During the Nevada State Legislature’s 35th Special Session the Assembly stood and applauded the NHL Stanley Cup Vegas Golden Knights on their NHL Stanley Cup Championship win on Wed Jun 14, 2023 later the Assembly would vote 25-15 in favor of SB1 to publicly fund a new Tropicana ballpark for the Las Vegas A’s (photo by the Nevada Independent)
By Jerry Feitelberg and Barbara Mason
The Nevada State Assembly voted on Wednesday 25-15 to move the second round of voting in two days to Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo’s office for his signature on SB1 the Tropicana Hotel and Casino ballpark which could start development with shovels in ground as soon as 2024 to be completed as late as 2029.
Public tax credits would go towards the construction of the park to the tune of $380 million. Governor Lombardo has made it clear that he would sign SB1 when it hits his desk being a proponent of the measure.
The bill passing Wednesday comes one week after Lombardo called for a special second session to vote on the ballpark. The state would put in $180 million for tax credits and the county would contribute $120 million. The bonds would be paid off from revenue from sales and tickets sales at the stadium. Clark County also will be chipping in another $25 million for infrastructure needs at the Tropicana site which is reported to be a nine acre space for the park.
Wednesday’s Assembly vote saw 15 Democrats to 10 Republican votes in favor of the measure. Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray Axelrod said that she wanted to see $2.2 billion put into the Nevada education system (Nevada ranks 49th in education in the US) Axelrod said that without out of the box thinking education will be left behind.
Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno) was against the measure saying that it was a complete waste of money and did not support using public tax dollars to support a billionaire for a new stadium project. It took two weeks since the first Memorial Day vote that was put off and there were delays in Tuesday night’s Senate vote which passed 13-8 and Wednesday’s vote when lobbyists and representatives were trying to make deals to get the two houses to pass the bill.
Lombardo vetoed two bills early this month that was resurrected one for rail and monorail projects the other excess tax revenues from a homeless prevention fund. Sen. Edgar Flores (D-Las Vegas) and Sen. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas) who were hold outs on SB1 but when the Monorail project and the homeless prevention fund made it in the budget Flores and Donate changed their votes in favor of the public tax for the park.
Barbara Mason and Jerry Fetielberg are Oakland A’s beat writers for http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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