There's the potential to bring two major film studios to Nevada this legislative session.
Warner Brothers Discovery, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Howard Hughes are partnering together to try and make Nevada a big part of the film industry.
The proposed Summerlin Studios is being heard as Assembly Bill 238.
The main bill sponsor is Sandra Jauregui, (D) Assembly Floor Leader.
She says this development would help diversify Nevada's economy.
Right now, the state relies heavily on tourism and hospitality.
"The worst day of my legislative career was the day I had to walk in for the COVID special session because we shut down gaming in our state for the safety of Nevadans and the safety of Americans and we had to come into this building to make cuts because we are dependent on one industry," Jauregui said.
Jauregui first presented the bill in February.
Then earlier this month, the legislation was moved out of the first committee without recommendation.
It will be heard in the Committee on Ways and Means next.
Jauregui hopes it gets a hearing sometime next week.
Nevada ranks first in unemployment across the entire country.
She believes the film studios will help with that issue by providing plenty of jobs.
"It's not just a handful of jobs, we're talking about 19,000 good paying union construction jobs while the studios are being built and then after that once the studios are complete and ready for production we are talking about 18,000 permanent jobs in the industry," Jauregui said.
The legislation is looking to use tax credits for the studios.
However, the major corporations wouldn't qualify for those until the studios are built and production is wrapped on either a movie or a show.
That is expected to happen in 2028, and it wouldn't impact the state's budget until that year.
"It was said during the bill hearing but this is a show me not a trust me bill," Jauregui said.
So, if the bill is passed, there must be at least $400 million spent on construction by June 30, 2028, along with $8 million of investment to the Nevada Partners Vocational Training Studio and $6 million in arts and film-related training initiatives.
Another thing required to receive the full production tax credits is at least 50 percent of Below the Line employees must be Nevada residents.
Once the studios are stabilized, the economic impact is expected to be about $3 billion a year, with the studios spending about $500 million a year for content creation.
However, some question what this means for Nevada in the long term.
Gregory Hafen, II, (R) Assembly Minority Leader sent us a statement about why he opposes the bill.
"While AB238 aims to stimulate economic development through film infrastructure and workforce training, the large reliance on transferable tax credits poses a significant fiscal risk to Nevada taxpayers, especially when we are looking at budget cuts. Similar tax incentive programs in other states have often resulted in limited long-term economic gains, with studies showing that film industry subsidies frequently benefit large, out-of-state production companies rather than local economies..."
"While I support economic diversification and job training, AB238’s current form places a large burden on taxpayers without showing a positive return on investment for the State."
The bill still has a long way to go through the session, so there are a lot of changes and amendments that could be added to it.
