public defender representing the clients in Corridor Resort Court, said the people most affected were homeless and had done nothing wrong while in the corridor. He said his clients were promised access to resources, but that never materialized.
“These are failed experiments that harm some of the most vulnerable among us,” Bartley said during a hearing.