The Oakland A’s and Bally’s may be eager to build a baseball stadium in Las Vegas but the Nevada legislature is less enthusiastic about the endeavor.
Nevada lawmakers concluded the session without passing SB509, which would have allocated $380 million in state money to help build the stadium. It would have also exempted the facility from paying property taxes.
In response, Gov. Joe Lombardo has called a special session Wednesday for the legislature to meet to consider the project. There could be trouble on the horizon though.
Lombardo and state Democrats, which control both chambers of the legislature, are in a heated debate over the state budget. The Republican governor has threatened not to sign budget bills passed the legislature and call them back if his priorities were not addressed.
Lawmakers in Carson City were able to pass four of five budget bills, which now head to Lombardo for his signature. If he rejects the budget bills, the legislature will have to reconvene for a special session.
Assemblyman Speaker Steve Yeager, meanwhile, has vowed not to move ahead with the stadium bill until lawmakers know what the budget is.
While the A’s and Bally’s have entered into a binding agreement for a stadium, without the guarantee of public funds, the project is in limbo. When the Oakland Raiders relocated to Vegas, the Allegiant Stadium project was built with the help of $750 million in public funds.
