Cell phone ban, movie incentive program head to house
Texas would expand its successful movie incentive grant program under a bill approved Wednesday by the Senate. Created in 2007, the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program offers movie and TV productions rebates of up to 20 percent of expenditures spent in the state. In its nearly 20 years of operation, the grant program has brought $2.5 billion in economic activity and nearly 200,000 jobs to Texas. For every dollar spent on the program, said Houston Senator and Finance Committee chair Joan Huffman, the state gets back $4.69 in economic benefit. Inconsistent and insufficient funding, however, means the state is losing productions to other states with more robust incentive programs, places like New Mexico and Georgia. Huffman’s bill, SB 22, would change that by dedicating $500 million each biennium into the program for the next decade. “[It] gives certainty to the industry and the investors who want to bring these great jobs to Texas,” she said.