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Greatest hits from Day 1 A’s-Nevada senate special session

June 8, 2023 /

To try and dilute Wednesday into words would be a futile exercise. But I’ll try.

Nevada legislators initially were scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. for a special session to discuss the A’s stadium bill, which has been renamed SB1 from SB509. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo called the senate to a special session to discuss the bill, after the usual 120-day legislative session ended on Monday.

Before the special session, the A’s formal ballpark proposal was discussed once by Nevada lawmakers, on Memorial Day in a joint meeting between Nevada senate and assembly committees, as it was only introduced on May 26. According to senators Wednesday, the A’s didn’t make “any concessions” or change much in the bill over those 10 days. A few noted how they were upset that Nevada taxpayers had to pay $250,000 a day for a special session on something that was already considered – and didn’t advance past its initial hearing.

With that understanding, there was a bit of saltiness behind the meeting, which was pushed back to noon. Both the senate and the assembly took roll call, said a prayer in the chamber … and then promptly took lunch. Not just any lunch, but a three-hour lunch.

The assembly took the rest of the day off, but the senate had to hunker down. So the hearing started in earnest at about 3 p.m. PT and it got weirder as the night went on. It lasted until shortly before midnight, featuring hours of presentations, questions from senators, A’s president Dave Kaval squirming, in-person supporters/opposers speaking their piece … and then the phone calls – which got progressively more hilarious.

A guy sang the Carmen San Diego theme song (Rockapella version) but used “Where in the World is John Fisher?” One woman told a senator she should have hired a babysitter instead of bringing her newborn in to the meeting, and another said “illegal aliens” should be housed at Allegiant Stadium so people don’t get diseases. I didn’t clip those last two out, but believe me.

The senate adjourned without making a vote, and are targeting an 11:30 a.m. PT start time for Thursday. The assembly will also be in session Thursday so it could be another long day.

Here’s the greatest hits from Wednesday, I hope the Twitter captions provide enough context.

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