California's state legislature has passed AB 2319, a bill designed to attract more film and TV postproduction work to the state by expanding tax credit eligibility, and $10 million has been earmarked to launch the scheme if Governor Gavin Newsom signs it into law. The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Nick Schultz, would extend a 35 percent base tax credit to postproduction work such as editing, visual effects, sound mixing and scoring, even for projects that were not shot in California or did not receive production tax credits there. Supporters say this would help bring postproduction jobs back to the state amid competition from other regions.

The state Senate approved the bill on Sunday by 65 votes to two, and Newsom has until the end of September to decide whether to sign it. The $10 million allocation, included in the legislature's end-of-session budget proposal rather than the bill itself, falls well short of the $100 million Schultz originally sought, but he described it as "a good starting point" and pledged to push for further funding in January. The bill has backing from the grassroots California Post Alliance, the California IATSE Council, the Motion Picture Editors Guild, and companies including Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Music Group and SAG-AFTRA.