Sure hope Teslas move faster than this special session!

CARSON CITY — The 28th special session got off to a slow start today, as both houses organized for business in the early afternoon and went almost immediately into recess, as the four bills necessary to get the Tesla incentive package passed were being prepared.

By late afternoon, the Assembly — meeting as a “committee of the whole” on the Assembly floor — had held a lengthy hearing its trio of bills, including Assembly Bill 1, a bill that would grant Tesla a discount on electricity. (That discount would be subsidized by NV Energy’s other ratepayers, although the amounts in question are very small.)

As this is written, the Assembly is hearing Assembly Bill 2, a bill that would allow electric car makers to sell their vehicles directly to the public, without the need for an auto franchise. Currently, automakers are required to sell cars to the public only through franchised dealers.

Tesla is the only automaker that would initially qualify for the exception. And auto franchise dealers, however, suggested an amendment that would further circumscribe the exemption by limiting it to dealerships licensed by a certain date, thus preventing other electric-car companies from taking advantage of the exemption.

Yet to be heard is Assembly Bill 3, the limitation and eventual repeal of a tax credit for insurance companies that have their headquarters in Nevada. That money will be used to pay for the Tesla incentive package.

But we’ve yet to see Senate Bill 1, the $1.3 billion incentive package. (Currently, the Senate bill page on the Legislature’s website lists no bills.) That bill has drawn the most interest, and is the subject of some pointed questions, including what Tesla must do to qualify for tax breaks and whether Nevadans will get preferences in seeking jobs at the gigafactory. That bill may come later this evening.