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Legislative News

06-26-2008: The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Labor-HHS-Education bill by a vote of 26–3. The bill now awaits scheduling on the Senate floor.

06-26-2008: During consideration of the House Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill in the Appropriations Committee, a motion to adjourn was called leaving final passage undecided until after the Independence Day Work Period (June 30–July 4).

06-18-2008: The House Appropriations Subcommitte on Labor-HHS-Education considered and passed its initial funding levels for FY 2009. Spending details have yet to be confirmed before full committee markup. The Labor-HHS-Education bill contains funding for several cultural initiatives and programs like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), Arts in Education (AIE), and the Office of Museum Services contained in the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

06-11-2008: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies passed a substantial increase for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) of $15.3 million in its initial markup for FY 2009. Currently funded at $144.7 million, the total funding level would be brought to $160 million—more than $30 million requested by the president for the NEA in his FY 2009 budget which would have seen the agency cut to $128 million. Full committee consideration is expected on June 18. The Senate has not yet started its appropriations markups.

06-05-2008: The House gives final approval to S. Con. 70, 214–210, thereby setting the stage for appropriations committees to begin their individual consideration of federal funding priorities under their jurisdiction.

06-04-2008: The Senate passes S. Con 70, the fiscal 2009 budget resolution, 48–45, with final consideration to be taken up by the House. The nonbinding resolution is a statement of spending priorities that guide the appropriations process. The bill's compromise language sets spending on discretionary items for 5 years at an average of $1.016 trillion a year, roughly $25 billion a year more than the president's budgetary request.

05-15-2008: The U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 6049, a bill that extends several tax provisions that expired December 31, 2007 for an additional year. Of importance to the nonprofit arts sector is the extension of the IRA Charitable Rollover provision which permits donors age 70 1//2 and older to make tax-free charitable gifts directly from their IRAs to charities, up to an annual ceiling of $100,000. The bill does not include the so-called "AMT-patch" which had been problematic in passage of a previous extenders package.

05-14-2008: The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a markup on S. 2913, the "Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008" considered in the nature of a substitute by Senators Leahy and Hatch. It was passed out of committee by voice vote. The bill and its companion legislation in the House seek to limit the liability for copyright users who have conducted a good faith effort search per congressional guidelines in trying to locate the original copyright holder. The sponsor's intent of this legislation is to increase greater public access to works that may be abandoned but that others may want to incorporate or use without fear of large damages. To achieve this, judicial defenses to certain types of liability would be limited based on the diligence of the user before usage and their attempts to fairly compensate a hard to find copyright holder. The bill is opposed by many in the visual, graphic, and illustrator artists community as they believe the damages limitations exposes volumes of their works to usage that will be expensive to possibly litigate. Americans for the Arts is tracking the legislation here.

05-08-2008: The House Education & Labor Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities (Chairman Carolyn McCarthy, D-NY) held an informational hearing on the programs of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Led by Chairman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Ranking Member Todd Platts (R-PA) the subcommittee heard testimony from documentarian Ken Burns; NEA Chairman Dana Gioia; NEH Chairman Bruce Cole; Freeport, NY Mayor William Glacken; former chair Pennsylvania Humanities Council Jeanne Schmedlen; middle school librarian Katrine Watkins; and Operation Homecoming participant U.S. Army Captain Ryan Kelly (ret.).  Testimony and a webcast of the hearing on posted on the Committee website.

05-07-2008: House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property (Chairman Howard Berman, D-CA) held a markup of H.R. 5889, the “Orphan Works Act of 2008.” Americans for the Arts has a summary of the legislation. The bill was passed out of the subcommittee and awaits full committee consideration.

04-24-2008: Senators Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI) and Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced legislation (S.2913, HR 5889) relating to the copyright protections of orphan works.

04-18-2008: Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced S.2886. This legislation contains a number of tax provisions—including a provision to extend the IRA Charitable Rollover.

04-01-2008:  Americans for the Arts and over 85 national organizations hosted the 2008 Arts Advocacy Day.  Over 560 arts advocates from 46 states held meetings with 265 congressional offices.  Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was given the Congressional Arts Leadership Award.

04-01-2008: The Arts Require Timely Service Act (ARTS), H.R. 1312, a bill that expedites the visa status for foreign artists to no longer than 45 days and waives an expedition fee for nonprofit performer and organizations, passed the House of Representatives on the suspension calendar by voice vote. You can read about its implications in a New York Times article. It is not known when the Senate will consider the bill. More information on the H.R. 1312 can be found here.

03-25-2008: Rep. John Lewis and Jim Ramstad release a Dear Colleague letter encouraging members to co-sponsor the Artist Fair Market Deduction Bill, H.R. 1524. The bill would change the current tax law prohibiting artists to take the full value deduction for self-created works donated to nonprofit institutions. Currently, the law only allows for the work's cost of materials.

03-14-2008: The U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate adopted budget resolutions that, while not binding on Congress, set policy priorities for the fiscal year. H Con Res 312 and S Con Res 70 both call for $25 billion and $21 billion more than President Bush's proposed budget. The Senate included an extension of the IRA Charitable Rollover, a provision of significant interest to the nonprofit arts community that had recently expired on December 31, 2007. The IRA Charitable Rollover provision permits donors age 70 1//2 and older to make tax free charitable gifts directly from their IRAs to charities, up to an annual ceiling of $100,000.

03-11-2008: National Endowment for the Humanities Chairmen Bruce Cole testifies before the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee.

03-04-2008: A coalition of national arts advocacy groups, including Americans for the Arts, have sent a letter to Congressional budget leaders, House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) requesting that they support an increase in the Function 500 budget allocation for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

02-07-2008: Lead sponsors of S.548, the Artist Museum Partnership Act, Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Bennett (R-UT) have sent a letter to Senate Finance leaders, Chairman Baucus (D-MT) and Grassley (R-IA), requesting that they include this legislation in any tax proposals considered this year. They enclosed a report from the National Endowment for the Arts that discusses the positive impact of the bill in preserving America's artistic heritage.

02-04-2008: The Office of Management and Budget submits President Bush's final federal government budget. After historic increases passed in last year's FY 2008  budget for cultural funding, the FY 2009 budget request sees a $16 million cut for the National Endowment for the Arts to a funding level of $128.4 million—down from $144.7 million. The National Endowment for the Humanities sees a slight decrease to $144.5 million, while the administration once again proposed terminating Arts in Education in the U.S. Department of Education budget. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting sees a dramatic reduction for FY 2009 and advance funding for FY 2010 of $200 and $220 million, respectively. The Office of Museum Services sees an almost $9 million increase as one of the only cultural items to receive an increase. Please read Americans for the Arts statement on the proposed budget here.