Labor unions lead $1M campaign to revive Nevada film studio legislation

Nevada construction labor unions are leading a renewed push for public support to bring a film studio project to Southern Nevada by promoting another pass at failed legislation during an upcoming special session.

Vince Saavedra, executive secretary-treasurer of the Southern Nevada Building Trades Unions, said the 21-union group effort is meant to highlight the labor potential of constructing a film studio campus and potential other developments around it.

“These are real lives and real jobs that are at stake here,” Saavedra said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s not just giving out tax credits to billionaires. These are real Nevada working families who need the work right now.”

The announcement of a newly formed political action committee representing those Nevada trade unions comes a day after Gov. Joe Lombardo said he will call a special session to address what he called “unfinished” business at the end of the regular legislative session. The 120-day session ended June 3 without action on several major legislative goals of the Republican governor, including major health care and crime and public safety reforms.

In a statement Monday, Lombardo said he intended to call a special session later this year to “finish what the Legislature left unfinished – plain and simple.”

He did not elaborate on what may be on the agenda.

The Legislature’s session was supposed to end by midnight on June 2 but was extended into the early hours of June 3 after a series of procedural delays by Senate Republicans to protest unequal representation on an interim commission. The eleventh-hour delay prevented the Senate from voting on several of Lombardo’s bills.

Roll the tape

The end of session also saw the highly anticipated film tax credit expansion proposal fail. It was eked out of the Assembly, 22-20 but did not get a vote in the Senate.

The bill faced an uphill battle in the final days of session because of the $95 million in annual tax credits proposed. It called for an overhaul of the state’s film tax credit program, currently capped at $10 million annually, to offer those incentives to build a film studio campus called Summerlin Studios.

Backers — including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros. Discovery, developer Howard Hughes Corp. and various labor unions – projected it could have a $3 billion economic impact when complete. But lawmakers appeared wary to give incentives to large companies, especially when a state-commissioned report found the state and local governments’ return on investment would be 52 cents in tax revenue for every dollar spent on tax credits.

Lombardo has been tight-lipped on whether he would sign a bill expanding the film tax credit program. He did not comment on the legislation while it and a competing project proposal moved through the Legislature this spring. But in an interview with KTNV in early August, he said the film bill was up for discussion during talks about a special session. He said it would need to seen as a “jobs bill.”

Public push starts with town hall

Union leaders say the PAC, Nevada Jobs Now, has $1 million in funding and could raise more by the end of the week. The PAC was formed on Sept. 15, registration records show, and has not yet faced a fundraising report deadline.

Funds will be used for a public information campaign, said Tommy White, business manager and secretary-treasurer of Laborers Local 872.

One event to kick off the campaign will be a public town hall meeting at 4 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Las Vegas Ballpark. The PAC will discuss the proposed project.

White likened this effort to the union’s previous support of public subsidies for Allegiant Stadium.

“We knew that once the Raiders’ stadium was going to be built, there was going to be a whole bunch of remodeling going on in the hotels,” he said in an interview. “So doing an investment like this $500,000 investment, I actually think a $500,000 investment for us, the Laborers (union), is small for the amount of return that we’re going to receive.”

He added the union wants the public campaign to focus on possible job creation during construction and once the studio is complete. Estimates from project backers projected as many as 19,000 construction jobs and 17,000 permanent jobs could be created.

“The gamut is open when you build a movie studio,” he said. “It’s a lot bigger than building a football stadium.”

A project labor agreement between Howard Hughes, Warner Bros., Sony and Saavedra’s union coalition has already been negotiated for the proposed 83-acre entertainment district, which includes the studio and retail development.

In a Tuesday press release, Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui, the bill’s sponsor, said her office continues to hear from constituents who want to see film studios in Nevada.

“Since the end of session, my colleagues and I have heard from hundreds of constituents who’ve expressed their continued excitement for the economic opportunities this project will create and that our community desperately needs,” the Las Vegas Democrat, who is not seeking reelection, said. “I hope we have the opportunity to bring this bill back in the upcoming Special Session of the Nevada Legislature and ultimately deliver a brand-new industry and tens of thousands of jobs to our state.”

Still, there is no guarantee that a special session – if called – will include a film studio proposal. The governor or two-thirds of the Legislature can call a special session, which must specify what will be the subject of lawmaking. The biennial Legislature can only work on the pre-set agenda during the special session.

Using film production incentives to lure Hollywood infrastructure to Southern Nevada was first proposed in 2023. That year, state Sen. Roberta Lange, D-Las Vegas, proposed a similar expansion to build two studio projects but it did not move out of committee.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.