A Letter from our Executive Director
HB 1325 2007 TIMELINE:
IT PASSED!
April 5: FINANCIAL INCENTIVE BILL PASSES THIRD HOUSE COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY. HB1325 passed unanimously through the House Policy & Budget Council this afternoon. The bill is now ready for consideration to be voted on by the entire House chamber. The amended version of the bill will be posted soon to the Florida House website . More information
about Senate version of bill coming soon.
April 5: HB 1325 to be heard in the Policy and Budget Council of the House of
Representatives, its final stop before going to the floor of the House for a final vote.
Meeting is scheduled from 9:00AM to 4:00PM in room 212 of the Knott Building
a wing off of the Capitol buildingin Tallahassee.
March 21: House Committee on Economic Expansion & Infrastructure Council
voted unanimously in favor of HB1325, and referred it to Policy & Budget Council
where it now resides.
March 20: Senate version of the bill, SB 96, was unanimously voted as favorable by Commerce members. It now resides in Finance and Tax.
If you would like to send an email with your support or concerns about the bill to the Finance and Tax Committee, here are those email addresses:
Chair: Senator Mike Haridopolos (R) –
Vice Chair: Senator Ted Deutch (D) –
Senator Jeffrey H. "Jeff" Atwater (R) –
Senator Steven A. Geller (D) –
Senator Ronda Storms (R) –
March 14-15, 2007: DMAF hosts a “Digital Media / Interactive Entertainment”
exhibit at the Florida Capitol, to draw attention and support for the Film and
Entertainment industry and its legislative agenda.
March 8, 2007: House Committee on Economic Development voted on HB1325.
We are please to tell you that the committee voted unanimously in favor of our bill.
March 6, 2007: Governor Charlie Christ appeals for support of bill, in State of the
State speech.
EXCERPT: “Finally, I ask that you give us the tools to spur economic development for the film and space industries. In my budget I have proposed 75 million dollars of tax credits to enhance Florida film making—a clean and vital industry which creates high paying jobs while spot lighting our beautiful state.”
BACKGROUND:
The Florida Film and Entertainment Advisory Council, along with the contributions from the public, came up with a list of recommended changes to the Florida Entertainment Industry Financial Incentive.
Numerous areas were addressed, including commercials, music videos, digital media and its future growth, Florida's indie filmmakers and Florida film school and college graduates. We've addressed issues like hurricane season and the very real threat against our industry posed by other states and their incentives. We addressed the need to try and make it work best for our post facilities and vendors as well as our cast and crew. We've also addressed the House's request that our incentive encourage family-friendly productions.
Click here for the bullet points of those recommendations voted upon by the Advisory Council. These recommendations were presented to Representative Don Davis, the House sponsor of the program, for his consideration in building our incentive into the best possible for Florida and its Floridians.
Click here for a State Incentives Comparison chart, so you can see what other states are offering.
Click here for a copy of the draft legislation, filed by Representative Don Davis
Click here for the Senate version of the bill, filed by Burt Saunders.
