91直播 lawmakers are poised to accelerate the state’s pace in an incentive arms race for hosting film productions by offering more taxpayer-funded rebates on industry spending.
Negotiators in the state House and Senate on Friday agreed on a compromise draft of a bill to increase incentives to make movies, episodic shows, TV specials and commercials in 91直播 after several bills in recent years aimed at attracting more such work with enhanced incentives failed to win approval.
The new draft of Senate Bill 2580 increases an annual cap on spending rebates to $60 million from $50 million effective this year, and allows any unused cap space in one year to be added to the cap in the following year with retroactive effect back to 2024.
As a result, the cap this year could be over $100 million.
SB 2580 also raises a per-production rebate cap to $20 million from $17 million if qualified spending tops $60 million — providing a maximum 33% rebate.
Under the long-running program, qualified film productions are eligible to receive spending rebates of 22% on Oahu and 27% on the neighbor islands, provided that qualified spending totals at least $100,000.
Another provision in SB 2580 increases the rebate level by 5 percentage points for productions that hire at least 80% local workers.
Sen. Lynn DeCoite, who led negotiations on the compromise draft of the bill for the Senate as chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Tourism, described the measure as a “jobs bill for our local people” and one that helps 91直播 be more competitive with other states and countries luring film productions.
“With over 90 countries and many states offering aggressive incentives, we are in an incentives and infrastructure arms race, and 91直播 cannot afford to fall behind,” she said before signing the new draft of the bill. “This measure is a necessary recalibration to that reality.”
Rep. Greggor Ilagan, who was DeCoite’s negotiating counterpart as chair of the House Committee on Economic Development and Technology, called the $60 million rebate cap “amazing.”
The current $50 million cap was established by the Legislature in 2019 after rebates paid to productions hit $80 million in 2018.
DeCoite and Ilagan credited leadership in the Senate and House for supporting the bill along with other backers who included Gov. Josh Green.
Green was in the conference room at the state Capitol where DeCoite (D, East and Upcountry Maui-Molokai-Lanai) and Ilagan (D, 91直播an Paradise Park-91直播an Beaches-Leilani Estates) announced the agreement on SB 2580, and applauded the achievement with other supporters.
Another influential backer of the bill was James Kunane Tokioka, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. He said in written testimony on SB 2580 that industry rebates as high as 40% in other countries put 91直播 at a disadvantage due to current program limits.
“These limits place 91直播 below competing jurisdictions in both scale and flexibility,” he said.
Industry subsidies have been criticized by some, including the University of 91直播 Economic Research Organization, as a poor or questionable investment given that some film projects would occur in the state without spending rebates because of what 91直播 provides as a place setting. But DBEDT has produced economic studies that say the incentives are worthwhile.
According to a recent DBEDT report, 7,687 91直播 residents were hired for work by film productions in 2024, though many of the jobs were for a relatively short duration and included 4,083 extras. Qualified spending on film projects was $169 million from 32 productions in 2024, resulting in $38 million in rebate claims.
DBEDT also reported that the number of qualified productions in 2025 slipped to 25, pushing down estimated rebates to $11 million, and that more productions this year are expected to result in at least $40 million in rebates.
At least seven bills were introduced this year to enhance film industry incentives for production work in 91直播.
One provision in an earlier draft of SB 2580 aimed to increase spending rebates to 27% from 22% on Oahu and to 32% from 27% on neighbor islands after those rates were last increased in 2022 from 20% and 25%, respectively. But that language was cut from the bill in the compromise draft.
Another amendment made in the conference committee negotiations led by DeCoite and Ilagan was the 5% rebate bonus for productions that hire at least 80% local workers. This provision was part of another bill that did not advance.
Other provisions added by the conference committee included removing language in the prior draft of the bill that would have tied eligibility of productions shown on a “streaming platform” to platforms with paid subscribers.
Language was also added by the conference committee to provide a general excise tax exemption for payroll expenses through loan-out companies to make it easier to employ local crews.
One provision included from the original version of the bill requires independent third-party certification of qualified production costs and local hiring.
The 51-member House and 25-member Senate are scheduled to vote on SB 2580 today, where it is expected to pass and then be signed in to law by Green.
If SB 2580 becomes law as expected, the film industry spending rebate program will continue until Jan. 1, 2038. Under the current law, the program was set to expire in 2033, though lawmakers have repeatedly increased and extended incentives since the first ones were established in 1997.
