Senate business, professions and economic development committee advances music‑festival grants, tariff study, film‑credit reporting, EV‑charger fixes and other

The California State Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee on Monday advanced a slate of bills after substantive testimony from authors, industry witnesses and local officials.

The committee advanced SB 370, a music‑festival preservation grant program that would direct Go‑Biz to establish competitive grants aimed at sustaining multi‑day independent festivals that generate significant local economic activity. Supporters told the panel that festivals such as Aftershock, Golden Sky and Outside Lands generate millions in local revenue and create thousands of jobs and that a $20 million pool could protect regionally important events that otherwise could move out of state. Mike Testa, president and CEO of Visit Sacramento, and Dylan Welsh, senior director of legal affairs for Danny Wimmer Presents, testified in support and described recent cancellations and high production costs. Testa said losing Golden Sky and similar events cost Sacramento tens of millions in economic impact; Welsh described $38.7 million in production costs for one festival and said promoters absorb most of the upfront financial risk.

SB 370 (Ashby) was moved out of committee to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The committee also moved SB 263, which directs the California Transportation Agency, in coordination with the Department of Finance and Go‑Biz, to study the statewide economic impacts of tariffs and retaliatory measures. Supporters including the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and the California Building Industry Association said tariffs are already increasing the cost of construction materials (softwood lumber, drywall, fasteners) and appliances, raising the estimated per‑home cost and risking housing production. Mike Jacob of Pacific Merchant Shipping Association told the committee California lacks a formal, data‑driven model to measure those impacts. Senator Gonzales’s measure was advanced to give state policymakers data to design mitigation strategies.

SB 756, the Film Tax Credit Accountability and Equity Act, drew testimony focused on workforce composition and the tax credit’s public benefit. Author Senator Smallwood Cuevas told the committee the state spends hundreds…