Senate advances amended A’s stadium bill out of committee, sets up floor vote

The bill proposing up to $380 million in public funding for a new Las Vegas baseball stadium for the Oakland A’s cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday after passing out of the Senate Committee of the Whole in a 12-7 vote.

The vote on SB1 follows the Tuesday addition of two substantial amendments aimed at tightening the public financing language, expanding the terms of a community benefits agreement and resurrecting two bills Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed earlier this month.  

Tuesday’s initial vote in the Senate Committee of the Whole (a committee composed of all members of the chamber, typically used in special sessions to consider major legislation) now sets up a vote on the Senate floor, where it appears the bill has the votes necessary to advance to the Assembly. 

Also on Tuesday, the Assembly Committee of the Whole had scheduled an informal hearing on the bill that would give lawmakers the ability to process the measure expeditiously if it passes out of the Senate.

The 12-7 committee vote saw eight Democratic senators and four Republican senators, including Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) and Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert (R-Reno), vote in support of the bill, while five Democratic and two Republican senators voted against the bill. The bill requires a simple majority of 11 out of 21 senators to pass, and not a two-thirds supermajority because it only redirects tax revenues and does not create new taxes or raise taxes. 

Two senators — Ira Hansen (R-Sparks) and Robin Titus (R-Wellington) — were absent from Tuesday’s committee vote, but have previously indicated opposition to the A’s stadium bill. In a note posted outside his Senate office last week, Hansen described his vote as a “hell no,” while Titus told KRNV, “I don’t support any public money going into sports stadiums of any kind.”

Neither senator publicly announced the reason for their absence, though Hansen’s wife Assemblywoman Alexis Hansen (R-Sparks) announced on Twitter that the two were soon expecting the birth of a grandchild.

But the move to advance the measure out of committee came with bipartisan friction, as both a number of Democrats continued to express reservations over the bill and as a Republican senator raised concerns with the new amendment undoing two Lombardo vetoes. 

Ahead of the vote, Sen. Jeff Stone (R-Henderson), one of two Republicans to vote against the bill, suggested the move to add back vetoed language could run afoul of Lombardo’s proclamation convening the special session, which limited the session to consideration of the A’s bill. He said the move “doesn’t pass the smell test.” Stone had previously indicated support for the proposal when it was first heard last week.

After the committee vote, the bill must first go through a second reading on the Senate floor before receiving a full vote. Lawmakers could move to suspend rules that require a day to pass between second readings and a full vote, though a 14-vote two-thirds majority would be required to further expedite the process. 

This is a developing story, and will include additional updates from the ongoing Assembly committee hearing happening Tuesday afternoon.

The post Senate advances amended A’s stadium bill out of committee, sets up floor vote appeared first on The Nevada Independent.