-Welcome to Nevada Week.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

In October, Governor Joe Lombardo said he'd call a special session of the state legislature in order to, quote, finish what the legislature left unfinished.

The Republican governor made good on that Wednesday, calling on state lawmakers to convene in Carson City.

That's where Democrats have a majority in both the Assembly and Senate.

Tracking the priorities of each party for this special session is Tabitha Mueller, Capital Bureau Chief and Government Accountability Reporter for The Nevada Independent.

Tabitha, I want to start with the governor.

What does he want to achieve in this special session?

(Tabitha Mueller) I think what the governor wants to achieve is what he's laid out in that proclamation, right?

It's saying, Hey, this is my priority; this is what we need to get across the finish line as soon as possible.

And I think what's critical when you think about this situation is that what happens in this special session is going to carry into the 2026 election cycle.

What he passes, what he signs, what Democrats pass, all of this is going to set the stage for future elections.

And I think at the top of his list is his crime bill.

That's his crime legislation, which died in chaotic final hours of the legislative session, and it's the film tax measure.

This is a proposal that was brought by two Democratic Assembly members who have said that it is a way to bring a new industry to Southern Nevada.

-What about that crime bill stands out to you?

What would it change?

-So we haven't seen formal language yet, so I'm going to put kind of a caveat on there that anything could shift, anything could change.

But what I've been sort of hearing is that the final-- that the version that's going to be sort of talked about or discussed is the version that was waiting on a concurrence vote in the State Senate when it met its untimely death.

And so that version essentially had smash-and-grab policy increases that made advocates really concerned about it.

And it also had what's called kind of this "corridor court."

And this is a court that was phased out previously but, essentially, was targeted at tourist districts as a way to sort of help address crime in those areas specifically.

And the court was targeted at those regions.

It also had protections for hospitality workers and a few other provisions as well.

-And this would be extra important and personal to the governor, being that he was the former sheriff of Clark County.

Can you elaborate, though, what would it mean if this special session were to happen and he did not get that bill passed?

-I think that that sort of leaves the governor in this politically tenuous position where this was his main priority, right?

And the legislation was watered down during the 2025 session.

It originally had a bunch of different-- addressed a bunch of different measures, including raising felony theft thresholds.

So if it does-- If it doesn't get across the line, if it's not something, then what is he going to run on in 2026?

He had sort of campaigned on, I'm going to make public safety an issue.

I am the former sheriff.

We're going to address these problems.

And it is worth noting that crime rates have been going down, right?

We've seen that decrease.

But I think this is, this was his marquee legislation.

-And the film tax credit bill--for our viewers who need reminding of what it is and perhaps, in particular, which bill we're talking about, because during the regular session, there were two competing film tax credit bills--which one is being pushed right now?

-The one that we've really seen a lot of energy and efforts coalesce around is the effort backed by Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

And that proposal is essentially a massive increase of Nevada's existing film tax program.

It was-- The existing program is about $10 million a year.

This would increase it to $120 million a year in annual transferable tax credits.

And that would basically start-- There's a little bit of a runway leading up to this.

So the proposal says that to build a studio in Las Vegas, you need to invest a certain amount of money.

You need to have I think like $1.8 billion in investment when it comes in.

You also have these like sort of timelines.

But essentially, it would make it so $120 million is set aside in annual transferable tax credits.

Now, when we talk about tax credits, what that means in reality is that the companies that receive them, so these film companies, can either use them to offset taxes, of which, an analysis that my team and I did, shows there's very little actual taxes that film companies pay here in Nevada, and most of it is then sold at a discount, usually to other entities that have maybe a larger tax burden here in the Silver State.

-Democrats have also proposed legislation to help with SNAP benefits that are at risk that have not been fully paid out in November.

What does that look like?

Where does that go, also, if the government shutdown ends?

-I think if the government shutdown ends, it sort of makes this less of a problem.

But we still are facing a fact that SNAP benefits are not fully given to the recipients yet.

People are reporting that they're receiving much lower dollar amounts than they would normally receive.

There's a huge strain on our food systems.

Infrastructure right now, the governor did-- The governor and lawmakers did allocate money to food banks to help address what many are calling a crisis, but it still may not be enough to meet the need that we have right now, while the economy is sort of a little bit tenuous, especially during a government shutdown, where a lot of federal workers are now also relying on this type of aid.

And so essentially what Democrats have said is that, look, we'd like to make it so that we can fund, meet the need and the demand by funding sort of a state-- an alternative state-run program.

And so if that may or may not be on the agenda, but we'll kind of see how that plays out.

-Okay.

So we're talking about a crime bill, a film tax credit bill, perhaps a SNAP funding bill.

Those are a lot of topics to cover in one special session.

If you think about the last special session to fund the A's stadium, that was a process of about seven days.

How long are you hearing this session might take?

-It's hard, because we don't know how long this is going to last.

I think that the shortest special session that we've ever seen is one day.

The longest is 27 days, based on research that I've conducted.

Now, in the Constitution, it's mandated that it only lasts a maximum of 20 days.

So we could go 1 to 20 days, but I think that what we need to keep in mind is that there is-- lawmakers themselves are on a timeline.

When a special session is called, there is a period of a fundraising blackout, meaning they can't fundraise before-- They can't fundraise once the announcement comes out, and they can't fundraise, I believe, up to 15 days after the legislative session ends.

So there's an incentive for them to get this done very, very quickly.

And someone that I spoke to on the condition of anonymity, because discussions are still going on, they said that at least one lawmaker has a hard out after the 15th, so they can be there through the 15th, but they've got, you know, other things going on and other schedules that they have to keep in mind.

-And I've been hearing the same, that this is going to be a quick session, regardless of how much content is in it.

But that raises some questions about, about the ability of the public to, to weigh in on these issues.

I mean, the crime bill and the film tax credit bill had a lot of public input during the regular session.

Is there going to be that kind of an opportunity?

I know the ACLU of Nevada has been wanting to have a voice in the crime bill and told me via text message that "Organizations like ours are pushing for amendments on items, including the governor's crime bill.

We have been advised that amendments to bills will not be considered, including amendments to protect against federal overreach on issues like immigration.

If that ends up being the case, it would be truly embarrassing, especially as many politicians continue to push the line that they are fighting for our communities."

What is the level of concern about how much time the public has to react to this potential legislation?

-So I called a couple of different advocates in this space, and what they were saying is that they're frustrated by what would likely be a quick turnaround on the proclamation, you know, and then a special session called and then bills quickly processed.

And what you need to understand about this is, when we're saying that legislation is on the agenda, things are pretty-- They're mostly baked, right?

From the outside looking in, things have been discussed.

There have been negotiations.

There might be some shifts to bills or changes that come along during hearing processes, but generally what you see on the agenda is what is going to be signed by the governor at the end of this legislative-- at the end of the special session.

-And that makes sense, because, as you talked about earlier, if the governor does not pass these bills, this does not look good for him.

So you're telling me that a lot of this has already been decided upon prior to the session even starting?

-Right.

And there will be, you know, bill hearings and conversations about it, but I think what we sort of heard from folks who are on the outside looking in is this frustration of like, we want to have more dialog.

Now, my understanding is that there has been dialog going on behind the scenes.

I think that the ACLU acknowledged that and said, look, we've been pushing for this; we've been advocating for change.

But it'll kind of depend on what, you know, how it plays out and what's in those actual bills as they're introduced.

-All right.

Tabitha Mueller of The Nevada Independent, thank you for joining Nevada Week.

-Thanks so much for having me.