This week the executive director of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Michael Brown, praised bills passed during the 2021 legislative session as critical to the state’s economy recovery and growth.
His statement came a day after Gov. Steve Sisolak signed two bills focused on clean energy and infrastructure that will also create thousands of jobs. Both bills pull from key elements of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, which has yet to gain the support it needs from Congress.
“We spent a considerable amount of time leading up to the legislative session during the pandemic working with SRI International and Brookings Mountain West at UNLV to develop an economic development and recovery plan,” Brown said. “We presented this plan to the legislature and I’m both grateful and pleased that their actions during the 120-day session resulted in an important endorsement of the direction Governor Steve Sisolak is leading our economic development and recovery efforts.”
Senate Bill 448, which was brought forth by Sen. Chris Brooks, promotes transmission development, renewable energy and storage which are expected to create jobs, improve air quality, and help the state reach emissions reduction targets.
Senate Bill 430 provides a kickstart to the State Infrastructure Bank, which is intended to provide loans and financial assistance to support infrastructure projects throughout the state. The governor included in his budget $75 million in seed money to fund the bank.
“This legislation makes changes to help launch our State Infrastructure Bank and will help us fund much-needed updates to our critical infrastructure, like roads and the power grid, with that climate-focused future in mind. This helps create jobs,” said Gov. Sisolak. “I want to thank Treasurer Zach Conine and his team for working with my Office on this legislation.”
Additional legislation signed into law gives the Nevada Film Office more flexibility with transferable tax credits for film productions in the state, seeks to expand the healthcare workforce through coverage of services provided by community health workers, aligns workforce training programs at the state’s community colleges, and provides funding for the University of Nevada Las Vegas medical school.
