Senate Bill 263, First Completed Legislation This Session
West Virginia will no longer offer film tax credit, after lawmakers voted to eliminate the credit that some lawmakers said brings minimal economic advantage to the Mountain State.
Senate Bill 263 moved through Senate Finance Committee, after Tourism Commissioner, Chelsea Ruby, said Legislative auditors found there were a number of questionable expenditures coming from the administration of the film tax credit program.
During the committee meeting, Senator John Unger-D, said that he has concerns about how tourism could be affected in the county he represents, Berkeley, where he has seen how film production in the area attracts people into businesses.
While the Senate quickly passed the bill 28-2 on the Senate Floor Monday, the House spent hours deliberating Thursday and Friday upon passage of the bill.
House Majority Leader Daryl Cowles said West Virginia simply does not have the infrastructure to see a high enough return on investment in this industry.
“Initially, when this program started, it was twice the amount of money and not as many others were doing it,” Cowles said. “I think this program saw some fairly good results early but I think time has just passed us by and it’s not working for us right now.”
Stated during the House Floor Session, the economic gain of the film tax credit program has been about $8.6 million, over a 10-year span. With an average of about $800,000 a year, auditors deemed that the film tax credit was not much of an advantage to West Virginia’s economy.
House Minority Leader Timothy Miley, said although the credit has not showed the profit that the state had hoped, there is still some money coming in from the implementation of the credit.
“We don’t have the infrastructure, there’s no debate about that but I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to continue to attract people to our state if we’re still getting a positive return on investment,” Miley said.
The first completed legislation of the session, Senate Bill 263 passed the House 54-42, to end the film tax credit in the state. Lawmakers later voted the change take effect immediately so the extra dollars can be used towards this year’s state budget.
