LANSING – A bill that would phase

out the state’s film incentive program, but essentially allow the Film Office

itself to stay open for business cleared the Michigan Senate on Thursday and

was concurred in by the Michigan House, making its way to Governor

Rick Snyder”s desk for his signature.

HB

4122* has been a center of controversy from its inception. At

first, Senate Majority

Leader Arlan Meekhof (R-West Olive), when asked about the bill, said he was

not supportive of that idea because he felt the incentives have brought with

them economic growth in the film industry like the state had not seen before.

The bill was even sent to the Senate Government Operations Committee, and Meekhof

remarked “you saw what committee it went to” as if to suggest it did

not have much life, if any, in the Senate.

But last week, the committee not

only took the bill up, it also changed the bill to not only phase-out the film

incentive program and funding for it but to get rid of the Film Office

entirely.

Then on Wednesday, Meekhof sponsored

a substitute that continues to phase out the incentive program but removed

provisions that would essentially end the Film Office by a certain date (See Gongwer

Michigan Report, June 17, 2015).

“We want the film office to

still be able to still be able to handle the contracts and the responsibilities

they had from the past that are still open that need to be completed,” Meekhof

said Thursday of his change of heart.

And he said he thought the Film

Office was needed for “ongoing activities” that need to be done, as

well as the fact that Film Commissioner Jenell Leonard “has some ideas in

which she wants to pursue that maybe have some merit,” Meekhof said.

“So we want to make sure those are given opportunities as well.”

Meekhof said the back-and-forth on

the bill began as a misunderstanding.

“In my estimation, we probably

jumped off the end of the dock too soon, too big. Then when we tried to scale

it back and make it more workable, people kept remembering it as the biggest

jump-off point, thought it was handout to Hollywood,” he said. “As we

began to make more sense of it … people were not trusting we were going the

right way. Then, given the failure of Prop 1, citizens gave us a different set

of priorities and we were making sure those things they think are important are

pursued first – not that we can’t do it, but we need to do other things

first.”

It remains unclear how exactly the

office would stay open, though, if the funding is less and less every year. One

alternative that has been raised is that the Michigan Economic Development

Corporation, which houses the Film Office, could use its own money to continue

operations. Meekhof said he has talked with the MEDC about this possibility,

but not specific decision has yet been made.

The bill was passed by the Senate on

a 24-13 vote Thursday, with Sen.

Jack Brandenburg (R-Harrison Township), Sen.

Phil Pavlov (R-Saint Clair) and Sen.

Tory Rocca (R-Sterling Heights) joining all Democrats in opposition. SenateMinority

Leader Jim Ananich (D-Flint) was absent from session.

The bill then cleared the House in a

concurrence vote 63-46.

Rep.

Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway), sponsor of the bill, said using the money for the

tax incentive program on roads is an economic development tool that will help

all businesses in the state. Though he said he hopes to see the film office

continue to remain open.

On his fellow legislators change of

heart – the Legislature just last year passed an extension of the film

incentives and has been funding the program for some time – Lauwers said

constituents have strong feelings about the program.

“These film subsidies were not

tax credits, nobody paid a tax,” he said. “This was kind of like you turn

in your expense report and the state of Michigan writes you a check for X

percent of your expenses.”

This story was published by Gongwer

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