For the moment, great news. The political payoff, using YOUR tax dollars, to the Hollywood billionaires is not in the new State budget.
Imagine telling kids, your school does not have enough money because we thought the Hollywood elite should get it? Tell that to the homeless families. Ley those that need mental health treatment know the druggies of Hollywood are more important than them.
“The bills hit a bit of a snag in the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees, where lawmakers removed references to expanding the actual funding for the program. Previous versions of the bill sought to codify Gov. Gavin Newsom’s October proposal to increase the overall cap on incentives, more than doubling it from $330 million to $750M annually. However, not all hope is lost, since Newsom still seeks to get the funding approved in his budget. That vote comes June 15.”
Yup, Newsom wants the taxpayers to finance the movies, drugs, alcohol, gambling and escorts of the rich Hollywood folks. You can eat Spam as they eat lobster.
California Legislature Approves Film & TV Tax Credit Bills Sans $750M Funding Expansion (For Now)
By Katie Campione, Deadline, 6/4/25 https://deadline.com/2025/06/california-film-tv-tax-credits-bill-passes-state-senate-1236422210/?emci=0eefa438-3541-f011-a5f1-6045bda9d96b&emdi=a17ac51a-4a41-f011-a5f1-6045bda9d96b&ceid=570495
The California Legislature on Tuesday passed legislation aimed at expanding and retooling the state’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program.
Both SB630 and AB1138 passed out of their respective houses, putting California one step closer toward its mission of encouraging physical production to return to the state.
The legislation would expand the definition of a qualified motion picture, allowing additional projects to apply for the tax-credit program, including series with episodes averaging 20 minutes or more, animation films, series, shorts and large-scale competition shows.
The bills hit a bit of a snag in the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees, where lawmakers removed references to expanding the actual funding for the program. Previous versions of the bill sought to codify Gov. Gavin Newsom’s October proposal to increase the overall cap on incentives, more than doubling it from $330 million to $750M annually. However, not all hope is lost, since Newsom still seeks to get the funding approved in his budget. That vote comes June 15.
Deadline understands that the increased funding is still a primary focus for Newsom. Sources tell Deadline that they are not entirely surprised that the mentions to the $750M expansion were removed from the bills. While lobbyists have done what they can to illustrate that California’s production problem affects the entire state, lawmakers naturally have differing priorities.
Deadline broke down the various paths toward reform for the Film & TV Tax Credit Program here.
SB630 and AB1138 seek to do more than just provide additional finance incentives to studios who bring physical production back to California, though. In addition to expanding the qualification parameters, the bills propose increasing the available credit amount for an individual project from 20% to 35% for amounts paid or incurred in Los Angeles, also giving the California Film Commission leeway to allow for additional credit percentages by 5% in other areas of economic opportunity.
The legislation comes amid the latest spurt of runaway production as other states ramp up their film and TV tax incentives programs in an effort to lure production away from California. New York last month passed a state budget that includes expanded incentives.
Also getting Hollywood’s attention is President Donald Trump’s bombshell announcement of planned tariffs on movies produced outside the U.S., which were decried many in the industry, along with Newsom, who said Trump has “no authority” to impose the tariffs.
