California moves to force Hollywood to get more woke under new law

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On February 28, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office submitted the budget for their 2023-24 Film Tax Credit, a program designed to incentivize Hollywood productions to stay in the Golden State, and the new proposal included mandates that increase “workplace diversity.”

According to the report, “Productions receiving credits under this program are required to set ethnic, racial, and gender diversity goals and to develop a plan to achieve those diversity goals. Those productions are eligible to receive an additional 4 percent tax credit if they meet or make a good faith effort to meet their diversity goals.”

Newsom’s budget follows the state legislature moving to make the diversity requirement for Hollywood productions state law.

As Indiewire reports, California’s tax credit program is set to expire in 2025 and the state legislature advanced a bill, SB 485, that would continue the program into 2030.

“The state currently allocates $330 million per year in tax credits for film production, and SB 485 would seek to keep those numbers at their current level,” the outlet reports. The bill was under consideration in August 2022 but was delayed as new provisions were added that mandated the tax credits be given out only if productions were “broadly reflective” of California’s ethnic and racial demographics.

“The message is: increase diversity,” reported Deadline, and the bill was postponed until 2023.

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