The California State Senate has passed SB 2319, a bill creating a separate tax incentive specifically for the post-production industry, sending it to Governor Gavin Newsom for his signature. The move is significant for Los Angeles's struggling film and TV sector, which has been pushing for state support to help reverse job losses, though passage alone does not guarantee the credit will actually happen.

The bill cleared the Senate by a vote of 33-5, and would cover work such as VFX, scoring and mixing under the California Film Commission's incentives programme. Early estimates of up to $100 million in incentives have been scaled back to around $35 million for the first year, but crucially no funding has yet been allocated within the state's $352 billion, zero-deficit budget. Separately, lawmakers introduced AB136 on Friday to exempt studios from a new restriction on corporate tax credits, addressing concerns from the Motion Picture Association tied to plans to expand California's Film & TV Tax Credit pool to $750 million; a vote on that bill is expected Monday evening.