California Arts Advocates - Summary of Bills

Summary of Bills

As new legislation is introduced in the current session, the bills, their status and the position of CAA will be posted in this section.

The following legislation from the last session had potential or direct impacts on the arts.

California Arts Advocates
2003 END OF SESSION REPORT
October 14, 2003

AB 287 (Firebaugh) Tourism: marketing plan. Location: Signed by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter No. 204, Statutes of 2003. Under the California Tourism Marketing Act, the California Travel and Tourism Commission is required to annually prepare a written marketing plan to promote travel to and within this state, as specified. This bill would require the commission, no later than July 1, 2005, to make recommendations to the Governor, the Legislature, and the Secretary of Technology, Trade, and Commerce regarding an implementation strategy and timeline for revision of the annual marketing plan to include promotion of the state's artistic, cultural, historical, and ethnic resources.
Position: Support.

AB 393 (Montanez) Historical preservation. Location: Held at the Assembly Desk. Existing law declares that public agencies shall endeavor to elicit the cooperation of the public and owners of historical resources in preserving and enhancing historical resources. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact a measure relating to historical preservation.

AB 969 (Correa) California Tourism Expansion Act of 2003: tourism economic development zones. Location: Held in Senate Local Government Committee. Existing law authorizes the Technology, Trade, and Commerce Agency to designate qualifying areas as various types of economic development zones in the state to facilitate certain economic development activities. This bill would, until January 1, 2009, authorize the City of Anaheim and the City of Garden Grove to participate in a pilot project to jointly create the Tourism Development Council, consisting of a specified membership and administered by a board of directors consisting of specified members, to enable organized participation by the tourism industry in activities of the 2 cities designed to promote tourism and to finance infrastructure needs of the tourism industry. It would require the 2 cities to jointly evaluate the pilot project and submit a joint report on their findings to the Legislature and the Technology, Trade, and Commerce Agency no later than December 31, 2007.

AB 1149 (Firebaugh) California Cultural and Historical Endowment. Location: Held in Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense Calendar. Existing law, the California Cultural and Historical Endowment Act, established the California Cultural and Historical Endowment, consisting of specified members, in the California State Library and requires the endowment to use funds allocated and appropriated from the California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal Protection Act of 2002, and from other sources, including federal grants, to make grants and loans to public agencies and nonprofit organizations, as defined, including museums, relating to historical resources and to develop various programs and projects to protect and preserve California's cultural and historic resources. Existing law requires the endowment to conduct a comprehensive survey of the state of cultural and historical preservation, accessibility, and interpretation in California and to report on the survey to the Legislature and the Governor by November 1, 2005. This bill would appropriate $128,415,000 from the California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal Protection Fund to the California State Library for purposes of the endowment, as provided.

AB 1283 (Kehoe) Taxpayer contributions: California Arts Council Fund. Location: Held in Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee. Provisions relating to the administration of personal income taxes allow individual taxpayers to contribute amounts in excess of their tax liability for the support of specified funds or accounts. This bill would additionally allow taxpayers to designate on their tax returns that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be transferred to the California Arts Council Fund, which would be created by this bill. This bill would provide that all money contributed to the fund pursuant to these provisions would be subject to appropriation by the Legislature, as specified.
Position: Support.

AB 1356 (Cohn) Tourism: California Tourism Commission. Location: Held in the Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, & Internet Media Committee. Existing law establishes the California Tourism Commission within the Technology, Trade, and Commerce Agency. This bill would, instead, require that the commission meet annually.

AB 1512 (Cohn) Arts education. Location: Signed by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter No. 580, Statutes of 2003. Existing law, to be repealed on January 1, 2008, establishes the Local Arts Education Partnership Program to provide grants to local arts agencies, including school districts, to develop a locally based approach to the improvement of arts education in the public schools. This bill would establish the Arts Work Visual and Performing Arts Education Program, to be administered by the State Department of Education, for the purposes of awarding grants to local educational agencies to develop their capacity to implement high-quality, instructional programs based on the state adopted visual and performing arts content standards for pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to select a panel of experts that would evaluate the project proposals and select grant recipients based on specified criteria.
Position: Support.

ACR 3 (Cohn) The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Location: Signed by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter No. 43, Statutes of 2003. This measure would recognize the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for its accomplishments in recognizing and preserving America's great cultural legacy in music, and would extend congratulations to the Academy on the 45th anniversary of the GRAMMY Awards. The measure would also respectfully request the Academy to hold subsequent GRAMMY Awards telecasts and ceremonies in Los Angeles.

HR 9 (Firebaugh) Relative to arts education. Location: Adopted on March 24, 2003. The Assembly of the State of California, the Legislature declares March 2003 Arts Education Month and encourages all educational communities to celebrate the arts with meaningful pupil activities and programs that demonstrate learning and understanding in the visual and performing arts, and urges all residents to become interested in and give full support to quality school arts programs for children and youth.

HR 14 (Firebaugh) Relative to California Museum Month. Location: Adopted on May 1, 2003. The California Association of Museums has served to bring important recognition of this month during which museums will celebrate the diversity of community services they provide by hosting an eclectic array of public programming during the month of May 2003. Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, that the Legislature recognizes the important role that museums have in the State of California and proclaims May 2003 as California Museum Month.

SB 92 (Speier) Taxpayer contributions: California Missions Foundation Fund.   Location: Signed by the Govenor. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter No. 460, Statutes of 2003. Provisions relating to the administration of personal income taxes allow individual taxpayers to contribute amounts in excess of their tax liability for the support of specified funds. This bill would allow taxpayers to designate on their tax returns that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be transferred to the California Missions Foundation Fund, which would be created by this bill. However, the bill would provide that a voluntary contribution designation for this fund may not be added on the tax return until another voluntary contribution designation is removed from that return.

SB 210 (Burton) Minors: artistic employment contracts. Location: Signed by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter No. 667, Statutes of 2003. Existing law regulates certain contracts for artistic employment between an unemancipated minor and third parties, including employment as an actor, dancer, musician, comedian, singer, stuntperson, voice-over artist, or other performer or entertainer, or sports participant. Existing law provides for the establishment of a trust for the purpose of preserving for the benefit of the minor 15% of the minor's gross earnings or a greater percentage, if requested by the minor's parent or guardian. This bill would define a minor's gross earnings for these purposes. The bill would specify who is a minor's employer for these purposes. The bill would limit the trust amounts to 15% of the minor's gross earnings and would specify the time period within which a minor's employer must receive a true and accurate photocopy of the trustee's statement. The bill would require the employer of a minor to forward to The Actors' Fund of America the funds set aside for the minor, if the parent, guardian, or trustee fails to provide the photocopy, as specified. The bill would also specify the rights and duties of The Actors' Fund of America in this regard, including the right to collect management, administrative, and investment expenses, and would exempt funds received by The Actors' Fund of America under the bill from the application of the Unclaimed Property Law, and provide for the dispersal of those funds to a beneficiary who has attained 18 years of age or who has been emancipated, or to the estate of a deceased beneficiary. The bill would provide that the trust account established for the minor pursuant to these provisions would be known as a Coogan Trust Account. The bill would make corresponding changes, and condition the issuance of certain work permits for a minor in the entertainment industry upon the establishment of a Coogan Trust Account, as specified.

SB 469 (Scott) Instructional materials. Location: Signed by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter No. 898, Statutes of 2003. Existing law establishes the Instructional Materials Funding Realignment Program to provide funding for instructional materials to school districts on the basis of an equal amount per pupil enrolled in public elementary and high schools. Existing law provides that if any funds received pursuant to the program remain after providing each pupil with a standards-aligned textbook or basic instructional materials in core curriculum areas, and if the local governing board has met certain eligibility requirements, the remaining funds may only be used for certain purposes related to instructional materials. This bill would authorize a school district to use its allowance from the fund to purchase adopted instructional materials for the visual and performing arts, foreign language, health, or any other curricular area if it certifies that it has provided each pupil with a standards-aligned textbook or basic instructional materials in reading/language arts, mathematics, history/social science, and science.
Position: Support.

SB 987 (McPherson) California missions. Location: Held in Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense Calendar. Existing law contains various provisions relating to historical and cultural resource projects and programs, including the development, restoration, and preservation of historical sites. This bill would appropriate ____ from those funds to the Department of Parks and Recreation for allocation as a grant to the California Missions Foundation, a charitable corporation. The bill would require these moneys to be used to support the efforts of the foundation to restore and repair the California missions and to preserve the artworks and artifacts associated with the California missions.

SB 1032 (Murray) Motion picture theaters: unauthorized recordings. Location: Signed by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter No. 670, Statutes of 2003. Existing law provides that a person admitted to a theater in which a motion picture is to be or is being exhibited who refuses to cease the operation of a video recording device upon the request of the theater owner is guilty of intentionally interfering with and obstructing the operation of a lawful business, a misdemeanor. This bill would provide, in addition, that every person who operates a recording device in a motion picture theater while a motion picture is being exhibited, for the purpose of recording a theatrical motion picture and without the express written authority of the owner of the motion picture theater, is guilty of a public offense and shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $2,500, or by both that fine and imprisonment. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

SB 1033 (Murray) Recording industry accounting practices. Location: Held in Senate Rules Committee. Existing law provides for the regulation of various businesses and professions by the Department of Consumer Affairs. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation regarding the accounting practices of the recording industry.

SCR 5 (Scott) Visual and performing arts. Location: Signed by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter No. 124, Statutes of 2003. This measure would declare the Legislature's acknowledgment and support of standards-based instruction in the visual and performing arts in all California public schools, prekindergarten through grade 12, inclusive.

PARK BOND – Implementation of AB 716 (Firebaugh)
Last year AB 716 (Firebaugh/Burton/Alarcon) was approved by the Legislature. It was the implementation of Proposition 40. It established the California Cultural and Historical Endowment. It incorporates SB 1088 (Alarcon), a vision of museum services. There were concerns this year whether AB 716 would be implemented and whether the finding would be put into the endowment unencumbered for competitive grants.

The legislature followed through on the implementation of the endowment and competitive grants. Fortunately, the legislature agreed and the budget put the monies into the Endowment for competitive grants.

The State Librarian will be implementing this program and have not yet scheduled any public workshops. I will keep CAA informed of activities as they develop at the State Librarian on the implementation of AB 716.

Find out more about these bills at the California Assembly or the California State Senate.