Projo Politics Blog

PROVIDENCE -- And cut?

That's what a state budget amendment by Rep. Nicholas Gorham, R-Coventry this evening proposed to do to Rhode Island's film tax credit: cut it altogether and, he said, free up some $15 million for aid to cities/towns.

Gorham offered the amendment to Article 32, part of the state budget the House is debating that aims to close a $425-million deficit in the year that begins July 1.

The movie puns flowed: Cutting-room floor, cancel this series, and on and on -- all part of legislators' back and forth as the budget debate moved into the evening.

In the end, Gorham's proposal was edited out of the legislative script: The House overwhelmingly voted down the amendment.

The House instead approved the article, putting a $15-million cap on the state's film tax credit.
"Some of the people on this floor like to run around being extras" in television/movie projects, said Rep. Robert Watson, the House Republican leader, expressing his support for cutting the credit before the vote.

Watson suggested the $15 million could be used to draw biotechnology companies to Rhode Island.

But Rep. Joseph McNamara, D-Warwick, said the credit does provide economic benefits: the Teamsters, electricians, local actors.

"We have to support our artists. We have to support out state," McNamara said.

And Rep. Jon Brien, D-Woonsocket, noting the movie Hachiko: A Dog's Story recently wrapped filming in Woonsocket, said, "We had a struggling Main Street that was bustling."

He added that multiple episodes of the Showtime cable television series Brotherhood have been filmed in the city.

Later in the debate, Gorham quipped to House colleagues that Brotherhood is a "show about a corrupt State House."

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