BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The main group representing the Louisiana film industry has decided it will not go through with a threat to file a lawsuit over a new law aimed at paring back the state’s generous film tax credit program.
The Louisiana Film Entertainment Association will instead focus on proposing reforms to the legislation, The Advocate reports (https://bit.ly/1CuVXSF).
The new law, which passed in the closing hours of the session that ended last month, says a maximum of $180 million in film tax credits can be cashed in during each of the next three fiscal years, starting this month.
The association said it will not sue because Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration has so far interpreted the new law in industry-friendly terms, and the organization does not want to take up an adversarial stance with the state and the Legislature.
“Does it make sense to spend our manpower and resources on a lawsuit?” the association’s president Will French asked. “Or should we try to come up with a political fix for this law in the next cycle? … That seems to be a much more reasonable and intelligent way to go forward.”
French said he has been encouraged by the way state officials at the Department of Revenue and Louisiana Economic Development have interpreted the new law so far and hopes to have the law amended before the new cap is reached.
Revenue secretary Tim Barfield told the newspaper on Thursday that he does not expect the cap to be reached until at least the first quarter of 2016, at which time a new governor will be in office.
“If we can do that, and the next governor makes tweaks to the law in a special session, maybe the cap won’t even be a factor,” Barfield said.
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Information from: The Advocate, https://theadvocate.com
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