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Read. Follow. Verify.Georgia renews postproduction tax credits and updates conservation use property lease rules
Last action · May 14, 2025: House Date Signed by GovernorSponsors: Chas Cannon and 6 others
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What This Bill Does
House Bill 129 renews the state's postproduction film tax credit through 2030, capping it at $10 million annually starting in 2026, and exempts certain registered entities from conservation-use property lease restrictions. The measure applies to all taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.
Property owners and production companies gain updated eligibility rules and tax credit extensions affecting local land assessments and state tax liabilities starting in 2026.
- House Bill 129 addresses preferential property tax assessments for conservation use lands and renews state tax incentives for postproduction film activities. context
Who It Affects
Groups the bill's text affects, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Property owners
Property owners leasing land or seeking preferential conservation use assessment face updated qualification rules.
Postproduction companies
Postproduction companies become eligible for renewed tax credits capped at $10 million annually subject to employee reporting mandates.
Department of Revenue
The department receives annual employee withholding reports from postproduction companies.
Key Facts
- Removes conservation use property lease disqualifications for corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies registered with the Secretary of State that meet ownership, primary agricultural/timber purpose, and 80 percent gross income thresholds, or where at least one member has a 25 percent or greater ownership interest.
- Renews postproduction tax credits for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031.
- Sets the aggregate annual cap for postproduction tax credits at $10 million for the 2026-2030 period.
- Requires postproduction companies claiming credits to report the monthly average number of full-time employees subject to Georgia income tax withholding to the Department of Revenue.
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- Defines 'full-time employee' for postproduction tax credit reporting as a person performing a job requiring a minimum of 35 hours per week and paying at or above the county average wage with the lowest average wage in the state.
- Mandates that the state tax commissioner annually report company names, tax years, and full-time employee averages to the House Committee on Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee by June 30.
- Allows unclaimed portions of the annual postproduction tax credit cap to roll over to succeeding years until fully claimed.
- Applies all provisions of the Act to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What changes for leased conservation use property under this bill?
What is the annual cap for postproduction tax credits between 2026 and 2031?
What reporting requirements must postproduction companies meet to receive the tax credit?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Current status: Signed into law.
Procedural history
19 actions- May 14, 2025HouseEnrolledHouse Date Signed by Governor
- May 14, 2025GovernorEnrolledAct 251
- May 14, 2025Georgia General AssemblyEffective Date
- Apr 10, 2025HouseHouse Sent to Governor
- Apr 2, 2025SenateSenate Engrossed
- Apr 2, 2025SenateSenate Third Read
Show 13 earlier actions
- Apr 2, 2025SenateFloorSenate Passed/Adopted By Substitute
- Apr 2, 2025HouseFloorHouse Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- Mar 31, 2025SenateCommitteeSenate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute
- Mar 28, 2025SenateSenate Recommitted
- Mar 27, 2025SenateSenate Read Second Time
- Mar 25, 2025SenateCommitteeSenate Committee Favorably Reported
- Mar 6, 2025SenateIntroducedSenate Read and Referred
- Mar 4, 2025HouseHouse Third Readers
- Mar 4, 2025HouseFloorHouse Passed/Adopted
- Feb 26, 2025HouseCommitteeHouse Committee Favorably Reported
- Jan 29, 2025HouseHouse Second Readers
- Jan 28, 2025HouseIntroducedHouse First Readers
- Jan 27, 2025HouseIntroducedHouse Hopper
Version history & redline
3 versions on fileVoting Record
Agree to Senate Substitute
Total
174
- Yes
- 145
- No
- 13
- Present
- 0
- Not voting
- 4
- Abstain
- 0
- Other positions
- 12
How they voted (174)
150 more members
Show 3 earlier roll calls
MOTION TO ENGROSS: SB 214, HB 66, HB 79, HB 129, HB 134, HB 141, HB 370, HB 397, HB 445, HB 463, HB 532, HB 586, HB 652
Total
51
- Yes
- 29
- No
- 21
- Present
- 0
- Not voting
- 0
- Abstain
- 0
- Other positions
- 1
How they voted (51)
27 more members
PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE
Total
51
- Yes
- 40
- No
- 8
- Present
- 0
- Not voting
- 2
- Abstain
- 0
- Other positions
- 1
How they voted (51)
27 more members
PASSAGE
Total
174
- Yes
- 160
- No
- 7
- Present
- 0
- Not voting
- 6
- Abstain
- 0
- Other positions
- 1
How they voted (174)
150 more members
Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Postproduction Tax Credit Extension
The bill reactivates and extends postproduction tax credits that were previously set to expire after 2023, capping them at $10 million annually through 2030.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legis.ga.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance60How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy15Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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