Committee advances film incentive changes that raise base credit and add in-state hiring enhancements

House Bill 15 92 cleared the Senate Revenue & Tax committee after a brief but pointed exchange about who benefits from film-production incentives.

Presenter (Speaker 2) told the committee the bill does not increase the $4,000,000 statutory cap but restructures incentive tiers to encourage longer, larger productions and to boost in-state employment. "It does not increase funds," the presenter said, and described raising the base incentive from 20% to 25% and adding enhancements for productions that hire in-state employees or shoot in AEDC-designated economic development areas.

A committee member (Speaker 3) expressed hesitation about prioritizing this incentive while other bills offering tax relief to Arkansans were pending: "...we're asking the citizens of Arkansas to pay taxes in a lot of cases while offering an incentive to an out of state corporation..." The presenter responded that the policy aim is to attract out-of-state spending into Arkansas and that in-state productions are eligible to participate.

The presenter added fiscal context, saying prior rebate programs administered through AEDC resulted in higher utilization than the current statutory $4,000,000 cap; the presenter estimated prior rebates at roughly $8,000,000 and said current forecasts excluded the $4,000,000 cap because of earlier fiscal analysis. That explanation was presented as the rationale for restructuring the policy rather than expanding statutory funding.

After discussion, Senator Deese moved to pass the bill and Senator Peyton seconded. The committee approved the measure by voice vote; the transcript does not record a roll-call tally.

Next steps: HB 1592 will proceed within the Senate for further consideration and any necessary fiscal-review follow-up. Fiscal-office confirmation of the presenter’s historical rebate figures and the forecast exclusion is recommended for precise budgeting.