Three separate efforts are taking place to bring a film tax credit bill to the Legislature.

With Biden’s presidency recently hitting the three-year mark, I thought it would be a good time to talk to four experts who evaluated Nevada’s economic recovery over the last three years. 

The Nevada Independent reporters and multimedia journalists are pleased to share their favorite stories, videos and audio reporting from the past calendar year.

At the two-year anniversary of the infrastructure law, Nevada has received billions of federal dollars — and Democrats plan to campaign on it. And reader, rejoice — the government will not shut down! (At least until the next deadline in January.)

Yet, now that the Union Pacific Railroad — the successor company to the original Southern Pacific that built the machine shop over a century ago — has announced that it’s tearing the machine shop down. It’s hard not to feel a little sad.

Below are excerpts from the new chapters in the 2024 Almanac on the state of Nevada and Gov. Joe Lombardo, written by Louis Jacobson.

Many Nevada businesses, small and large, are sensitive to the volatile gasoline prices and higher maintenance costs that come with internal combustion engines, and they are eager for an alternative.

Though few would list Reno in the same annals of American automotive manufacturing history as Detroit, Kenosha or South Bend, the Gigafactory’s expansion will not mark Reno’s first foray into the industry.

The lucrative expansion of film tax credits — potentially worth more than $4 billion through the 20-year lifetime of the proposal — has drawn intense scrutiny and renewed interest by outside parties looking for a slice of the tax credit pie. 

State lawmakers introduced a long-in-the-works bill Thursday that would significantly expand a film tax credit program aimed at bringing Hollywood to Las Vegas.

The Nevada Independent is partnering with The Gigafact Project — an initiative to safeguard democracy and spread accurate information through a dramatic ramp-up in accurate, high-quality fact checks.

“Hopefully this will be the model moving forward for the continued diversification of the state's economy,” Lombardo said during the meeting, adding later in comments to reporters that “this is very beneficial across the board, both in economic development and to build out the quality of life for every Nevadan.”

With 150-year-old county buildings and aging infrastructure — including a water system built in the 1850s still used to service Virginia City — the lack of tax revenue from Tesla means Storey County is waiting on the expiration of abatements to act on its capital needs. 

The expansion would push Tesla’s total capital investment in the region to nearly $10 billion from 2014 to 2028 and create thousands of new jobs, according to the company’s application.

We’re not luring a new company to the region with these abatements … we’re merely handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to a highly profitable corporation that already has every commercial reason imaginable to expand its operations in the state. 

Neal raised concerns about the GOED abatement process during a committee hearing last week. Neal acknowledged the Legislature had granted the GOED board the power to abate taxes, but asked, “Is it too much power to abate the taxes of the state without legislative oversight?”

“I don't expect it to be long, I do not expect it to be deep, but I would not be surprised if we do see some of that correction,” Brian Gordon, a principal at the firm Applied Analysis, told The Nevada Independent.

Tesla intends to invest $3.6 billion in battery and electric semi-truck manufacturing in Sparks, expanding the company’s presence and the clean energy industry in Nevada, the White House said Tuesday.

Redwood Materials — a lithium battery recycling company based in Carson City — received more than $105 million in tax abatements.

For the second consecutive year, Amazon ranks as the company with the most employees and dependents on Medicaid in Nevada, according to a new state report.