The Nevada Harrah’s Sports Arena Initiative did not make the November 6, 2012 statewide ballot as an indirect initiated state statute. The proposed initiative would have allowed a 20,000-seat sports arena on the Las Vegas Strip. Specifically the initiative would have imposed a 0.9 cent sales tax in a taxing district near the proposed arena. The revenue would finance bonds to construct the arena.[1]
The legislature had a March 18, 2011 deadline to decide whether or not to enact the measure. Early reports indicated that there was not enough support in the legislature for the measure to be approved, meaning it was likely to appear on the 2012 ballot. The legislature, specifically the state senate, confirmed that sentiment and rejected the measure, sending it to the statewide ballot for a public vote on March 17, 2011.[2][3]
The measure did not make the ballot, however, after the Nevada Supreme Court struck it down.
Support
Supporters
The following were groups, organizations and individuals who were in support of the measure:
Opposition
Opponents
The following were groups, organizations and individuals who are opponents of the measure:
Arguments
- According to Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith about the measure: “While that might not make it unprecedented in Nevada, where the politically connected have rarely been forced to play by the established rules, it doesn’t make it right. If it were to pass in November, even a two-bit mentalist could predict attorneys would have a field day shooting holes in it at the next level.”[4]
