What is Your Wishlist?

There's a small chance - at least a tiny chance that the film tax credit program could come back in some form, probably in the form of a new bill in the Iowa Legislature. There's word that Senator Dotzler is going to form a group this summer to study the issue and come up with a new bill to replace the present flawed one. This is our chance, however slim it may be, to get it right. There certainly won't be any additional chances for quite a long time.

There are two factors affecting a new bill: what happens as far as legal actions concerning the tax credit scandal and the election this November.

So far we know of three trials that are set to take place: the trial of Tom Wheeler who ran the Film Office until he was fired following the scandal, and two trials for the two people who produced the movie "The Scientist" (the one with the $200 brooms). Considering that no legal actions have been taken against "South Dakota" or "Children of the Corn" for the purchases of those luxury vehicles that opened the floodgates of this scandal, you can bet that there are more trials to come. Considering the fact that Attorney General Tom Miller is running for re-election this November, you can be sure that additional prosecutions timed, of course, to be as beneficial to his re-election campaign as possible.

There are other elections happening in November too. Besides the Governor, there are a number of senators and representatives running for re-election and because when people think of film tax credits they think scandal, these politicians are staying as far from this issue as possible (if they voted for them in the first place) and aren't likely to want to revisit the issue until they are safely back in office.

Where does that leave us? As far as the present tax credit program it makes little difference. It's suspended and most of the projects that are in that pipeline are in limbo with many of them tied up in the AG's investigation. With that uncertainty not many are likely to return to complete their projects and since film productions are time sensitive affairs, that probably means any shooting in Iowa is canceled. New projects are most likely out of the question too because trust is at a low.

All of this delay does is buy us some time and we've got lots of it now. With Senator Dotzler's study group we do have a chance to have film return to Iowa but we've got to get it right or forget about ever having the level of activity we had ever again. To do it right we must look at the present program and identify what went wrong and come up with solutions to prevent those things from ever happening again. And it is not just fixing things. We need to improve the program so that it serves Iowans and is not just simply a burden on the taxpayers. Additionally we've got to consider the state's current budget shortfall and be able to answer objections that have come up.

I, myself, am coming up with a list of suggestions to make this thing work which I intend to get to Senator Dotzler and his group. I intend to post it here before I submit it. I hope that you can think of things too. I encourage you to participate in this so we can make a new bill bulletproof and have it work perfectly for once. Simply post comments (link directly below this post) to this post with your ideas. We need to hear from you.