Nevada studio showdown: Democrat pushes petition against tax break

A Democratic gubernatorial candidate is launching a petition urging state lawmakers to reject tax incentives for Hollywood studios in Southern Nevada.

Alexis Hill, the Washoe County Commission chair campaigning for Nevada governor in the 2026 elections, said she will deliver the results of her petition “against corporate giveaways” to the Legislature and Gov. Joe Lombardo. It comes as lobbying for an expansion to the state’s film tax credit program reaches new urgency as the Republican governor considers what he will put on a special legislative session that he is expected to call later this year.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Hill said she understood the urgency to look for economic diversification tools but said she believes the tax credit programs “do not pencil out in the end for our local communities.”

“I want to make sure that we’re zeroed in on how we can just support our basic services, fixing our streets, funding our schools, supporting our families, things that I feel like Nevadans want,” she said. “They’re feeling left behind.”

Hill said she is using her campaign to promote the petition because it’s a tenet of her candidacy. Her campaign plans to submit the petition timed to any discussions that may occur in the Legislature.

Her announcement follows a large public push to reconsider a bill that would tie transferable film production tax credits to the development of Summerlin Studios, a film campus project proposed near South Town Center Drive and West Flamingo Road. The Nevada Assembly approved the contentious concept, 22-20, during the regular session but was not brought up for a Senate vote before adjournment on June 3.

Lombardo said in early October that he plans to call state lawmakers back to Carson City to complete what he termed “unfinished” business. Though he did not say which bills the session might include, backers of the studio project, led by construction trade groups, are pushing for the bill to be considered during a special session.

Hill said she thought the film tax credit program as proposed, and others like it in the state, does not justify diverting state funds away from other services. The Summerlin Studios proposal, as introduced in the regular session, could award more than $1 billion in tax credits over 15 years.

“Yes, you can create the jobs, but it’s not a sustainable way of doing business,” she said, adding that studies of tax credit programs in other states do not generate positive returns on investment. “We seem to be addicted to this, instead of really seeing how we can invest in Nevadans and create jobs for the long term.”

Asked how she would handle the program as governor, should it become law before she is elected, Hill said she’d respect the law but take a closer look at accountability measures for the funding.

“As we see that California is about to do a ton of these tax incentives to keep the film business in California, it’s going to be interesting to see if it’s going to work out in the way that we’re all being sold,” she said. “That’s the true concern.”

Hill is expected to face Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford in the Democratic primary. He supported the proposal during the regular session earlier this year and was the bill sponsor behind the state’s film tax credit program in 2013, when it was first established as a pilot program.

“At a time when our state is lagging behind the rest of the nation in job growth, unemployment remains amongst the highest of any state in the nation, and costs for working families are at record highs, it is critical to make responsible long-term investments that will diversify our state’s economy and create good-paying union jobs in our state,” Ford said in a Tuesday statement.

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