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House Bill 1634 |
House Author: Dukes et al. |
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Effective: 6-8-07 |
Senate Sponsor: Deuell |
House Bill 1634 amends provisions of the Government Code relating to the moving image industry incentive program formerly known as the film industry incentive program. Rather than capping program grants at the lesser of 20 percent of the wages paid to Texas residents on a filmed entertainment project or $750,000, the bill provides that a grant may not exceed the lesser of five percent of the total amount of a production company's in-state spending or $2 million for a film; $2.5 million for a television program; $200,000 for a commercial or series of commercials; or $250,000 for a digital interactive media production. The amount for an additional grant for production in an underused area, redefined in the bill as an area outside of Austin, Houston, and Dallas-Fort Worth, is set at 1.25 percent of the total amount of the production company's in-state spending for the project rather than at five percent of the wages paid to Texas residents. To qualify for a grant, a production company must have a minimum of $1 million in in-state spending for a film or television program, or $100,000 for a commercial or series of commercials, rather than a minimum of $500,000 and $50,000, respectively, in wages to Texas residents for those projects. Other grant qualification requirements include that at least 80 percent of the project be filmed in Texas and that at least 70 percent of the production crew, actors, and extras be Texas residents. The bill defines a Texas resident as a person who has resided in Texas for at least 120, rather than 60, days before production begins, and it defines in-state spending to include money spent in Texas during the production and completion of a project, including wages to Texas residents, and to exclude certain other wages. The bill authorizes the Music, Film, Television, and Multimedia Office in the governor's office to contract with certain entities to create a moving image industry personnel training program and to provide technical resources relating to archiving moving image projects.