DENVER — Fresh off securing a victory for Colorado with the announcement that the largest independent film festival in the nation would call Boulder home starting in 2027, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday signed a bill into law that he hopes will incentivize other film festivals to do business in the state.
HB25-1005, otherwise known as the Tax Incentive for Film Festivals, secured enough votes in the Senate on March 28 to make it to Gov. Polis desk – just a day after the Sundance Institute announced its namesake festival was moving to Colorado starting in 2027.
Boulder
Sundance Film Festival is officially coming to Boulder after 4 decades in Utah
“Colorado is the best state for film and television artists, and I am thrilled today to sign this bipartisan law to support our growing film industry in Colorado that is captivating audiences, supporting hard-working Coloradans, and strengthening our tourism and economy," Polis said in a press release. "As the iconic Sundance Film Festival joins many successful film festivals operating across the state, we are ensuring that Colorado continues to be the top film festival state in the nation."
The passing of the bill shows Colorado’s “commitment to ensure the success of the Sundance Film Festival in Colorado,” said State Sen. Judy Amabile, a Democrat from Boulder and one of the bill’s sponsors. “Sundance is more than just an economic driver – it will cement Colorado’s place as a global hub for the arts, creating opportunities for filmmakers and audiences alike.”
- Denver7 looked through newspaper archives and found out the announcement of the film festival coming to Boulder occurred just over a half-century after the University of Colorado ghosted actor and institute founder Robert Redford on the idea of a film festival there. Read more on that in the link below.
Entertainment
Boulder lands Sundance, 50 years after CU ghosted Robert Redford on the idea
HB25-1005 will create two refundable tax credits for film festivals in Colorado: One to offer a financial incentive of $34 million in tax incentives to the Sundance Film Festival as it prepares to leave Utah, and one to support existing or small film festivals across the state by injecting $500,000 annually to such efforts. Those incentives will be good through 2037, per the language of the legislation, and will be administered through the Colorado Office of Economic Development.
Lawmakers said a recent economic impact report of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in Utah revealed the event created 1,730 jobs for residents, generated $69.7 million in wages, $132 million in gross domestic product (GDP) and generated almost $14 million in state and local tax revenue.
The bill would also decrease income tax revenue, which is subject to TABOR, depending on whether or not the state revenue exceeds the TABOR limit.
TABOR, or the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, was approved by voters in 1992, and puts caps on the amount of tax revenue the state can keep year-to-year. If there’s excess revenue in any given fiscal year, by law, the state government requires those excess funds to be refunded to taxpayers.
During years when the state revenue exceeds the TABOR limit, the bill would decrease the state revenue that is required to be refunded to taxpayers, per the language of the bill. Decreased General Fund revenue will lower the TABOR refund obligation. On the other hand, in years when state revenue does not exceed the TABOR limit, the bill would have no impact on taxpayer refunds, and would reduce the amount of General Fund revenue that is available to spend or save.
- How will Boulder benefit economically from the Sundance Film Festival? Denver7's Ethan Carlson spoke to businesses in the area who view the festival's arrival not as a competition, but more as a relationship. See the story in the video below.
While the legislation had bipartisan support and passed the Senate in a 28-5 vote, it did not come without controversy.
In a debate on March 12, Rep. Ken DeGraaf, a Republican from El Paso County, made his opposition to the bill quite clear.
“This bill is very specifically asking the citizens of all of Colorado to invest their money into a program where that money that they invest will have dividends returned to the state and… the community of Boulder,” said DeGraaf. "People in my district were expecting that money back. They're not expecting us to send it off to benefit other counties... We need to be responsible with their money and we need to have all the details and we need to have all the cards on the table."
Rep. Bob Marshall, Democrat who represents Douglas County, argued that while the legislation would benefit Colorado as a whole, Boulder would reap most of those benefits.
"There is no doubt that there are benefits to Colorado, but no one can possibly deny the vast majority of the benefits will (bring) to Boulder and the area around there," Marshall said. "So, Boulder and the area around there should be responsible for the majority of the money that is being put up.”
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