Nevada Senate committee approves Oakland A’s ballpark bill
The Nevada Senate Committee of the Whole voted Tuesday to approve an amended bill that provides for public funding for the Oakland A’s baseball stadium planned for Las Vegas.
Sens. Rochelle Nguyen, Dallas Harris, Melanie Scheible, all D-las
Vegas, along with Pat Spearman and Dina Neal, D-north Las Vegas, Pete Goicoechea, R-eureka and Jeff Stone, R-henderson, all voted no.
The 12-7 vote shows the bill has enough support to pass the full Senate when it’s considered, which could happen later today. (Two senators were absent.) Proponents were holding an informational meeting in the Assembly to brief lawmakers on the bill as the Senate committee voted.
The amendments, posted on the legislature’s website on Tuesday, would modify Senate Bill 1, which would provide $380 million in public financing for the $1.5 billion stadium planned for the Tropicana hotel-casino site.
The first amendment would specify that the boundaries of the special tax district created to fund the bonds issued to build the stadium will encompass the facility itself “…and any surrounding or adjacent properties necessary for the operation of that project.” The amendment specifies that no hotels or gaming establishments will be located inside the district.
The amendment also specifies that Clark
County must issue the bonds for a portion of the stadium costs, and that the state isn’t responsible for their repayment. The county may, if necessary, draw upon a state line of credit, with the review and approval of the Interim Finance Committee, a group of lawmakers that handles financial issues when the Legislature is not in session.
The amendment also specifically reserves the right of the Legislature can pass new laws or repeal or amend others regarding the stadium project.
In response to a question from Sen. Pat Spearman, D-north Las Vegas, the Legislative Counsel Bureau’s General Counsel Kevin Powers acknowledged that, if revenues fell far short of projections, Clark County taxpayers would be on the hook to pay the stadium bonds.
Powers called that the “worst case scenario,” but said that since the county would be issuing general obligation bonds, there would be a contract with bondholders that the county would have to honor, even if that required a tax increase.
Community benefits
More details of the community benefits program — which many legislators took issue with last week, wanting more benefits — were outlined in the first amendment.
During both the construction and operation phases of the stadium, the workforce is required to be diverse, and must be paid a living wage. Team players must participate in education programs, such as a youth baseball, and the team must provide scholarships, mentorships and internships.
It requires a minimum community benefits funding from the A’s of $500,000 each year before the opening of the stadium. Once it is in operation and the season starts in 2028, that funding increases to either $1.5 million per year or 1 percent of ticket revenues, said Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
The amendment also outlines plans for accountability. A baseball stadium community oversight committee will submit reports detailing the progress and accountability of the community benefits to the governor, the Legislative Counsel Bureau and
Clark County officials. A community benefits director will advise the committee and monitor compliance of the agreement.
The governor, senate majority leader and the speaker of the assembly will each appoint a person to serve on the oversight committee. The Clark County Commission and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority will appoint two people to serve on the board.
If the committee determines that the
A’s failed to comply with the community benefits agreement, the committee will inform the A’s in writing of the noncompliance, and the A’s must respond and describe how and when they will get in compliance.
Changes were also made to the resort corridor homelessness prevention and assistance fund, now called the Clark County Fund. The administration of the fund has been put solely in the hands of Clark County and local governments, rather than also the resort industry and the A’s.
Paid leave, prevailing wages
The second amendment would require businesses with 50 or more employees that receive tax exemptions from the state to provide at least 12 weeks of paid family medical leave to its employees after they’ve been employed for one year, and requires a pledge that the business receiving exemptions will not retaliate against any employee who takes advantage of that leave.
It also removes an exemption currently in state law that allows railroads and monorail projects to avoid paying prevailing wages on construction or repairs.
Both provisions were included in legislation from the recently concluded session, but which failed to pass.
Assembly hearing
Meanwhile, the Assembly was preparing on Tuesday to hold an “informational hearing” on the Oakland A’s Las Vegas stadium plan.
The hearing comes after deliberations on the bill stalled in the Senate last week. The bill, which would allocate up to $380 million in public funding for the proposed 30,000seat stadium, was heard during a Senate committee of the whole Wednesday but has yet to receive a vote.
The Senate was expected to reconvene on Monday to further debate the proposal, but adjourned Monday evening without taking up the measure again. The plan will reportedly be amended before advancing to the Senate floor, which could happen as soon as Tuesday.
Lawmakers directed dozens of questions at plan proponents during a Thursday hearing, which lasted several hours and at times grew contentious.
Gov. Joe Lombardo called for the special session, meant to address the baseball stadium, to begin just two days after the end of the regular session and one day after a special session that lasted less than two hours Tuesday.