Only one bill promoting filmmaking in New York state, a tax break for production studios, made it through the Legislature this year. Others, involving child-performer education and tax incentives to promote production in the state -- which should in turn result in more jobs for local actors -- will be reconsidered when lawmakers reconvene in January.
The bills and their recent fates include:
- A bill creating an investment tax credit for film production facilities was approved by both the Senate and Assembly. It has not yet been sent to Gov. George Pataki for his signature but soon will be, according to Chris Del Giudice, the legislative chief for Assemblyman Joseph D. Morelle.
"The production of films has been hampered in New York by the lack of adequate space or sound stages required for the production of films," stated a memorandum filed with the Assembly legislation, A8853. "The enactment of this bill will encourage growth in this area and bring more production to the state. In the long run, providing a credit to these facilities will serve to maintain New York's position as a leading state for production and postproduction activities."
- A6587, a bill establishing a commercial production tax credit, did not make it out of the Assembly's Ways and Means Committee and no companion Senate bill was introduced. Morelle authored the bill, which is the first attempt to provide tax breaks for producers of commercials who shoot in the state. The bill would set aside $5 million annually for tax credits to producers and provide a 10% tax credit on the production costs of "a qualified commercial." To be eligible for the credit, a production company must have total qualified production costs of more than $500,000 per year.
- A8875, a bill making an appropriation to the state Department of Economic Development for the marketing of film and TV production in the state, stalled in the Assembly's Ways and Means Committee. Also introduced by Morelle, the bill would appropriate an additional $500,000 to the Department of Economic Development for the Governor's Office for Motion Picture and Television Development to fund film and television production marketing programs.
"It was reported out of the Tourism Committee and to Ways and Means, but they wouldn't move the bill since the budget was already approved," Del Giudice said. Ways and Means considers all tax legislation, and since the bill involved budget revenues, the committee held it for consideration in the next session.
- The Assembly voted to amend the Child Performer Education and Trust Act of 2003 in regard to the educational requirements for child performers and the management of their earnings. That bill (A5771) was sent to the Senate and subsequently referred to the Rules Committee, where both it and a similar Senate bill (S5749) stalled. Under the bill, if a child performer, after receiving a work permit from the state Department of Labor, can't attend his or her regular school, the employer must provide a teacher on-site. If the child works less than one school day, however, the employer must provide "substantially equivalent education," with the child's regular school -- called "the school of enrollment" -- determining what that entails.
The bill also clarifies the roles of the Department of Labor and the state comptroller in handling money in the child performers holding fund. The proposal would transfer unclaimed monies in the holding fund to the state's abandoned property fund.
Del Giudice said the Assembly bill, although approved this year, must be reconsidered and passed in the Assembly again next year.