Committee advances series of bills on film incentives, animal welfare grants, parks, water and local agriculture; several measures pass

An Oklahoma House policy committee heard and acted on a string of bills covering film incentives, animal welfare grants, water board funding caps, state parks maintenance planning, small-music-venue rebates, agriculture education and local-foods programs during a single session.

Representative Joe Osborne, the sponsor of House Bill 2,110, told the committee that the proposal "establishes the framework for the bringing sitcoms home from Hollywood act by re engineering, the sunsetting compete with Canada act to better support and fortify an entertainment industry that is changing. This bill will help us do that. It provides a tax rebate, for productions that are done here in the state." The committee voted to report the bill out, with the chair later saying, "This has passed 7 yeas and 3 nays. I will report this bill has passed our committee." (Vote tally recorded in the transcript: 7–3.)

Why it matters: several presenters and members framed their measures as efforts to grow in-state industries, protect public health and shore up aging infrastructure while noting that most of the bills create statutory frameworks rather than immediate spending. Sponsors repeatedly said that specific appropriations, pilot funding or rulemaking would follow through regular budget or administrative processes.

Other notable actions and discussions

- House Bill 10,46 (Rep. Dallins) created a competitive spay-and-neuter grant program to be managed by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture intended to help local governments and animal-welfare organizations. Dallins said an initial pilot of "$250,000" would be a good start and that a sustainable program could require "anywhere between 750,000 to a million dollars." The transcript records the bill as passed; the committee chair declared the bill passed though the recorded vote tally in the transcript is not clearly legible and is therefore not specified here.

- House Bill 14,38 (Rep. Paskowski), a request bill from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, raised historical grant and emergency funding caps to reflect inflation (the presenter said caps now are changed to "$3.50 on the grant part and to 300,000 on the emergency part"). The committee declared the bill passed (recorded vote: 10–0).

- A request bill related to rising phosphorus in Spring Creek (identified in the transcript as request bill 15,88) was advanced as a study to determine sources and potential responses; the presenter said the conservation director estimated a study cost of about "$50,000" and that the agency said it had funds available. The committee declared that bill passed (recorded vote: 10–0).

- House Bill 18,14 (Rep. Newton) would establish a State Parks Emergency Maintenance Revolving Fund and an eight-year maintenance planning process; Newton said the bill ties to a broader eight-year planning model used by the highway department and that the bill itself "has no actual money tied to this" while listing initial budget request figures of roughly "$41 million" in year one in committee materials. The committee declared the bill passed (recorded vote: 9–1).

- House Bill 2,218 (Rep. Deck) would start an incentive rebate program for small music venues, applying rebates only for events that hire Oklahoma-based musicians; Deck described tiered rebates ("a 10% rebate on small, unticketed venues, and then a 15% rebate on medium... ticketed events") and said unticketed spaces would be capped at about 300 capacity and ticketed spaces at about 600. The committee declared the bill passed (recorded vote: 7–3).

- House Bill 23,74 (Rep. Hill) came to the committee with a second proposed committee substitute (PCS 2). Hill said PCS 2 clarifies covered production types, clarifies pilot-day eligibility for single-day shoots and adds a mechanism (a "loan out" arrangement) to help ensure payroll and tax withholding for out-of-state performers and contractors. Hill said the PCS "is simply providing the proper structure, to ensure that we have good policy in place and that we are capturing tax dollars." The committee declared the bill passed (recorded vote: 9–1).

- House Bill 28,91 (Rep. Townley) would ease purchasing rules for tourism-related retail operations such as golf-course pro shops; the committee declared the bill passed (transcript indicates passage; recorded tally not cleanly legible in the recording).

- House Bill 29,17 (Rep. Pittman), a PCS to clarify that the Department of Agriculture administers the "Ag in the Classroom" program and to increase the specialty car-tag fee used to fund it from $24 to $27, passed the committee (recorded vote in the transcript: 6–4).

- A separate local-foods purchase proposal presented by Rep. Pittman (identified in the transcript as House Bill 20,19 / "expanding access to local Foods Act") would authorize the Department of Agriculture to purchase locally grown produce at market value for donation to nonprofit distributors; members raised multiple questions about definitions, safeguards and rulemaking. The committee vote result recorded in the transcript shows the measure did not pass; the chair declared the bill failed (transcript vote details ambiguous; result: failed).

- Representative Grego presented a framework to enable a co-op or cooperative-style medium-scale meat processing facility in the state (the presenter described a target plant able to harvest roughly "about 600 head a day"). The transcript shows discussion and a motion to report the bill but does not include a clear, final tally in the hearing record excerpt provided here.

Procedure, funding and next steps

Committee members repeatedly emphasized that most bills put "the apparatus" or statutory framework in place and that any actual expenditures would be decided later in the budget and Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget (JCAB) processes. Several presenters and questioners asked for estimates or pilot funding; where presenters offered numbers (for pilot programs, study costs or initial request amounts) they are reported above as given in committee remarks.

Quotes from the hearing

"We are simply, putting the bones in place so that we can, so that we can accept whatever that happens to be, later," Rep. Osborne said about HB 2,110's structure and the separate appropriations process.

"This bill addresses a critical issue of pet overpopulation in our state by establishing a competitive grant program that will be managed by the Oklahoma Department of Ag," Rep. Dallins said of HB 10,46.

"It just shows that they would set up an 8 year plan," Rep. Newton said describing HB 18,14 and the State Parks Emergency Maintenance Revolving Fund concept.

"This will be a mechanism by which we can make sure they are setting up a payroll program for each film that is eligible for incentive," Rep. Hill said of a loan-out mechanism in the film incentive PCS intended to capture payroll tax dollars.

Ending note

Most bills the committee advanced create statutory authority or a framework for programs; multiple sponsors and members emphasized appropriations, rulemaking and implementation details will be addressed later in the budget process or through agency rulemaking. Several measures that would authorize purchases, funds or rebate structures were advanced by the committee; one local-foods purchase measure failed in committee and several items recorded in the transcript lacked a clear recorded tally in the excerpt provided and will require confirmation in the official committee minutes.