The Arizona Motion Picture Production Program (AMPPP), which doles out up to $125 million annually in taxpayer-funded subsidies to filmmakers who produce their movies in the Grand Canyon State, is facing a significant challenge by the Goldwater Institute (GI). The right-leaning organization filed a lawsuit last week against the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), arguing that the program violates the Arizona Constitution’s Gift Clause by providing taxpayer money to private entities without adequate public benefit.
State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff), who voted against the bill that established the AMPPP, expressed her support for the lawsuit to The Arizona Sun Times. “Government should not pick winners and losers,” she said. “Goldwater Institute is right in line with how President Trump is hearkening back to our country’s ethos, which is merit-based, market-driven awarding success to those who earn it on a level playing field… instead of according to who you know, but what you know. We’re done with elitist backroom deals crushing the middle class.”
State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), who was in the State House at the time the bill passed, opposing it, said, “They are sexualizing our children, they are degrading our culture, they are glorifying violence. Hollywood does not represent the people of Arizona. It is not the industry the people of Arizona want.’’
State Senator Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix), who was also in the State House in 2022, said, “We don’t need another carve-out for specific industries to attract woke Hollywood actors and studios to our state,” she said.
Read the rest of the article at The Arizona Sun Times