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You Could Soon Be Living in Teslaville
Nevada's governor is proposing innovation zones in which tech companies could form local governments that would take the place of county and municipal governments.
Social & Lifestyle
Do you ever feel like you're living in the "country of Amazon," the "county of Tesla", or the "city of Facebook?" Increasingly, tech companies have taken over large portions of how we live our lives and do business.
Now, the state of Nevada is actually creating a way to make that happen. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada governor Steve Sisolak has announced plans to launch Innovation Zones that would allow tech companies to form their own local governments.
Sisolak unveiled this novel concept during his State of the State address on January 19, 2021, describing the zones as a way to lure companies that are at the forefront of "groundbreaking technologies" such as blockchain, autonomous technology, robotics, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, wireless technology and renewable energy to the state.
Tesla's Gigafactory
Nevada has already successfully lured Tesla to the state, with that company having built its Gigafactory outside Reno, Nevada. Beginning in 2016, Tesla began production of its Tesla Model 3 electric motors and battery packs and Tesla energy storage products at the Nevada facility.
According to a February 19, 2020 story on the Electrek website, Tesla has completed a second facility right next to its original facility that may, according to a source quoted in the article, be used to produce Tesla's all-electric semi-truck, the Tesla Semi.
Like a county
Governor Sisolak's proposed legislation has not yet been introduced in the state legislature, however, the Review-Journal was able to get a copy of it. The legislation proposes that tech companies would have the same authority as a county and that they could impose taxes, form school districts, create justice courts, and provide other governmental services.
The draft legislation states that the traditional local government model is "inadequate alone to provide the flexibility and resources conducive to making the state a leader in attracting and retaining new forms and types of businesses and fostering economic development in emerging technologies and innovative industries."
Within the Innovation Zones, companies would take over the duties of the counties in which the zones are located. They would become independent governmental bodies administered by a three-member board of supervisors who might be appointed by the company.
The legislation states that the proposed Innovation Zones would have to be at least 50,000 acres (20,234 hectares) of undeveloped and uninhabited land, and that land must lie within a single county. The land must also be separate from any current city, town, or tax area. The tech company would also need to demonstrate an initial investment of $250 million, plus provide a plan showing an additional $1 billion in investment over a ten-year period.
The company would be required to report on its progress to the legislature every other year, describing its capital investments, development of infrastructure, the number of people employed, and an estimate of the economic impact of the zone.
A series of coincidences
Coincidentally, in 2018, the company Blockchains, LLC, which is owned by the cryptocurrency pioneer Jeffrey Berns, purchased 67,000 acres of undeveloped and uninhabited land located east of Reno in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRIC), within Storey County. There, Blockchains has promised to build a "smart city" that would run completely on blockchain technology.
At 107,000 acres (43,301 hectares) the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center is the largest such center in the U.S. and it is home to more than a hundred companies including PetSmart, Home Depot, Zulily, Thrive Market, and Walmart.
Even more coincidentally, Blockchains, LLC gave $50,000 to a political action committee, or PAC, called Home Means Nevada, which was involved in Sisolak's taking office in January 2019.
Blockchains, LLC also donated $10,000 to Sisolak's 2018 election campaign, and Berns personally donated $50,000 to the Nevada state Democratic Party. Just to be on the safe side, the company also donated $10,000 to Sisolak's Republican opponent, Adam Laxalt.