California bill would give tax breaks to studios that leave states with restrictive abortion bans

A California lawmaker reportedly introduced a bill Monday that would give tax breaks to production studios that leave states with restrictive abortion bans.

Assembly Bill 1442 would allow an additional tax credit starting in January 2020 for qualified productions that decide not to film in states that have “pending legislation or existing law that prohibits access to, criminalizes the provision of, or otherwise restricts a woman’s access to abortion services after 6 weeks from the beginning of the pregnancy or earlier.”

{mosads}The proposal comes a week after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed legislation criminalizing nearly all abortions, with no exceptions for rape and incest.

Other states, including Georgia, Iowa and Mississippi, have recently moved to greatly restrict abortions.

“There are actors and actresses that are refusing to be part of a production in one of those states,” Democratic Assemblywoman Luz Rivas said, according to CNBC. “I think it really puts pressure on the industry to reconsider whether they want to do business in those states.”

Georgia has been the site of increasing film and television production in the last few years since passing tax incentives on the issue.

The Peach State’s strict “heartbeat” abortion ban had been blasted by the film industry, with some studios even vowing to move elsewhere.

More than 40 Hollywood celebrities also signed on to a letter back in March threatening to push film production crews to abandon Georgia if the legislation, one of several bans effective at around six weeks into a pregnancy, became law.

“A lot of the entertainment industry has relocated to Georgia because that state was very competitive in their own state film tax credit,” Rivas said, per CNBC. “We’re trying to further incentivize the entertainment industry that currently is filming in states with these strict abortion bans to come and do business in California and share our values.”