Money Committees review mining tax bill that will pump $300-plus million into K-12 education over next two years
Members of the Assembly during the floor session inside the Legislature on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 in Carson City.
Photo: David Calvert / The Nevada Independent
The Legislative money committees Sunday reviewed a bill that will pump more than $300 million into K-12 education over the coming biennium. Assembly Bill 495 is a consensus piece of legislation agreed to by not only lawmakers and the governor but mining and education advocacy groups. It does that by diverting the $140 million expected from the existing net proceeds of mines tax revenue to the K-12 budget. In addition, the bill contains an excise tax on the gross proceeds of gold and silver mines in Nevada. That tax would hit mines with a gross of $20-$150 million a year with a levy of 0.75 percent. It would hit mining operations that gross more than $150 million a year with a 1.1 percent levy on gross, generating up to $170 million more for the biennium bringing the total infusion into K-12 education to more than $300 million. The hearing of the bill by Assembly speaker Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, was held jointly between the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees to speed processing because Monday is the last day of the 120 day 2021 Legislature. In addition, the bill would divert some $200 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to K-12 education. Frierson said the bill was the culmination of months of work between all the parties to reach concurrence on a plan that gets mining to pay more and puts the money into education for Nevada students. The two committees took no action on AB495 Sunday night.
