Commercials have been reinserted into the language of a proposed California anti-runaway production bill that would provide a 10 percent state tax rebate on qualified labor costs for certain film and television projects lensed in California. Last year, spots were removed from the measure in an attempt to reduce the estimated cost of the tax break, and to enlist the support of Gov. Gray Davis (D-Calif.). Despite that eleventh hour compromise before the past session of the state legislature adjourned, the measure—authored by assemblyman Scott Wildman (D-Burbank)—still failed to gain passage.
Now with the California legislature having reconvened, Wildman decided to bring commercials back into the bill’s fold. He reasoned that more legislators have gained an understanding of the runaway production issue and its economic importance. This, he contended, bodes well for the bill’s prospects as State Assembly and Senate members are coming to realize that whatever the cost of the tax reform, it will be returned "tenfold" to the state in terms of more jobs and payroll taxes.
Wildman said the initial deletion of commercials from Assembly Bill (AB) 358 was solely due to "a last-ditch effort" to obtain immediate relief from runaway production. Had that compromise proposal been successful, Wildman said that he would have still followed up in this legislative session to gain inclusion for commercials. "We have considerable employment in commercial production in California," he related. "It’s a sector that impacts thousands of workers. Taking it [spots] out of the bill originally was not something we wanted to do."
Wildman hopes to get his bill off the Assembly and Senate floors and have it on Gov. Davis’ desk for signature by March. "I can’t guarantee that timetable, but it’s our intent to push this bill through well before the summer," said Wildman. "The statistics demonstrate that the runaway production problem, particularly to Canada, isn’t going away. In fact, it’s getting worse. That’s why there’s a real sense of urgency to this measure. We need something meaningful to help offset the incentives being offered by other countries."
