Louisiana Senate Passes Senate Bill 277 on Digital Interactive Media
The Louisiana Senate passed Senate Bill 277 on Thursday June 4, 2009. The bill will now be considered by the Ways and Means Committee of the Louisiana House of Representatives. The hearing has not yet been scheduled. An update will be provided on this blog when the meeting is scheduled.
We need everyone to send emails and make phone calls to their Representatives in the House expressing their support for Senate Bill 277 authored by Senator Duplessis and also expressing their opposition to Senate Bill 199 authored by Neil Riser.
SB 277 concerns tax credit incentives for businesses operating in the digital interactive media arena. The bill would provide tax credits for many types of software and web platform development. The objective of the bill is to increase the amount of such business being done in Louisiana and to increase the number of software and web development and design jobs in the state.
The bill is a renewal of a program that has been in place for the past four years, but has been little used because it was previously limited to video games. The renewal of the program would include a modernization of the definition of digital interactive media and would place the level of tax credits granted on parity with the existing film tax credit program.
Senator Riser's Senate Bill 199 would not change the definition of digital interactive media to include software and web platform development and design generally. It would instead limit the coverage to video game development. LISTA is opposed to Senate Bill 199 by Senator Riser.
We need you to express your support for SB 277 and your opposition to SB 199 to all of your Representatives in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Every call and every email is important. A message to a Representative from a constituent voter will have a big influence on the legislator. The message can be limited to a sentence or two expressing your wishes. You can get the email address and phone number of your representative at http://www.legis.state.la.us/
For more information, the Saturday June 6, 2009 edition of the New Orleans Times Picayune includes an article describing SB 277 and its progress through the legislative process. The article was written by Times Picayune Capital Bureau Chief, Robert Travis Scott, and is entitled, Growth is sought in digital media.
