Texas is beefing up its incentive for film production, as the state seeks to compete with regional rivals like New Mexico and Georgia.

Gov. Greg Abbott allowed a bill to become law on Sunday that increases the program to $300 million every two years, up from $200 million. The bill also guarantees that funding — which has been irregular in past budget cycles — for a full decade.

The goal is to nurture the local industry and ensure that films and TV shows that are set in Texas are also filmed there.

“We were losing Texas stories to New Mexico, Louisiana and Georgia,” said Chase Musselwhite, co-founder of the advocacy group Media for Texas. “We want to shoot them in Texas.”

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a former conservative talk radio host who has dabbled in film production, has made increasing the program a top priority — touting the measure as a bid to make Texas “America’s film capital.”

His original proposal was $500 million every two years, but it was trimmed by the House last month. Abbott did not sign the bill, SB 22, but allowed it to become law without his signature.

At $150 million a year, Texas will not be in the same league as California, New York and Georgia. But it will occupy a second tier of states, including Louisiana and Pennsylvania, where subsidies are significant enough to consistently attract production.

Several Texas celebrities came on board the effort, which won broad support from both Democrats and Republicans in the legislature.

“I have worked with Taylor Sheridan, Matthew McConaughey, and other Texans on this project to promote Texas values, not Hollywood ones,” Patrick said on social media in March.

Texas’ program is unusual in giving the film office leeway to reject projects that include “inappropriate content or content that portrays Texas or Texans in a negative fashion.” Most states avoid content restrictions, fearing a First Amendment challenge.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Texas’ content regulations in 2015, finding the state had a right not to fund “Machete Kills,” the sequel to a Robert Rodriguez film that was critical of hardline immigration enforcement.

McConaughey, speaking to a Senate committee in March, said that the resistance to film incentives in the state is more “philosophical” than economical.

“You don’t want to help a movie get made in Texas that throws rocks at Texas or Texans,” he said. “Me neither.”

Sheridan, the prolific “Yellowstone” producer, was a key player in the effort. He has made a string of recent shows in Texas, including “1883” and “Landman.” He explained to a committee last fall that none of those shows could have been produced in Texas without the state’s financial support.

He also said he regretted that “Hell or High Water” was made in New Mexico due to subsidies there.

“It is a necessary implementation of our business,” he said. “The model that these networks and these studios operates by now mandates that you have one. They cannot and will not finance a film without an incentive from a state. They will not do it.”

Many in Texas recoil from “Hollywood.” But Sheridan’s shows and “The Chosen,” the Bible show filmed primarily in the Dallas area, have gone a long way toward persuading Texans to support production, said Nate Strayer, CEO of Stray Vista Studios in Dripping Springs.

“With stories that resonate, that fear is starting to go away,” he said.

But in Texas, incentives still come with a critique.

“When you look at ‘Landman’ — it’s completely wrong,” said Sen. Paul Bettencourt, at the hearing in March. “It’s not functionally correct. It doesn’t explain what a landman does. Having Billy Bob Thornton f-bomb every other sentence is not Texas values. We do need to get a handle on this.”