Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1401622
24 SAG-AFTRA | Summer 2021 | sagaftra.org For Members California Film Incentive Set to Keep Cameras Rolling A longside film studio representatives, labor leaders and legislators, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 144 on July 22. The bill provides an extra $330 million for the California film and TV industry, carries a new incentive to promote diversity on sets and helps to maintain the vitality and viability of production in the State of California. SB 144 enhances and improves the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program, which has helped create 156,000 cast and crew jobs and has generated $18.4 billion in direct revenue in California. It ensures that SAG-AFTRA members in California can continue to work in the state, and it provides resources to support more production for decades to come. At Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood on July 22, Gov. Newsom, center, alongside union representatives from the Entertainment Union Coalition. The EUC represents 163,000 members of SAG-AFTRA, the California IATSE Council, the Directors Guild of America, LiUNA! Local 724, and Teamsters Local 399. SAG-AFTRA Supports Tax Help for Performers, Local Journalism S AG-AFTRA is throwing its support behind a pair of bipartisan tax bills that can benefit members. The first is an update to the Qualified Performing Artist deduction, known as the QPA, which allows qualified performing artists to deduct expenses incurred over the course of their employment with multiple employers. The second bill seeks to provide critical help for local newsroom operations. For performers, the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act updates the adjusted gross income cap under which performers can take advantage of QPA deductions from $16,000 to $100,000 for single filers and $200,000 for married artists filing jointly. The $16,000 cap has remained unchanged since the law was passed in 1986, rendering it outdated and irrelevant. The new legislation has been a longtime priority for SAG-AFTRA. On the journalism side, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act allows individual and business taxpayers certain tax credits for the support of local newspapers and media. The bill also allows local newspaper employers to claim a payroll tax credit for wages paid to an employee for service as a journalist and certain small businesses a tax credit for local media advertising expenses. The bill, supported by SAG-AFTRA, the National Association of Broadcasters and other groups, serves as a means of revitalizing local journalism, which has experienced hardships for nearly two decades. Since 2004, more than 1,800 communities have lost their local newspapers. Numbers have only increased since the pandemic, with more than 37,000 journalists experiencing pay cuts, furloughs and job loss. OFFICE OF GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM I f you experienced a COVID-19-related financial hardship and your request for a due date extension and the first payment of the installment plan for the May 2021 dues period was received on or before June 9, 2021, this is a reminder that the second installment payment is due by Sept. 7. Please note that your final installment payment must be received no later than Sept. 17, 2021, to maintain good standing for the May 2021 dues period unless prior period payments are owed. No late fees will be assessed for the May dues period. Visit sagaftra.org/billing-portal to make a dues payment. DEADLINE FOR MAY DUES GETTY IMAGES