LANSING – The Senate on Tuesday voted to send to Governor Rick Snyder a revised version of a bill aimed at increasing work in Michigan for those in the film industry and receiving some income tax from higher-paid producers or actors from certain successful projects.

SB 1103 had recently been changed by the House to include a seven-year sunset, which Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe), sponsor of the bill, said he didn’t mind.

“They made a couple of changes that I don’t think damage the industry at all,” Richardville told reporters after session, referring to the House. “I don’t think they make much of a change at all, really.”

He compared the film industry to an oligopoly in which, for instance, one gas station at an intersection drops its price and all others on at that intersection follow suit.

“That’s kind of what this re-doing of the formula is, an adjusting to the marketplace,” he said. “But then you make your choice based on which has the most convenience store choices, which is the cleanest, or whatever, and in this analogy, it would be the quality of the workforce. You get to a point where, once all of us are the same in terms of the discount, the workforce is going to be the determining factor on where somebody goes. And we need to build a workforce in Michigan.”

Richardville said the buzz that has built around the film industry in Michigan is “exciting” and has helped to keep young people in the state or attract natives who may have left the state to hold a job in the film industry elsewhere.

For an eligible production company, affiliate entity or successor company, the bill mandates it deal with residual payments not otherwise subject to withholding under the state’s Income Tax Act in one of two ways. Companies can either elect for a period of at least 10 years following the theatrical release of the production to withhold taxes from the residual payments and pay the required amounts to the state, or require above-the-line personnel to register to do business under Michigan laws (applying to personnel paid directly or through personal service corporations, loan out companies, and so forth).

The bill passed 33-4, with Sen. Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton Township), Sen. Joe Hune (R-Whitmore Lake), Sen. Dave Robertson (R-Grand Blanc) and Sen. John Proos (R-St. Joseph) voting in opposition. Sen. John Moolenaar (R-Midland) was absent from session.

The bill now heads to Governor Rick Snyder for his approval.

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