A public financing package to help build a new $1.5 billion baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics in Las Vegas has taken what’s expected to be the last step toward final approval in the Democrat-controlled Nevada Legislature
BySCOTT SONNER and GABE STERN Associated Press/Report for America
CARSON CITY, Nev. -- A public financing package to help build a new $1.5 billion baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics in Las Vegas has taken what’s expected to be the last step toward final approval in the Democrat-controlled Nevada Legislature.
The Nevada Assembly made minor changes Wednesday to the measure the Senate approved Tuesday on a 13-8 vote and sent it back to the senators on a 25-15 vote.
The Senate was expected to approve the final version late Wednesday or Thursday before sending it to the desk of Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.
It still needs his signature, and MLB still must approve the A’s move to Las Vegas, but both are anticipated.
The $380 million in public funding for the A's stadium would mainly come from $180 million in transferable tax credits and $120 million in county bonds. Changes included in a single amendment in the Assembly on Wednesday included a shift in some money for homeless programs to more general spending for low-income housing.
The Senate’s initial approval of the package came Tuesday just hours before the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in their sixth season in the NHL.
The new 30,000-seat baseball stadium — the MLB's smallest — is planned along the Las Vegas Strip not far from the Knights' T-Mobile Arena and another stadium that's home to the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders.
A last-minute bill in Nevada’s 2016 special session paved the way for $750 million in public funding from hotel room taxes for the Raiders $2 billion Allegiant Stadium.
No public money was spent on the arena for the expansion hockey team.
