A bill to greatly expand efforts to lure film and TV production to Texas has passed the state Senate. The measure passed the upper chamber 23-8 on a strong bipartisan vote and now heads to the Texas House for consideration.
Senate Bill 22 would increase funding for in-state film and TV production by creating a new fund to incentivize investments, paid for through sales tax revenues. The fund would increase Texas financial incentives to in-state production to $500 million every two years, up from $200 million now.
"It does it for the next decade, which gives certainty to the industry and the investors who want to bring these great jobs to Texas," said state Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), the author of the bill.
State Sen. Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) was one of nine Democrats who voted with Republicans to pass the bill. She noted that Texas had missed out on an opportunity to host the production of the recent series about legendary Tejano singer Selena on Netflix.
"Every time a film or show chooses to shoot here, they're not just creating good jobs for our crews and boosting local economies," Alvarado said. "They're showcasing our cities, towns, and regions on the global stage. They're putting Texas on the screen and keeping our dollars at home."
The bill includes language requiring productions to adhere to "family values" to obtain funding as well as an amendment to encourage faith-based productions.
"We are really trying to establish a very family-friendly, faith-based filming opportunities that really portray Texans in a positive light and provide great economic opportunities to all Texans," Huffman said.
Responding to a question from state Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), Huffman said that a film that did not meet the family values criteria could have its incentives yanked at any time, even in postproduction.
"The Governor's Office has absolute discretion to the bitter end to determine that the final product does not meet the standards that we want to incentivize," Huffman said.
That, together with the amendment to encourage faith-based productions, cost the measure the vote of state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin).
"I had high hopes, and continue to have high hopes, for economic development to the film industry in the state of Texas," Eckhardt said. "But as it is currently situated with so many subjective aspects, it creates uncertainty, so that only very well-funded production companies that can risk losing the subsidy at postproduction or a subgenre of films that are politically palatable will actually be able to achieve this subsidy."