Nevada lawmakers approved a US$335 million incentive package to attract upstart electric carmaker Faraday Future’s billion-dollar factory to a hard-hit Las Vegas suburb, even though the company has yet to unveil a concept car or bring a product to market.
The state assembly on Saturday voted overwhelmingly in favor of the deal, after a four-day special session in Carson City.
Lawmakers learned last week that Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting (賈躍亭) was backing the secretive California-based company, which employs some former Tesla Motors executives, and that Faraday plans to bring 4,500 direct jobs to Nevada.
“This is a watershed moment,” said Democratic Senator Pat Spearman, whose district encompasses part of recession-battered North Las Vegas. “I will be happy to go back to my constituents and say the darkness that has overshadowed us has lifted.”
The Nevada Senate had already approved the four bills implementing the agreement.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, a Republican who has championed the deal as a boon to the state, planned to sign them.
The deal comes a little more than a year after state lawmakers approved a US$1.3 billion incentive package to land a massive Tesla battery factory outside of Reno. Nevada officials said the deals are reshaping and diversifying the state’s economy after decades of tying its fate to casinos.
“This is a huge win for Southern Nevada,” said the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, a key proponent of the deal. “Nevada is quickly becoming the launching pad for ambitious companies that will play a critical role in reshaping the way we think about transportation.”
Nevada triumphed over California, Louisiana and Georgia in the bid to land the factory. The state will offer US$215 million in tax credits and abatements, and publicly finance US$120 million in infrastructure improvements at an underdeveloped industrial park in the city of North Las Vegas.
While Nevada is known for its libertarian leanings and lack of a state income tax, people who hammered out the deal say other factors ultimately won the company over.
“It’s not just about the tax environment. It’s about the education, the workforce development, the willingness that we have and turn on a dime in some senses and say, ‘Please come to our state,’” Republican Assembly Majority Leader Paul Anderson said. “We are known now internationally as a place to come and do business. We need to keep the momentum going.”
Skeptics included Republican Assemblyman Ira Hansen, who questioned the company’s Chinese backing.
Jia chairs Leshi Internet Information & Technology Beijing, a video and gadget firm known as LeTV.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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