Nevada really wants Tesla Motors to build a factory in its state. That much was evident on Thursday, when, according to a report from Fortune magazine, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed a package of four bills that will provide $1.3 billion in tax breaks to Tesla.

The fledgling electric car company has previously carried out most of its operations in California. However, when news broke that Tesla was looking for a place to build a $5 billion factory for the lithium ion battery that power its cars, and was considering an industrial park location near Reno, Sandoval called a special session with his government to make sure that the opportunity would not slip way.

Under the deal, Tesla will have special tax exemptions for the next 20 years, including an exemption from Nevada’s sales tax laws. Experts say that the sales tax break alone is probably worth about $725 million.

The prospect of getting a headline-grabbing company like Tesla into the state is motivation enough for Sandoval and his state government to approve these tax breaks, but the reasoning behind the exemptions is also more than that. The Fortune article explains how Nevada has been hit harder than most states by the recent recession and the mortgage bubble burst. The arrival of Tesla, then, would function somewhat like the construction of the Hoover Dam did back during the Depression era, revitalizing Nevada’s economy and pulling it out of the dark.

Of course, not everyone will be happy with the new tax exemptions for Tesla, which we quickly approved by both houses of government. To free up cash for the electric car company, the state of Nevada is phasing out tax credits that were established for insurance companies in the 1970s. It is also eliminating a pilot program, started just last year, that gave tax exemptions to the film industry.

For most Nevada residents, though, the Tesla factory will be a good thing. Estimates from the governor’s office indicate that the factory will generate some 25,000 jobs, both directly and indirectly. A provision in the bill signed by Sandoval yesterday stipulates that at least half of Tesla’s workers be Nevada residents.