Film Bill: The Final Frontier

Coming up next on "A Legislative Session in the Life of SB2570"

Last night, the House Finance committee (FIN) heard SB2570, SD2, HD1 (15-20% production tax credit), and passed it as SB2570, SD2, HD2 (draft not yet posted). The committee made a few technical amendments, including replacing the effective date with a "defective" date of 2020 to allow for further discussion of the bill in conference committee. Before it gets to conference though, the bill must be passed out by a 2/3 vote of the entire House.

Conference committee is composed of an equal number of selected senators and representatives, who have the task of discussing their respective latest drafts of the bill (SD2 vs. HD2), with the hope of arriving at a mutually agreed upon conference draft (CD). No testimony will be accepted at conference committee meetings, so if you want to let the conferees know how you feel, you must contact them individually. Conferees will be named within the next few weeks--check back for who they are.

There are only tiny technical differences between the two drafts SD2 and HD2 right now, so hopefully, the two legislative bodies can work out their differences fairly quickly. Last year, conference is where the 15-20% production tax credit bill stalled.

Will this year be different? Who will vote "aye"? Who will shout "nay"? Who will be "excused"? Tune in for the "April sweeps" episodes of the 2006 Hawaii State Legislature, coming soon to a blog (really) near you.

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