BATON ROUGE - Lawmakers have reached a deal to place a long-term cap on, but not get rid of, spending for Louisiana's film tax credit program, which is both derided as wasteful spending and championed as an economic driver.
With a 33-2 vote Friday, the Senate gave final passage to a compromise reached with industry representatives.
The deal will continue a $180 million limit on the amount of money that taxpayers will spend each year on the tax credits doled out to film and TV productions.
In addition, the state economic development department could only issue $150 million of those credits annually, in an effort to pay down a backlog of credits that producers haven't yet cashed into the state.
Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration supports the compromise.
