Photo by Christian Castro/Teamsters Joint Council // Entertainment Union Coalition Lobby Day at the California State Capitol, April 22, 2025.
Big updates from Sacramento: AB 1138 & SB 630 successfully passed both committee hearings in Sacramento the week of April 21, 2025, and on April 28 the final vote from the Assembly Revenue and Tax Committee was 6-1 in favor of passing AB 1138 out of the Committee and onto Appropriations (with Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, who represents north and east San Diego County, being the expected lone no vote). Watch the Assembly Revenue and Tax Committee Hearing here.
In the end, we saw our bill move out of committee, which means we are one step closer in the process of modernizing our Film and Television Jobs Program.
What do the bills include?
- Raising the base credit allocation from 20-25% to 35-40% with the highest percentage reserved for work outside of Los Angeles
- Expanding the types of programming eligible to apply to reflect the expanding number of genres being wooed away from the state
- Doubling the application windows and building in flexibility to align funding and demand
- Limiting the amount of time a “recurring” series has to resume production or release their funding back into the program to be reallocated
- Providing modest year-over-year increases reflecting the increased costs of production
- Increasing the size of the Indie bucket and increasing the cap in recognition of the value and vibrancy those productions bring throughout California
Simply put, these bills are intended to help modernize our program to keep pace and stay competitive among other States and Countries incentive programs.
The bottom line for California, it’s about creating the most amount of jobs to ‘Keep California Rolling.’
While in Sacramento, the EUC also took part in a press conference organized by AB 1138 bill author Assemblymember Rick Zbur, in which we saw a great showing of support from elected officials, small businesses and of course our Entertainment Union Coalition. Watch the recording here.
AFM Local 47 President Stephanie O’Keefe with U.S. Representative Laura Friedman, who held a press conference on April 11 at Raleigh Studios Hollywood in support of Gov. Newsom’s proposal to increase California’s annual Film & TV Tax Program to $750 million.
What’s Next?
Our recent hearings would not have been a success without the support and action taken by our members writing letters to key committee members over the past month in advance of the hearings. Across the unions and guilds part of our Entertainment Union Coalition, we sent almost 200,000 letters to Sacramento. This effort helped to successfully move our two bills through all committees, and get ready for the next step in our fight.
While there are currently no hearings scheduled for May, June will be a KEY action month. We will share updates soon about how you can continue to get involved and participate in getting the expansion and modernization of our film and television jobs program across the finish line.
How YOU can get involved:
- Sign and share the pledge: bit.ly/euc-pledge
- Check out and share our ‘Keep California Rolling’ campaign website to learn more about our fight: KeepCaliforniaRolling.org
- Read through our ‘California Film & Television Jobs Program Impact Report’ to understand how this program benefits our entire State and countless industries Californians rely on.
- Find your legislators. Over 45% are new, making education and advocacy key components of our campaign. Locate who your legislator is to be prepared to reach out to them to tell them HOW important entertainment jobs in California are to you and your family. We will be rolling out a toolkit soon. Find your local Assembly and Senate representatives.
- Follow us on social media for updates from next week and to elevate our fight:
Facebook | Instagram | X | Bluesky - Share your story. Take a minute to record a video highlighting WHO you are, WHAT you do and WHY you want to Keep California Rolling. Hashtag #KeepCaliforniaRolling and tag us on social (links above).
