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Assembly Passes More Cops Tax, But Critics Of Stadium Proposal Remain

Nevada's legislature continues to debate plans for a football stadium and convention center expansion in Las Vegas.

But another piece of legislation passed Thursday in the Assembly related the overall proposal.

On Thursday, the Assembly passed a bill allowing the Clark County Commission to raise taxes by a tenth of a percentage point.

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The extra money would go to fund more police officers, something the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police has lobbied for for many years.

But in debates over the stadium proposal in the Assembly, Assem. Ira Hansen (R-Sparks) questioned Steve Hill of the Governor's Office for Economic Development about the overall cost taxpayers would need to bear.

"My understanding is, no matter what, the taxpayers are going to be forced to pay $750 million even if the stadium comes in at $1.5 billion, say. Correct?" Hansen asked of Hill.

"Assemblyman Hanson, technically that's correct," Hill said.

"Thank you."

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Assem. Teresa Benitez-Thompson (D-Las Vegas) wasn't pleased with the analysts who had been asked to testify about the project.

"It's been a conversation in our caucus why the majority party didn't line up more of an objective panel for presentation this week, especially since they were the ones that set the date, knew when we were going to convene and could have made all of the logistical arrangements to bring someone here," she said.

Joe Schoenmann joined Nevada Public Radio in 2014. He works with a talented team of producers at State of Nevada who explore the casino industry, sports, politics, public health and everything in between.
Casey Morell is the coordinating producer of Nevada Public Radio's flagship broadcast State of Nevada and one of the station's midday newscast announcers. (He's also been interviewed by Jimmy Fallon, whatever that's worth.)