by A.J. Catoline
The Assembly Tax and Revenue Committee passed by a vote of 6-1 legislation that would create a dedicated tax credit for post-production work completed in California on projects that do not otherwise qualify for existing Californian tax credits.
An Editors Guild delegation led by President F. Hudson Miller and National Executive Director Scott George travelled to Sacramento for the Committee’s hearing on Assembly Bill 2319. The bill is authored by Assemblymember (and former Burbank Mayor) Nick Schultz, and is backed by the California Post Alliance (CAPA). Local 700 supports the legislation on the condition that it is amended to include labor protections.
In testimony at the hearing, President Miller presented letters written to the committee by more than 1800 Guild members and allies. “They’re our union sisters, brothers, and kin,” said Miller. “Too many of them — talented artists and craftspeople, and, yes, California taxpayers — are no longer confident they can support themselves and their families doing the work they love, in the state they love.”
Assemblymember Schultz similarly described the state of post-production in California as dire. “Without a targeted post-production incentive, California risks losing a critical segment of the entertainment industry.”
Miller’s testimony underscored the need for language in the bill to ensure that tax credits would help uphold rather than undercut employment standards in the industry. “Whenever California invests in job creation,” said Miller, “the state needs to know the jobs it’s incentivizing are good jobs. The kind of jobs that can support a family. The kind that provide solid health and retirement benefits. Those are the kind of jobs our Guild has fought for over the course of nearly 90 years.”
Explaining that AB 2319 “is a work in progress,” Schultz pledged to improve the bill with strong labor standards. “You have my full commitment to work with the studios, labor unions, and other stakeholders to ensure that this post-production tax credit provides benefits to workers in our state.”
Watch video of the hearing before the Tax and Revenue Committee. Editor – Brian Chandler.
In the hearing’s public comments, several union members and other supporters stepped up to the microphone wearing pins that read “Post Proud in CA” — an image drawn by Austin Scott, a member who lost work and is on union withdrawal, in which membership is paused.
“I’m an unemployed union picture editor from Altadena,” said Scott. “Since the fire, I’ve turned to create art for my family, including designing this pin that we’re all wearing — Post Proud in California.”
The next hurdle for the bill will be in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where another procedural vote is anticipated next month.
The Editors Guild is engaged in productive talks with Assemblymember Schultz and CAPA on how to amend and pass the bill. Schultz will be a keynote speaker at Local 700’s Political Engagement Committee’s “Spring Into Action” meeting at Editors Guild’s Los Angeles office on April 25, where he will speak to members about the measure. The PEC’s event on April 25 is billed as a discussion of “political activism and what’s at stake for Local 700 and organized labor.”
