Texas House approves $1.5 billion film tax incentive
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — On Monday, the Texas House voted 114-26 to pass Senate Bill 22, which provides tax breaks for films shot in Texas. $300 million will be allocated to the program every other year for the next ten years -- a cumulative $1.5 billion investment.
"Members, this is (the) make Texas film industry great again bill," Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi shouted as he started to lay out SB 22 on Sunday night. His loud remarks after the House spent nearly four hours discussion the 'Make America Healthy Again' bill were designed to grab the House's attention. "This is one of the bills that looks like it's had more different interpretations than I can count, and so I want to be very, very to the point and tell you what this film bill does."
SB 22 has consistently drawn harsh criticism from a wing of the Republican party, highlighted by strong opposition from State Rep. Brian Harrison. From March 6 to Monday at noon, Harrison posted the word "Hollywood" in 45 separate X posts, many of them saying "Don't Hollywood my Texas."
"This is another anti-taxpayer bill in the most anti-taxpayer session in Texas history," Harrison said in a statement. "Instead of lowering property taxes, the Texas House just voted to steal billions from hard working Texans to give to liberal Hollywood. This is crony corporatism and not the role of government."
While Harrison didn't speak about the bill in front of the full House on Sunday, State Rep. David Lowe shared his sentiment.
"This bill provides taxpayer-funded incentives to the film and entertainment industry. The same industry that once hailed Harvey Weinstein as a hero and turned a blind eye to his abuse for years," Lowe said. "This is also the same industry that trashed us for supporting President Trump, mocked us for standing up for the unborn, vilified us for opposing gender transitions for children and ridiculed our Christian faith at every opportunity."
However, the biggest advocates for SB 22 aren't worried about Texas turning into Hollywood.
"[Lowe] mentioned Weinstein and some of the issues that industries in other states have had and the darker direction they've gone," Chase Musslewhite with Media for Texas, said. "That's the full reason we're doing this, so we're kind of on the same page here. We really have amazing hopes for Texas to be a leader in this industry."
Qualifications for funding
To qualify for the film incentives, a project must be approved by the Music, Film, Television and Multimedia Office under the Governor's Office. To start on Sept. 1, projects will have to employ at least 35% Texans, going up by five percent every two years.
The breakdown for total incentives is as follows for feature films and television:
| In-state spending between $250,000 and $1 million | 5% grant based on in-state spending |
| In-state spending between $1 million and $1.5 million | 10% grant based on in-state spending |
| In-state spending over $1.5 million | 25% grant based on in-state spending |
The bill includes similar incentives for digital interactive media projects, reality televisions shows, commercials and instructional videos. Adult films, news, political messages, religious services, sporting events, award shows, class projects and casino-type video games are among the projects prohibited from claiming the tax incentives.
The bill also includes incentives for certain subcategories.
| Films promoting Texas heritage | Extra grant for 2.5% of in-state spending |
| Films shot in rural counties (>300,000 population) | Extra grant for 2.5% of in-state spending |
| Films which spend at least 25% of budget on in-state post-production | Extra grant for 1% of in-state spending |
| Films which employ over 2.5% of crew with Texas veterans | Extra grant for 2.5% of in-state spending |
| Faith-based films | Extra grant for 2.5% of in-state spending |
| Films shot at a Texas historic site | Extra grant for 2.5% of in-state spending |
| Films which partner with higher-education students | Extra grant for 2.5% of in-state spending |
What's next?
SB 22 had a pair of House amendments, so it heads back to the Texas Senate. If they concur with the changes, the bill will be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk to sign.
In future years, Media for Texas hopes to increase funding for the program to the initially proposed $500 million every other year.
"We're really excited to show these legislators that the $300 million is all going to be used up in this next two years, and that in 2027 we come back to session, we can look at upping that to 500 million," Musslewhite said.