Editor's note: The above video is from Sept. 21, 2016.
CARSON CITY, Nev. - A plan to put $750 million in public funds toward an NFL stadium that could house the Raiders in Las Vegas has cleared a second major vote in the Nevada Legislature, despite opposition to a project partly funded by billionaire Sheldon Adelson and a last-minute revelation about associated infrastructure costs.
The Nevada Assembly voted 28-13 to pass a bill that would raise hotel taxes by up to 1.4 percentage points in the Las Vegas area to fund a convention center expansion and build a 65,000-seat domed stadium. The measure needed 28 votes to pass, and Republican leaders who were trying to round up sufficient votes called for a vote Friday morning before lawmakers could have any protracted discussion about the bill.
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The measure still needs final approval from the Senate because it has minor amendments from the Assembly, but that's expected to be an easy hurdle. Senators already voted 16-5 on Tuesday to pass the original bill.
"I would like to thank Governor Sandoval, the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, and the members of the Nevada Legislature on this historic day," Raiders owner Mark Davis said in a statement shortly after news of the vote was announced. "All parties have worked extremely hard to develop and approve this tremendous stadium project that will serve as a proud new home for the entire Raider Nation."
"It's exciting,'' said Andy Abboud, chief lobbyist for the casino mogul Adelson's Las Vegas Sands, after the surprise vote. "But this is really about jobs, and I think at the end of the day people saw this as a fantastic economic stimulus package."
Nine Democrats and four Republicans opposed the bill, which made unlikely allies out of people on the far left and far right of the political spectrum.
NFL
The project was nearly derailed by a state report published late Thursday, which said the Nevada Department of Transportation wants to accelerate nearly $900 million in planned road work to accommodate stadium-related traffic. Lawmakers, who hadn't been warned about the estimate during routine discussions on the project, said they felt blindsided.
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