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AUSTIN – Legislation that would more than double the amount of money the state spends to lure film and television production to Texas was passed unanimously Monday by a bipartisan group of Texas senators.

Senate Bill 22, filed by Houston Republican Sen. Joan Huffman, would direct the comptroller to deposit $500 million into a new Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund every two years until 2035. That figure is more than state lawmakers have ever allocated for media production since they first started funding a film incentive grant in 2007.

The bill would make Texas more attractive to producers who have opted to film their projects in other states, such as New Mexico and Georgia, that have historically offered larger and more stable incentives, Huffman said during a star-studded Senate Finance Committee hearing attended by Texas-born actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

The committee voted 11-0 to pass the bill, a representative for Huffman’s office said. It now goes to the full Senate for consideration.

“Producers who want to film in Texas often have difficulty convincing the capital management side of film production companies to allow filming here when presented with more robust and consistent incentives being offered in other states,” Huffman said.

Since 2007, lawmakers have funded the film incentive program at varying levels, with $50 million during one legislative session followed by $45 million the next. A then-historic $200 million came during the most recent session.

The variability has left producers tentative to film in Texas for fear that the money might vanish at lawmakers whim.

The program has boosted economic activity in Texas, producing a 469% return on investment, according to the Texas Film Commission, though economists and some House lawmakers have criticized that metric and denounced film incentives as wasteful spending.

Fueled by endorsements from famous names in Hollywood, SB 22 appears to have widespread support. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers praised the film commission for what they said is a rigorous program that audits film production’s spending and only offers rebates on money spent within Texas. Eligible expenses include Texas workers’ wages, meals purchased from local restaurants, and airfare on Texas-based airlines.

Flanked by Harrelson, McConaughey told lawmakers that increased funding would allow them and other actors to tell Texas stories in Texas. Seated behind the duo was Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has declared SB 22 one of his top pieces of legislation.

By committing to 10 years of sizable funding, McConaughey said, Texas could grow into a media hub with facilities dedicated to post-production editing, along with a pipeline of film crew, including makeup artists, hair stylists, lighting experts and set designers.

“There’s going to be a point where we are not going to need financial incentives from the state because the infrastructure will be in place, and that will be a major game changer,” McConaughey said.

Despite showing overall support for boosting Texas filmmaking, some lawmakers questioned whether productions that aren’t “family-friendly” should be supported by taxpayer dollars.

Both Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, suggested shows and movies that use profanities be ineligible for grants. Bettencourt singled out “Landman,” a popular television series centering a West Texas oil company executive played by Billy Bob Thornton.

“It’s not functionally correct, it doesn’t explain what a landman does, and no offense, having Billy Bob Thornton f-bomb every sentence is not Texas values,” Bettencourt said of the show produced by Taylor Sheridan whose second season is expected next year. “It simply is a bad product and not something the Texas taxpayers would want to be supporting.”

The Texas Film Commission limits what types of projects are eligible for funding, and SB 22 would codify additional rules into statute. The bill would prohibit, for example, funding pornography or obscene material, local events or religious services, and casino-type video games. The law does not propose specific rules about foul language, but the governor’s office has broad discretion to designate a project as ineligible for a grant.

Adriana Cruz, executive director of the Texas Economic Development and Tourism office, said in response to Bettencourt that the office would look to state law and its own rules to determine whether to approve a project.

Stephanie Whallon, the director of the Texas Film Commission, previously told The Texas Tribune that some projects had been rejected but didn’t specify why.

In addition to pumping more money into film incentives, SB 22 would make smaller films eligible for larger grants. Currently, projects that spend between $1 million and $3.5 million in Texas are eligible for a 10% rebate, and projects with a greater than $3.5 million spend can receive a 20% grant. The bill proposes a larger, 25% grant for feature films and television programs that spend at least $1.5 million.

“I’m excited about lowering some of these sliding scale boundaries or limitations because I think a lot of family-friendly, faith-based projects fall into that tier,” said Chad Gundersen, producer of “The Chosen,” a television show about the life of Jesus Christ and his disciples that is mostly shot in the town of Midlothian, about 25 miles southwest of Dallas.

Gundersen said during the hearing that his project was not initially eligible for a grant because it was too small. He added that it has since grown and resulted in more than $75 million spent in Texas.

Campbell urged lawmakers and the film commission approving projects to remember that Texas is “still in the Bible Belt,” and she praised “The Chosen” as “the greatest story ever told.”

Texas’ film incentive program offers an additional 2.5% incentive to productions that are shot in certain “underutilized” or “economically distressed areas,” as well as those that hire veterans as 5% of their total paid crew.

SB 22 would create a new special boost to projects labeled “Texas Heritage Projects,” as determined by the governor’s office. The law would ask the office to consider whether the project promotes “family values” and “portrays Texas and Texans in a positive fashion.”

Identical legislation, House Bill 4568, filed by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi has not yet received a committee hearing.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Current reports that the San Antonio-New Braunfels area stands to lose more from the Trump administration’s trade war with Canada than any other U.S. metro, according to a new study. AD While Mexico is typically thought of as the Alamo City’s primary trading partner, 48% of the area’s exports actually cross over to Canada, an analysis by economists from Canadian Chamber of Commerce shows. Those exports constitute roughly 3.4% of the San Antonio-New Braunfels’ total gross domestic product and accounted for $6 billion in 2023. Even though the San Antonio metro is closer to Mexico, large amounts of exports from its automotive, aerospace and petroleum-refining sectors end up in Canada, Andrew DiCapua, the chamber’s principal economist told the Current.

Now, as the Canadian government retaliates against Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods from the U.S.’s northern neighbor, San Antonio businesses — from its Toyota Tundra truck plant to producers of agricultural equipment, construction gear and aircraft — will feel the pinch. “If companies aren’t selling as much, that hurts their bottom lines and contributes to job losses,” DiCapua said. “That, in turn, leads to fewer people buying things, which puts more strain on the local economy.” Further, the drop in Canadian exports will come as San Antonio’s middle-class and low-income families face higher retail prices due to the White House’s taxes on imports, ranging from food to car parts. “At the end of the day, a trade war is bad for everybody,” DiCapua said. “Tariffs are economically destructive, and a lot of economists are downwardly revising their predictions for U.S. growth right now as a result.”

HOUSTON – The New York Times reports Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic House leader, on Monday accused Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas of deliberately delaying a special election in a solidly Democratic district in Houston in order to cushion the House Republicans’ slim majority. Mr. Jeffries said in an interview that Mr. Abbott had been “feverishly working to deny representation to the people of Houston” and to help Republicans in the House pass a budget favored by President Trump that is expected to include cuts to Medicaid and other services. “House Republicans are running scared legislatively and politically, which is why Gov. Greg Abbott is slow-walking the special election to replace Sylvester Turner,” Mr. Jeffries said. “They are rigging the system.”

Republicans hold a slim 218-to-213 majority over Democrats, but two open House seats in Florida are likely to be filled by Republicans after a special election on Tuesday. Mr. Trump also pulled his nomination of Representative Elise Stefanik to the United Nations, fearing that a vacant seat in her New York district could be won by a Democrat. Two House Democrats, Representatives Sylvester Turner of Texas and Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, died in the early months of this Congress. The Texas governor had until the end of last week to call a special election in time for the vote in Mr. Turner’s 18th Congressional District to be held on May 3, the next regularly scheduled Election Day in the state. Instead, Mr. Abbott, a Republican, did not act, and has not said when he will call the election to replace Mr. Turner, who died on March 5 after two months in office. By doing so, Mr. Abbott has helped House Republicans. Democrats in New York, with Mr. Jeffries’s encouragement, had threatened a similar gambit for Ms. Stefanik’s seat before Mr. Trump left her in it. Meanwhile, Arizona’s Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, has decided to leave a heavily Democratic House seat in Tucson, Ariz., vacant until after a special election in September.

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports that Texas House budget writers on Monday endorsed a $337.4 billion state spending plan for the next two years, sending it to the floor for a vote expected next week. Passing a balanced spending plan for the 2026-27 cycle, which starts in September, is the only task the Texas Constitution requires lawmakers to do during their regular biennial legislative session. After the House settles on its version of the new budget, leaders will negotiate with the Senate over key differences. The final budget bill will be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature, expected in June. Lawmakers are considering a separate spending bill that would earmark tax money still in state coffers to close out the current cycle. Some targets for that money include a $2.5 billion investment in water infrastructure and $394 million to the Texas A&M Forest Service Agency to increase the state’s firefighting capabilities with wildfire suppression aircraft.

The budget would have $6.5 billion for property tax relief, including $3 billion reserved for the additional buying-down of school-district tax compression if that passes both chambers. It includes $700 million for business tax relief. The House committee’s budget bill does not specifically earmark funding for an increased homestead exemption that is being pushed by the Senate. Budget writers included $6.5 billion to continue Operation Lone Star, Abbott’s border security mission that has cost the state $11 billion since it was created in 2021. Most of the funding would be divided between Abbott’s office; the Texas Military Department, which oversees the Texas National Guard; and the Texas Department of Public Safety, which sends troopers to the border from other parts of the state. The funding proposal includes the creation of more than 560 new commissioned officers for DPS to help with staffing problems created in the agency by Lone Star. The plan includes $386.4 million for tech updates and additional staffers for the Medicaid offices at Texas Health and Human Services to reduce snarls and wait times on applications and eligibility determinations. An additional $100 million would be used to bolster the state’s child care scholarship program, which supporters hope will reduce its 90,000-family waitlist by about 10,000.