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LAS VEGAS (AP) — New campaign finance reports reveal fundraising for proposed November ballot measures. Here are some takeaways:
SANDS BEHIND NV ENERGY BREAKUP
Disclosures filed with the Nevada secretary of state show the Las Vegas Sands is almost singlehandedly funding a ballot effort to break up NV Energy's monopoly.
The Energy Choice Initiative seeks to change the state constitution to give customers the right to choose their energy provider and produce their own power to sell to others.
Sands contributed $500,000 to the initiative petition effort, which needs more than 55,000 valid signatures from registered voters by June 21 to qualify for the November ballot. MGM Resorts contributed the remaining $10,000 to the effort's PAC.
NV Energy has said it will not fight the potential change, which wouldn't take effect for years.
COMMERCE TAX FOES OUTGUNNED
An effort to repeal Nevada's new commerce tax was financially outgunned by a big business-backed PAC defending the new levy.
The Coalition for Nevada's Future reported raising $4,750 so far this year to help preserve the tax. It stockpiled more than $242,000 last year, mostly in contributions from casino companies such as Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment.
The rival RIP Commerce Tax PAC reported raising $37,000 this calendar year, largely from conservative group Keystone Corp. and a limited liability corporation called Zenith Endeavors. The PAC raised less than $13,000 in 2015.
Republican Controller Ron Knecht spearheaded the effort to ax the tax. But Knecht announced Wednesday that he was abandoning it because it faced steep odds to get on the ballot. The Nevada Supreme Court forced his group to rewrite the proposed ballot petition and invalidated about 20,000 signatures gathered on a previous version.
Tax opponents would have had to gather more than 55,000 valid signatures in less than a month.
GUN BACKGROUND CHECKS
An effort to expand background checks to more gun sales in Nevada is better-funded than the push to defeat it.
Nevadans for Background Checks reported raising more than $817,000 this calendar year. More than half of the money came from the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, a group affiliated with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Other major donors include MGM Resorts International, which contributed $25,000, and San Francisco angel investor Ronald Conway, who gave $75,000.
NRA Nevadans for Freedom, a PAC opposing the measure, reported nearly $140,000 in contributions this year, all from the National Rifle Association.
The measure, called Question 1, is guaranteed a spot on the ballot after gathering the required number of signatures.
SOLAR VS. UTILITY
A campaign to reverse a solar rate hike at the ballot box is pitting rooftop solar giant SolarCity against NV Energy.
The No Solar Tax PAC has raised nearly $2.2 million this calendar year — all from SolarCity.
A PAC opposing the measure, Citizens for Solar and Energy Fairness, reported raising a little more than $1 million. Almost all of that money was from NV Energy.
A $100,000 contribution came from an electrical workers union.
It's unclear whether the measure will make it to the ballot. A court struck down the language in the original referendum backed by SolarCity, and the ruling is being appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court.
Rooftop solar advocates were told to file their measure as an initiative petition rather than a referendum, but they haven't done that yet.
RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA
Two groups pushing to legalize recreational marijuana reported raising a combined $159,000 this calendar year.
The Initiative to Regulate and Tax Marijuana, or Question 2, has already gathered enough signatures to make the ballot.
Financial disclosure forms for the rival Coalition Against Legalizing Marijuana - Nevada weren't posted to the secretary of state's website by the Tuesday deadline.
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