Texas Film Incentives News – HB 873 Passed The House, Now On To The Senate.

Great, you say? What the HELL does that mean, you say? Well, grab yourself a cup of Joe and have read. Thank you to Angela Lee and Bob Hudgins for the actually understandable set of sequences explained below.  Getting closer people!

HB 873 passed Thursday (3/26/09) – 139 yay’s, 6 nay’s. The sequence of events yet to take place as explained by Bob Hudgins are as follows:

Short explanation:
Once the Senate passes and Gov. Perry signs the bill, we have the new incentives program with new incentives rate and $7M of the $20M “purse” remaining from the current 2-year program.

The Appropriations committee meets in June to decide whether or not to increase the next 2-year’s “purse” from $20M to $60M.

On September 1, we begin with a new budget or “purse.” The new budget or “purse” will either be $20M or $60, depending if the appropriations committee approves a $40M increase. The new incentives program continues.

(BTW: Bob doesn’t call it a “purse.” It’s typically referred to as a “cap.”)

Long explanation:
HB 873 passed the HOUSE March 26, 2009.
It now goes to the Senate
SB 605 is identical to HB 873. HB 873 was not amended; therefore the Senate can substitute in HB 873, replacing SB 605 and not lose any time getting it through the Senate.

Upon SB 605/HB 873 being passed by the Senate it goes to Governor Perry for signature and becomes law.

That could happen soon.

Upon the Senate passing the bill… The new incentives rate kicks in. Incentives will be flexible and pivot around 15% with a threshold of $250,000.

Currently we still have a $7M “purse” remaining in our 2-year budget which must be spent by August 31, 2009. Whatever is not spent as incentives, we lose.

There are projects ready to take advantage of that $7M as soon as the bill becomes law.

The appropriations committee meets in June to decide whether or not to increase our “purse” from $20M to $60M. Beginning September 1st, we will either have a “purse” of $20M or $60M, depending on the appropriations committee.

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