With the minutes ticking away to the end of the Illinois legislative session, the state Senate Saturday night passed the wage/tax credit bill that gives Illinois its first step towards competitive parity with Canada and other U.S. states.
The passage of HB 234 was one of a number of measures passed in the last minute commotion. Earlier in the evening, the unanimous passage by the House brought a rousing ovation and cheers from the floor from Illinois Production Alliance members who had gone to Springfield during the last tense days of the session to promote the bill’s passage.
“Following a whirlwind of activity over the last 36 hours,” reported IPA legislative chairman Dan Moore on Sunday, “at 11:47 p.m. Saturday our bill was passed by the Senate, the second-to-last bill passed in the legislative session.”
The bill, which had been originally introduced by Rep. Skip Saviano, son of the late producer Pat Saviano, had been stuck in committee until the force of the Illinois Production Alliance pushed it into reality. Saviano helped deliver the unanimous vote in the House.
Moore credited Rep. Ken Dunkin with tireless work “to build the momentum and support that resulted in the bill getting out of committee and passed in the house.”
He also congratulated lobbyist John Corrigan “who worked relentlessly to get this bill passed,” and PR expert John Digles, “whose work was instrumental in raising this issue’s public profile that grabbed the attention of the governor and DCEO.”
Without the Governor’s last minute intervention, the bill would not have been called and passed in the Senate.
“While the bill does not accomplish all that we set out to achieve, it is a great first step” to help bring visual media work to the state and boost employment for Illinois film workers, Moore said.
The need for state-legislated competitive incentives was brought to the attention of the Blagojevich campaign early in September, 2002. The ad hoc Sub Committee on the Film Industry for the transition team in November put it on top of four urgent actions that would help reactivate the state’s stagnant film industry.
The IPA, fully organized earlier this year, and now boasting 75 members, made the passage of the wage/tax credit bill its top priority. Its collective muscle wedged the bill out of committee and into law.
