A PETITION TO THE HONORABLE GRAY DAVIS Governor, State of California

Governor Davis, we, the undersigned, as citizens of the State of California urge you to sign into Law Senate Bill 756 which addresses an issue crucial to the economic healt of our state.

Runaway Production, the flight of motion picture and television production from California to other countries for economic reasons, has cost our state $2.8 billion in direct losses since 1996, which translates into a negative impact of over $10 billion on our economy.

Californias Film Workers are losing jobs, homes and health care, businesses are suffering radical drops in revenue and runaways may double in 1999.

The governments of 43 nations including Canada, Australia and New Zealand are spending millions in tax rebates and loans to buy Californias film and television production. SB 756 matches some of their rebates with a 10% credit on labor, the first step in fighting off this hijacking of one of our basic industries.