New Mexico Local Legislative Update

2023 was a really busy legislative season in New Mexico and the film industry was in the center of it.

While we’ve occasionally heard from members that they feel the New Mexico Local isn’t actively engaged enough in legislative issues, please know that this couldn’t be further from the truth. The staff and leadership of the union are always at the forefront of any discussion that impacts all of you, and this is particularly true when it comes to the film incentives.

For strategic reasons, we may not always promote the specifics of this involvement, but rest assured, the union continues to work on our members’ behalf all year long, often partnering with other industry unions and stakeholders. This year was no exception.

Here are some highlights of our accomplishments during the 2023 Session:

First and foremost, your Local board, in collaboration with the New Mexico Film Office and the New Mexico Federation of Labor, worked to improve the incentives for production to come to our robust and growing industry in New Mexico (details below, so read on). A strong partner with us in developing legislation and fighting harmful bills was IATSE 480. So a big thank you goes to them. This alliance, along with our other partnerships and relationships, including with many “pro-film” legislators, was key to our success.

We were also front and center at Film & Media Day. It was great to see so many of you at the Roundhouse on Feb. 15. Key in this was a press conference where Governor Lujan Grisham, Cabinet Secretary for Economic Development Alicia Keyes, New Mexico Film Office Director Amber Dodson, IATSE Local 480 President Rebecca “Puck” Stair, Senator Nancy Rodriguez and SAG-AFTRA National Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy Kerri Wood Einertson, one of our own, promoted and praised the film industry in New Mexico. It's terrific to have such dedicated, talented people looking out for and working with us.

Rodriguez, a strong supporter of the film industry, sponsored SB12 - Film Production Tax Credit Changes. While the bill got successfully through Senate hearings, it stalled in the Finance Committee. That's the bad news. The good news is Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham included key provisions in HB537, the omnibus tax bill. Most notably:

• The film incentives/rebate package will increase by $10M per year through fiscal year 2028, taking it up to $160M. This removes the need to annually ask for increases to fight inflation and drive business to New Mexico. Our film partners (Netflix, NBCU and 828) are not subject to this cap;
• It removes local principal performers from the cap, so this should provide an incentive for producers to hire more local talent;
• It provides an additional 10% bump for rural/small towns, thereby incentivizing production in those areas. It also redefines the boundary for the 10% uplift. It will be 60 miles from the city halls of Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

There also were some bills introduced during this session that were not in the best interest of our members and collectively the unions stayed strong and managed to keep these from moving forward. Among them: A bill aimed at eliminating all film incentives. What a horrible idea! We know what happened when a previous administration severely cut the incentives, and we weren't going to let that happen again! So we successfully testified against this and won the day.

There were several sponsored bills aimed at firearms safety and training that could have negatively impacted those working under our contracts: HB238 - Discharging Firearm In Dense Population Areas; HB338 - Firearm Training For Filmmaking Employees; and SB225 - Hunter Safety Training For Filmmaking. While SAG-AFTRA is definitely in favor of any protocols and regulations that provide training and safety at all levels for anyone working under our contract, the unions were in agreement that this is an enforcement issue rather than one that needs further legislation. We already have strong requirements around the safe handling of firearms and these would have required virtually all persons on a set with firearms to take extended gun safety training. Ultimately, none of these bills were passed.

So these were really big gains. But we're not stopping there. Once the dust settles, we'll start planning for the next session. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your elected leadership and staff at nm@sagaftra.org if you have any questions or would like to hear more about how you can get involved. 

Have a good summer and be safe!