Texas Motion Picture Alliance announces victory with passage of House Bill 1634

by John P. Meyer

Authored by State Representative Dawnna Dukes (Austin), Texas HB 1634 passed unanimously this morning (April 12) after being referred to the general assembly by the House Committee on Culture, Recreation and Tourism.

The bill creates a state film incentive program, which specifically (according to the Texas Motion Picture Alliance):

· Allows film, TV and commercial projects to apply for an incentive from the State. The incentive is to entice new projects to film in Texas.

· Creates new jobs and causes considerable amount of spending to occur within Texas, thus helping our economy.

· Helps us to compete with other states like New Mexico, Louisiana, and New York, which have been very successful in stealing film-related jobs away from Texas.

The TMPA goes on to state that passage of the bill allows for correction of the current state of affairs, which is that "the Texas film industry is in bad shape... and we’ve let the situation go too far. HB 1634 is a responsible reaction to this situation. It will solve the problem and make Texas a competitive state for the film industry."

There was a bit of a scare on April 4 when the bill was first scheduled to reach the house floor, because a "hyper technical procedural error" resulted in its temporary removal from the calendar. By that time, though, the grassroots effort of the TMPA to solicit calls from voters had generated enough positive reinforcement that legislators were fully aware of its popular support.

An identical companion bill (SB 782) is currently in committee and awaits hearing by the State Senate.

The Dallas Producers Association is classified as a "Superstar" donor to the TMPA, having provided financial support to that organization to the tune of over $5,000.

source: Texas Motion Picture Alliance