Screenshot/Texas Senate
A bill that greatly expands efforts to seduce film and television production into Texas has passed the state Senate. The measure passed upper room 23-8 in a strong bipartisan vote and now headed to the Texas home for consideration.
Senate Bill 22 will increase funds for film and television production in the state by creating new funds to encourage investments paid through sales tax revenues. The fund increases Texas financial incentives to $500 million every two years for in-state production, up from the current $200 million.
State Sen. R-Houston, author of the bill, said:
Sen. Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) was one of nine Democrats who voted with Republicans to pass the bill. She noted that Texas missed the opportunity to host the production of a recent series on Netflix about legendary Tejano singer Serena.
“Every time a movie or a show chooses to film here, they don’t just create good work for our crew and boost the local economy,” Alvarado said. “They showcase our cities, towns and regions at a global stage. They put Texas on screen and our dollars in their homes.”
Screenshot/Texas Senate
The bill includes languages ​​that require production to comply with “family values” in order to obtain funding, and amendments to encourage faith-based production.
“We are trying to establish opportunities for highly family-friendly, faith-based filming that portrays Texans from a positive perspective and provides great economic opportunities for all Texans,” Huffman said.
Responding to a question from State Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), Huffman said films that do not meet family value standards can elicit incentives at any time, even in post-production.
“The governor’s office has absolute discretion on a bitter end to determine that the final product does not meet the criteria we want to encourage,” Huffman said.
It cost a measure of the vote for state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin) along with amendments to encourage faith-based production.
“I have high hopes and high hopes for the economic development of the Texas film industry,” Eckhart said. “But it’s currently so many subjective aspects that it creates uncertainty that only very well-funded production companies that risk losing subsidies in post-production, or politically tasty film subgenres, can actually achieve this subsidy.”
