The Nevada legislature allocated $25 million to fund the new University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Medicine after a private donor pledged to donate the same amount, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The funding stipulation was added to Senate Bill 553 by members of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.
State officials agreed to allocate the funds after Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval said he received an anonymous donation worth $25 million to fund the medical school. Gov. Sandoval said the donor called him two weeks ago specifying the donation would be made if the legislature "made the first investment for the construction of the medical school," according to the report.
State officials said the legislature's interim finance committee will control the donation and release the funds once the donor's contribution is finalized.
A second budget bill previously sent to the governor would increase funding for the medical school from $19.6 million during the 2016-2017 fiscal year to $21.8 million during the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The university will receive $30.2 million in state funding to be used toward construction of the medical school during the 2018-2019 fiscal year under the bill, according to the report.
The combined $100 million in funds would represent a significant portion of the construction costs for the new medical school, which officials expect to cost between $100 million and $200 million. University regents previously criticized UNLV School of Medicine Dean Barbara Atkinson's, MD, fundraising strategy, which centered on finding a single donor to foot the $100 million construction cost.