(a) Cap.--Except for tax credits reissued under section 1716.1-D,¹ in no case shall the aggregate amount of tax credits awarded in any fiscal year under this subarticle exceed $100,000,000. The department may, in its discretion, award in one fiscal year up to:

(a.1) Advance award of credits.--The advance award of film tax credits under subsection (a) shall:

The individual limitations on the awarding of film production tax credits apply to an advance award of film production tax credits under subsection (a) and to a combination of film production tax credits awarded against the current fiscal year cap and against the next succeeding fiscal year's cap.

(b) Individual limitations.--The following shall apply:

(c) Qualified production facility.--To be considered a qualified production facility or qualified postproduction facility, the owner of a facility shall provide evidence to the department to verify the development or facility specifications and capital investment costs incurred for the facility so that the threshold amounts set in the definitions of “qualified production facility” and “qualified postproduction facility” are satisfied, and upon verification, the facility shall be registered by the department officially as a qualified production facility or qualified postproduction facility.

(d) Waiver.--The department may make a determination that the financial benefit to this Commonwealth resulting from the direct investment in or payments made to Pennsylvania facilities outweighs the benefit of maintaining the 60% requirement contained in the definition of “qualified film production expense.” If such determination is made, the department may waive the requirement that 60% of a film's total production or postproduction expenses be comprised of Pennsylvania production expenses for a film, television film or television series that is intended as programming for a national audience and is filmed or produced in a qualified production facility or qualified postproduction facility if the taxpayer who has Pennsylvania production expenses of at least $30,000,000 per production meets the minimum stage filming requirements.

(e) Pennsylvania film producer reserve.--The department shall annually reserve and allocate $5,000,000 of the tax credits authorized under this subarticle in support of projects produced by a Pennsylvania film producer. A Pennsylvania film producer shall not be limited in eligibility for a tax credit solely to the Pennsylvania film producer reserve in any fiscal year.

(f) If the total amount of tax credits reserved and allocated under subsection (e) is not awarded in a fiscal year, the amount not awarded shall be made available for use by taxpayers who are not Pennsylvania film producers.