HOUSE BILL 653
54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019
INTRODUCED BY
Antonio "Moe" Maestas and Jim R. Trujillo
AN ACT
RELATING TO WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS; ESTABLISHING A FILM SET INTERNSHIP PROGRAM TO ASSIST NEW MEXICO RESIDENTS TO BUILD FILM CAREERS BY GIVING THEM ON-SET EXPERIENCE; PROVIDING A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS DEPARTMENT AND A NONPROFIT FILM SET INTERNSHIP PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR; PROVIDING POWERS AND DUTIES; CREATING A FUND; PROVIDING FOR THE ASSIGNMENT OF ONE PERCENT OF A FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY'S FILM PRODUCTION TAX CREDITS TO THE FILM SET INTERNSHIP FUND TO PAY FOR THE PROGRAM.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS DEPARTMENT--FILM SET INTERNSHIP PROGRAM--POWERS AND DUTIES.--
A. The workforce solutions department shall establish a film set internship program as a public-private partnership to assist New Mexico residents to build film careers by giving them on-set experience. The program shall be modeled on the completed two-year pilot project through the city of Albuquerque, central New Mexico community college, the Kellog foundation and a nonprofit film training corporation. The department shall:
(1) establish guidelines for the program;
(2) register qualified interns and provide them with an "intern ready" endorsement to prove that they meet the qualifications for an internship; and
(3) work with a private nonprofit film training corporation, which shall serve as the program administrator and manage and oversee interns on film sets.
B. To qualify as an intern, a person shall:
(1) be at least eighteen years of age and a New Mexico resident for at least two years and have a proof of residency card issued by the state; and
(2) have successfully completed a certificate or degree program with a focus on film trades or have equivalent experience or be honorably discharged from the United States armed forces.
C. The program administrator shall:
(1) provide orientation training for qualified interns;
(2) serve as the employer of record for the interns;
(3) provide workers' compensation insurance;
(4) work to place interns with qualified productions and provide oversight of interns while they are placed on a film production;
(5) make sure the program guidelines and state laws are being followed by the interns and film production companies; and
(6) provide an assessment of each intern at the completion of the intern's internship.
D. Interns shall work at the level of a production assistant within a film production company's various departments and be supervised by the company's professional staff or crew. Interns shall not be paid more than one hundred thirty-five percent of the state minimum wage and may be paid a flat daily rate or an hourly rate. A film production that has a budget of one million eight hundred fifty thousand dollars ($1,850,000) or less may use unpaid interns. Intern positions may be converted from unpaid to paid positions but shall not be converted from paid to unpaid positions on a film production.
E. An intern who works over eighty percent of a film production or of an episode in the case of a series shall be credited.
F. Film production companies that employ paid interns qualify for a training rebate paid through the program administrator. Those film production companies shall:
(1) work with the program administrator to facilitate payroll for interns at a pay rate provided for in this section; and
(2) receive a fifty percent rebate of net wages, excluding taxes, benefits and payroll administration costs, paid to a paid intern by the program administrator after the completion of principal photography.
G. Film production companies that host unpaid interns shall:
(1) work with the program administrator to place interns on their film productions; and
(2) if a film production company chooses to provide a stipend or other honorarium to the intern, it shall do so through the program administrator.
H. The film set internship program shall be funded through an assignment of one percent of a film production company's tax credit granted pursuant to the Film Production Tax Credit Act. The money assigned shall be deposited to the credit of the film set internship fund.
SECTION 2. [NEW MATERIAL] FILM PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT--ONE PERCENT OF TAX CREDIT ASSIGNED.--When a film production company that is eligible for a tax credit pursuant to the Film Production Tax Credit Act registers with the New Mexico film division of the economic development department, the film production company shall sign an assignment of one percent of its credit to the film set internship fund.
SECTION 3. [NEW MATERIAL] FILM SET INTERNSHIP FUND.--The "film set internship fund" is created as a nonreverting fund in the state treasury. The fund consists of assigned percentages of tax credits granted pursuant to the Film Production Tax Credit Act, gifts, grants, donations, appropriations and income from investment of the fund. The fund shall be administered by the workforce solutions department, and money in the fund is appropriated to the department to carry out the provisions of Section 1 of this 2019 act. No more than ten percent of the fund may be used by the department for administration of the film set internship program. Expenditures from the fund shall be on warrants signed by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the secretary of workforce solutions.
SECTION 4. A new section of the Film Production Tax Credit Act is enacted to read:
"[NEW MATERIAL] ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENT.--A film production company that is eligible to receive a credit pursuant to the Film Production Tax Credit Act shall assign one percent of the payment of the authorized film production tax credit or film and television tax credit to the film set internship fund when the film production company registers with the division. When the tax credit is issued, the taxation and revenue department shall distribute the assigned credit rebate to the film set internship fund."
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