Senate Bill sb2242

    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 2242

    By Senator Saunders





    25-539A-02

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to economic development;

  3         creating s. 288.1254, F.S.; creating a program

  4         under which certain producers of motion

  5         pictures and television programs and certain

  6         digital effects companies may be reimbursed for

  7         expenditures made in this state; prescribing

  8         limits on reimbursement; providing duties of

  9         the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic

10         Development and the Office of Film and

11         Entertainment; providing for rules; providing

12         penalties for fraudulent claims for

13         reimbursement; providing an appropriation;

14         providing an effective date.

15  

16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

17  

18         Section 1.  Section 288.1254, Florida Statutes, is

19  created to read:

20         288.1254  Entertainment industry financial incentive

21  program; creation.--There is created within the Office of

22  Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development an entertainment

23  industry financial incentive program. The purpose of this

24  program is to encourage the use of this state as a site for

25  filming, and for providing production services for, motion

26  pictures and television programs by the entertainment

27  industry, as defined in s. 288.125.

28         (1)  Entities wholly or substantially producing motion

29  pictures or television programs, and companies providing

30  digital effects to those entities, are eligible for the

31  following financial incentives from the state:

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    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 2242
    25-539A-02




  1         (a)  An entity that produces a motion picture or

  2  television program in this state may receive a reimbursement

  3  of 10 percent of its qualifying expenditures within the state

  4  on that motion picture or television program. However, the

  5  maximum reimbursement that may be made with respect to any

  6  single motion picture is $2 million, and the maximum

  7  reimbursement that may be made with respect to any single

  8  television program is $200,000. For the purposes of this

  9  section, each individual episode of a television series

10  constitutes a separate television program. Expenditures for

11  which reimbursement may be made include: salaries paid to, and

12  benefits paid on account of employment of, state residents;

13  rents for real and personal property used in the production;

14  payments to state residents or state-domiciled entities for

15  preproduction, production, or postproduction services; and

16  costs of set construction.

17         (b)  A digital effects company that furnishes services

18  or digital material to an entity producing motion pictures or

19  television programs in this state is eligible for a payment in

20  an amount equal to 5 percent of its gross billings, less sales

21  tax.

22         (c)  If a digital effects company is domiciled in

23  another state or Canada and relocates to this state, that

24  company is eligible for a one-time bonus payment in an amount

25  equal to 5 percent of its billings for the 12 months

26  immediately preceding its relocation to Florida and its

27  billings for the first 12 months in its Florida domicile.

28         (2)  An entity or company applying for a payment under

29  this section must submit documentation for claimed

30  expenditures to the Office of Film and Entertainment, which

31  shall review the application. The Office of Film and

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    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 2242
    25-539A-02




  1  Entertainment shall recommend to the Office of Tourism, Trade,

  2  and Economic Development whether the applicant meets the

  3  criteria for a payment and recommend the amount of the

  4  payment.

  5         (3)  The Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic

  6  Development shall adopt rules to implement this section,

  7  including rules relating to records to be submitted in

  8  substantiation of an application.

  9         (4)  An eligible entity or company that obtains a

10  payment under this section through a claim that it knows is

11  fraudulent is liable for reimbursement of the amount paid plus

12  a penalty in an amount double the payment, which penalty is in

13  addition to any criminal penalty to which the entity or

14  company is liable for the same acts. The entity or company is

15  also liable for costs incurred by the state in investigating

16  the fraudulent claim.

17         Section 2.  The sum of $20 million is appropriated from

18  the General Revenue Fund to the Office of Tourism, Trade, and

19  Economic Development to implement this act in the 2002-2003

20  fiscal year.

21         Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2002.

22  

23            *****************************************

24                          SENATE SUMMARY

25    Creates a program under the Office of Tourism, Trade, and
      Economic Development under which certain producers of
26    motion pictures or television programs, and digital
      effects companies furnishing them services, may be
27    reimbursed a percentage of their qualifying expenditures
      that were made in this state.
28  

29  

30  

31  

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