§337.11.2.  Acadiana Cultural and Entertainment Special District; optional exemption

A.  The Legislature of the State of Louisiana hereby finds that motion picture production generated by Louisiana Motion Picture Investor Tax Credits has been a benefit for the state.  The 2011 Louisiana Entertainment Economic Impact Analysis estimates that over the course of the three years covered in the study motion picture productions will have spent approximately one billion five hundred ten million dollars in Louisiana.  To date, the typical production is spending eighty percent of its budget in the state - and even blockbuster size films with budgets in excess of twenty million dollars spend fifty percent, and these percentages have steadily increased.  From 2008 to 2010, productions averaged ninety-two per year.  However, the legislature also finds that, unfortunately, the productions, and therefore their spin-off economic benefits, have tended to be focused in certain regions of the state.  Many areas have received far less movie-making activity than others.  Therefore, it is the determination and intention of the legislature in enacting this Section to provide another tax incentive tool to induce the location of movie picture production in some of those heretofore neglected areas.

B.  There is hereby created the Acadiana Cultural and Entertainment Special District composed of all the parishes with the following populations according to the latest federal decennial census:

(1)  Any parish with a population between 50,000 and 52,250.

(2)  Any parish with a population between 56,000 and 90,000.

(3)  Any parish with a population between 200,000 and 230,000.

C.  Any taxing authority within any parish in the ACES District may provide for an exemption from their sales and use tax for the sales, purchases, or leases and rentals by a motion picture production company for a specific state-certified production by that company, all as set forth in the instrument, resolution, vote, or other affirmative action providing the exemption.  A separate action providing an exemption shall be necessary for each state-certified production granted the exemption.

D.  For purposes of this Section, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:

(1)  "ACES District" means the Acadiana Cultural and Entertainment Special District.

(2)  "Motion picture production company" shall have the same meaning as provided for in R.S. 47:6007(B)(6).

(3)  "State-certified production" means a production approved for Louisiana motion picture investor tax credits by the office of entertainment industry development in the Department of Economic Development.

E.  The exemption provided for in this Section shall not be granted on any tax in effect on the date of the grant which secures bonds if the grant will affect or impair the security of such bonds.

Acts 2011, No. 154, §1, eff. June 24, 2011.