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On Tuesday, a proposition that will abolish Alaska's 6-year-old film subsidy program emptied a key House committee; there more members claimed that they couldn’t decide yet, so the bill didn’t pass the full Legislature.
The program is prevalent among people that work on films, documentaries and the growing lineup of reality TV shows, with the businesses that include caterers, hotels and RV rental companies also making money from the same program.
However, the issue is the program is costly and the state needs the money. The state already paid around $100 million in film and television tax credits. Abolishing it will save the state about $200 million authorized for the program over the next nine years, as claimed by the Department of Revenue.
Lawmakers were trying to halt film production subsidy two years ago so that the government can use the money to those in need of more support. Some people say that it will create jobs and helps diversify an economy that revolves around the oil industry. But, there are those that are concerned whether the stat could benefit from the action.
State Rep. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak, is the prime sponsor of the repeal measure, House Bill 112. He said the subsidies are too prices - with the state facing budget deficits, they surely need to lower their expenditures.
"Some good things have happened from this subsidy but the amount spent to create the ability for someone to be up here isn't justified. And it's a lot of money," Stoltze said Tuesday evening. "Would they be here if the state wasn't propping them up?"
The measure moved out of the House Finance Committee, which Stoltze co-chairs, earlier in the day. Only two of the 11 members voted for the proposition, Stoltze and a co-sponsor, Rep. Mark Neuman, R-Big Lake. Two Democrats -- Les Gara of Anchorage and David Guttenberg of Fairbanks -- urged against passage and the remaining seven didn’t have any recommendations in the committee report -- including some who were unclear of where they stand in the proposition.
"I'm really struggling with myself on this," Rep. Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks, said. While the program hasn't had a chance to completely prove itself, he said, is the state giving away money it can't afford to?
Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, asked if the exposure from some reality TV shows affect the state's image in a bad way.
She noted that the show is giving bad impressions of the people that lives in their state since other people thought that they can just go and kill a bear anytime you want and fish anywhere you want and that we have no rules, no laws, no anything.
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