The Nevada legislature wrapped up its regular session on Monday, June 5th, but multiple special sessions have since followed.

Joining us from Carson City is Nevada independent reporter Jacob Solis.

And Jacob, let's start with the first special session.

Why was it needed and what was accomplished?

Well, it was needed because by the time Monday finished, the legislature technically didn't have a complete budget.

There were five separate budget bills and they were able to get through four of them.

But the fifth, they needed a two thirds majority.

And Democrats only control one seat less than that in the Senate.

So Senate Republicans voted as a bloc to essentially stop that budget from growing through with about 30 minutes left in the regular session.

And that necessitated a whole new special session on Tuesday.

And basically after that, everyone agreed.

I say everyone, I mean, one extra Republican agreed that they needed to pass the budget.

The governor was willing to sign it.

The Democrats weren't going to change what was in it.

So it actually made it through.

And that's how that ended.

And that particular budget bill, what was it about?

Yeah, it's called the Capital Improvement Program.

It's basically the state budget that handles all of the buildings, construction, renovations, maintenance, all that kind of stuff.

And it's like a it's a fairly sizable budget.

You know, you're talking about maybe 1.2 billion in new appropriations from places like the General fund, the highway fund, and bonds that the state uses to build buildings.

So it's pretty substantial.

And this is going to be funded from a renewed property tax.

Are we talking about the taxes that people pay on their homes?

Yes, that's right.

So it is that this this bill is where the property taxes re levied every single year.

And so that's why it required that two thirds majority, unlike the other budget bills, which only needed a simple majority.

There was probably no chance that people weren't going to have to pay a property tax on their homes, right?

That's right.

Because these property taxes are used to pay off what are called general obligation bonds.

The state actually has a constitutional requirement to fund the repayment of those bonds.

And so it would basically threaten the state's full faith and credit if they decided not to re levy that tax.

All right.

Let's move on to the special court session, the second special session underway as we speak and as we speak.

It is Thursday morning, June 8th.

Yesterday is when that special session started.

It's about the A's and their want of up to $380 million in public funding for a new stadium on the Las Vegas strip at the site of the Tropicana.

We know that the governor supports this bill because he wouldn't have called for a special session without it.

But what are we hearing from lawmakers?

That's right.

And you know what?

I think a lot of lawmakers in the Senate, which is where we've gotten the only hearing so far in this special session, are frustrated that the A's basically brought back the exact same bill that died during the regular session.

We heard multiple Democratic lawmakers basically say that they were unhappy with the tax structure, but they're unhappy with the way that the community benefits agreement is structured, that basically a lot of the smaller fine print in the deal isn't satisfactory enough for them to say, we want to give, you know, like you said, $380 million in total public money towards this deal.

What is the perception of the A's right now, especially with what you just mentioned, that they brought back the same exact bill that had already died?

Right.

I think there are some lawmakers that are definitely excited for baseball in Las Vegas.

You know, I think there are several Republican lawmakers in particular.

We're looking at this as an economic boon potentially.

But we heard several Democrats basically, you know, raise questions over the case as a baseball team.

Right.

Their record, the amount that they spend on payroll for the team and whether or not there's any guarantees that once they actually show up in Las Vegas, they'll actually try and be good at baseball.

Oh, boy.

And then what about their community impact?

That was also a point of contention.

That's right.

And I think a lot of this goes down to how the A's are leaving Oakland.

It's been a very long and at times ugly fight between the team and the city.

And who is reneging or not reneging on what agreements they had made to benefit that community in Oakland.

And so now when the team is making guarantees about how they'll benefit the community in Las Vegas, I think lawmakers are really looking for absolute certainty that they're going to get what the team is saying.

They're going to bring.

What comes next for this bill.

While this bill is working through a special process called a committee of the whole, where basically both houses convene at every single one of their members into one big committee.

They all hear the bill and they all get to answer questions.

So that's why yesterday's meeting lasted all day in the Senate.

Once the Senate votes on that bill through the committee, then they'll take a full vote on that on the floor and then it will go to the assembly where this process repeats and then it eventually makes it to Governor Lombardo.

Before we get there, though, it is entirely possible and even likely that we get an amendment.

Several Democrats in particular basically said that they they wanted changes to this language before they would feel comfortable with.

And real quickly, Jacob, no word on a possible special session for the expansion of a film tax credit program.

Not that we've heard, no.

That one is dead for now.

All right.

Jacob Solis of the Nevada Independent, thank you for your time.