WGA East & DGA Lobby For NY Bill Linking Diversity To Tax Incentives

Representatives of the WGA East and the DGA are heading to Albany to lobby for legislation that would increase diversity among writers and directors employed on TV shows that receive state tax credits. A similar bill is pending in California.

The New York bill, which calls for $5 million of the state’s $420 million film tax credits to be allocated towards the hiring of TV writers and directors who are women and people of color, is sponsored by two prominent Latino legislators, state Sen. Marisol Alcantara and Assemblyman Marcos Crespo.

Last year, the New York State Senate and Assembly successfully passed slightly different versions of the bill, but because New York doesn’t have a reconciliation process, the legislation did not make it to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk.

The New York bill set a template for nearly identical legislation being considered by California’s film tax incentives program, which the California state legislature began debating in February.