Thank you…

One of the many virtues that my parents taught and hopefully instilled in me is gratitude. With the passage this afternoon of HB 99, I feel compelled to thank everyone who was involved in the process and worked to make HB 99 the law. And through this blog, I'm urging everyone to follow suit and also thank those involved.

First, to the officers, board members and members of the MPAU for their time, money and energy to get an incentive program passed and, with the passage of HB 99, improved. If you're not a member of MPAU, please join, if you are a member, renew your membership. (Mine expires this month, but I am committing through this post tonight to renew.)

Next, I'd like to thank Representative Greg Hughes for his sponsorship of HB 99. I'm certain that there are a lot of groups and organizations who would love to have a sponsor of Mr. Hughes' stature on their side. I'm a student and an observer of politics. At a time when many states are reducing or eliminating their film incentive programs, we can all be thankful that ours is coming out of this year's legislative session better.

Next, I'd like to thank all the members of the House and Senate who voted in favor of HB 99. In particular, I'd like to thank the members who took time to respond to my emails extolling the virtues of HB 99. Admittedly there were a few who declined to support the bill, but at least they were honest and allowed me to address their concerns and hopefully I educated a few of them.

A special thanks goes out to the members of the "Executive Appropriations Committee". We're still in some pretty difficult economic times; across the nation the states are faced with $125 BILLION DOLLARS in combined deficits and I know I wouldn't want the job of divvying up the state's tax and revenue pie.

Governor Herbert, I understand you were involved in some meetings about HB 99 last night. In anticipation of your signing it into law, thank you.

We can't forget Charlie Evans either. Charlie is the lobbyist the MPAU hired to educate the members about our bill and its benefits. The employees of the Film Commission are barred by law from lobbying. But they've been instrumental in gathering the facts and figures needed to educate the Legislators regarding the benefits of first, SB 14 and this year HB 99. So, Marshall, Trevor, Ricky, Tammy, Mimi and Tommy (I hope I didn't miss anyone) thank you for all your work, not only during the legislative session, but the other 320 days of the year too!

Finally, to my facebook, acting and movie crew friends who responded to my requests to write and call members of the House and Senate, thank you. I value our friendship and I hope that I didn't come off too strong with my requests. If I didn't truly believe that HB 99 was good for all of us, good for our families and careers, I would not have asked you to do the things you did. Thank you and I'll see you on location, on set or in the studio…