AFM Local 47 President Stephanie O’Keefe (pictured center) with San Francisco AFM Local 6 Secretary-Treasurer Beth Zare (left) and President Kale Cumings (right) at a Joint Hearing meeting in the State Capitol on March 26, 2025 as part of the ntertainment Union Coalition.

On March 26, 2025, the Entertainment Union Coalition again traveled to Sacramento to advocate on behalf of the California Film & Television Jobs Program at a Senate Revenue and Tax Budget Subcommittee. Our own AFM Local 47 President Stephanie O’Keefe and AFM Local 6 President Kale Cumings and Secretary-Treasurer Beth Zare joined close to 100 members of the Entertainment Union Coalition to show our support for the expansion of this program from $330 million annually to $750 million annually.

Last month we also saw movement around the two bills, AB1138 and SB630, that have been introduced by Assemblymember Rick Zbur and Senator Ben Allen. These bills are intended to modernize California’s jobs program to further encourage production in the state in addition to increasing funding to the program annually. The bills introduced are seeking to expand the definition of a qualified motion picture, allowing more types of projects to apply. Additionally, the bills are seeking to increase the available credit amount for an individual project from 20% to 35% across California. Because an additional 5% uplift already exists for filming outside the zone, the increase in areas outside L.A. would be from 25% to 40%.

While the exact language of the bills has not been finalized, the EUC continues to work alongside Zbur and Allen to refine language and ensure the bills are structured to have maximum impact on retaining, attracting and creating jobs.

Soon the EUC will be rolling out a letter to send to elected officials asking them to support not only for the expansion of the funding, but also the specific elements of these two bills.

The EUC will likely be back again multiple times this month as we get closer to the budget vote set to take place in June.