Ray Hagar

rhagar@rgj.com

Northern Nevada Democrats said Monday they want to see as many local construction workers and contractors hired to build the planned Tesla Motors gigafactory as possible.

Democrats, who hold majorities in the Assembly and Senate, also said they also want Tesla to adhere to Nevada's prevailing wage laws that govern the construction of public buildings, even though the Tesla gigafactoy will be owned by a publicly traded company and is not a Nevada public building.

"The goal of making sure that Nevadans benefit from the jobs — both at the construction level and the ongoing manufacturing phase of the project — is absolutely the goal that we should pursue," said Assemblyman David Bobzien, D-Reno and Washoe County's senior Democrat in the Assembly.

Those points will be part of Democrats' demands as the Nevada Legislature prepares to begin a special session at noon Wednesday in Carson City to ratify an agreement between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Gov. Brian Sandoval to bring the Tesla battery gigafactory to the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.

Sandoval's office did not address the prevailing wage concerns of Democrats when asked for a response to Daly's statements.

"Governor Sandoval has consistently stated that growing jobs in Nevada, for Nevadans, is a top priority," spokeswoman Mari N. St. Martin said. "He will continue to work with legislators, with a continued focus on job creation, until every Nevadan who wants a job has one."

Some out-of-state workers and contractors will be needed to build the gigafactory because of specific skills they have, yet Nevadans should get first shot at jobs for which they are qualified, said Assemblyman Skip Daly, D-Sparks.

"Of course, my concern is about the Nevada worker," said Daly, a member of the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee and secretary of the Laborers' International Union of North America, Local 169.

"We need local workers first, same with contractors," Daly said. "When we start (the special session) we'll be looking for ways to see how we are going to monitor, enforce and measure that."

Musk and Sandoval agreed to a deal last week that would bring the $5 billion project to Nevada in exchange for about $1.25 billion in tax abatements over a two-decade span.

Nevada won a nationally watched bidding war with California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico to bring the gigafactory to Nevada.

While Daly is prepared to vote for the project, he said the Legislature must be prepared to comb through the details of the proposal.

"As I'm sure you have heard repeatedly, we need to look at the fine print," said Daly, who is battling Republican Jill Dickman to keep his District 31 seat. "We need to make sure we verify all of the sound bites we have heard."

Many lawmakers spent Monday reviewing details of the proposal and seeking input from constituents. State Sen. Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, announced she will hold a "telephone-town hall meeting" with voters tonight to get their views on the deal.

"Due to the nature of a special session and the short time period involved, I want to personally make every effort to understand how my community feels about this project," Smith said in her email to voters.

Smith wanted to get the opinions of voters on the tax breaks in the deal for Tesla including:

• $725 million for a 20-year 100 percent sales tax abatement,

• $332 million for a 10-year 100 percent property tax abatement,

• $120 million in transferable tax credits,

• $27 million for a 10-year, 100 percent modified business tax abatement and;

• $8 million in discounted electricity rates for eight years.

She also noted what Nevada expects to get in return.

"Tesla expects to employ 6,500 direct jobs at its plant, paying up to (an average of) $25 per hour," Smith said. "It is estimated that over 22,000 jobs, direct and indirect, will be created if Tesla builds its new plant in Northern Nevada. The state of Nevada as a whole will see 4 percent economic growth. Nevada's unemployment is expected to decrease by 2 percent, regional employment is expected to increase by 10 percent."

Daly noted Northern Nevada's construction industry was hit as hard as any industry in Nevada by the recent recession. Building the gigafactory could bring it back in a big way.

"As you know, prior to the crash, construction was 25 percent of the state's economy — or more — and we don't want to overlook an important segment of Nevada's economy by importing, unnecessarily, out-of-state construction workers," Daly said.

"We want to make sure they pay fair wages and benefits," Daly said. "We don't want to cut standards that have been established in our area."

It is unclear how long the session will last. Some hope for a one-day session, which would cost taxpayers an estimated $60,000. Each addition day would cost about $25,000, according to revised estimates provided Monday by the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

Yet it may take longer than one day to answer all the questions surrounding the complex set of arrangements,

"There are endless questions that need to be asked, and I'm confident that legislators are all thinking along these lines," Bobzien said. "For instance, for us in Northern Nevada, in particularly in Washoe County, what is going to be the impact to the schools? Certainly, there will be pressure on schools and real estate in the Dayton area but Washoe County is also going to have to deal with the schools.

That does not bode well for Washoe schools, considering how difficult it has been to receive extra state funding for school maintenance and repairs.

"Certainly my concern is that we have, time and time again, failed to deal with challenges that we have in front of us."

Many lawmakers said their constituents seems to be overwhelmingly for the project.

"I've been getting, and probably all lawmakers have been getting quite a number of emails from constituents," said Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey, R-Reno. "I would have to say that the overwhelming number of responses I've received are in support of the project."