May 2006 Legislative Update
- Labor’s Legislative Conference and 2006 Agenda. The
California Labor Federation – California State Building Trades
Council Joint Legislative Conference drew over 500 labor leaders
this year. Leaders were briefed and then lobbied for the
2006 Legislative Agenda “Rebuilding the California Dream,” which
can be seen at www.calaborfed.org. It
was great that IA’s participants could meet on the Sunday
prior to the conference.
- State Film Bill to be inserted in Budget: As
reported in the Capitol Weekly, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is
going to try to insert language from AB 777, which stalled in the
legislature last year, into the budget bill later this month. The
terms of the tax breaks will be the same: a 12 percent tax credit
against production wages paid, with further incentives possible. Total
credits would be capped at $3 million per picture. There
also would be breaks for televisions and commercial production. The
law would sunset in 2016.
- IA’s Michael Miller Appointed to Film Commission. Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger announced May 11th the appointment of Fresno
Mayor Alan Autry, producer Stanley Mark Brooks, actor and director
Danny DeVito, actor and director Bill Duke, actor and director
Clint Eastwood, producer and entertainment executive Joe Hartwick,
entertainment industry labor leader Michael Miller, producer Albert
Ruddy, entertainment executive Keith Weaver and producer Tom Werner
to the California Film Commission. Miller is the eleventh international
vice president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees' (IATSE) General Executive Board.
- SB 1428 (Scott) passes Senate Labor Committee: This
measure to support the film industry’s use of payroll service
companies to process wages for union members has passed Senate
Labor and Employment Committee on April 26 by a 4-0 margin. It
is in the suspense file of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The suspense file will be considered the third week of May.
- San Francisco passes Film Incentive
Measure: On April 4, the San Francisco Board of
Supervisors passed California’s first film and television
incentive program. The incentive package includes a rebate of
city fees and expenses for productions that shoot 65 percent
or more their principal photography in San Francisco. Smaller
films, with a budget of $3 million or less, would only have to
shoot 55 percent of their principal photography in San Francisco.
Productions could only apply for the rebate after the completion
of principal photography to ensure that the benefits only go
to those that base themselves and create jobs in San Francisco.
- Minimum Wage moving on Many Fronts: Three
bills to increase the minimum wage and index it to inflation are
moving through the legislature - AB 1835 (Lieber) is sponsored
by the California Labor Federation; SB 1162 (Cedillo) is supported
by the Labor Federation as is AB 1844 (Chavez). All three
of these bills are in Appropriations Committees in their respective
houses. The Labor Federation has a “support if amended
to include indexing” position on SB 1167 (Maldonado), which
is the bill sponsored by Governor Schwarzenegger. SB 1167
did not pass Senate Labor Committee and so Maldonado, in an effort
to circumvent the legislature, has proposed the reconstitution
of the Industrial Welfare Commission. IWC members are appointed
by the Governor.
|
|
