BILL NUMBER: AB 113 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2001
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 14, 2001
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Pavley
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Aroner, John Campbell, Correa,
Hertzberg, Horton, Liu, Robert Pacheco, and
Strom-Martin)
(Coauthors: Senators Bowen, Costa, Kuehl, Murray, and Speier)
JANUARY 18, 2001
An act to add Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 8760) to
Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code, relating to the
California Poet Laureate.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 113, as amended, Pavley. California Poet Laureate.
Existing law establishes the Arts Council and sets forth the
duties of the council in promoting the arts in the state.
This bill would establish the position of California Poet
Laureate, who would be appointed for a specified term by the Governor
from a list of nominees garnered by the council through a specified
process, and who would perform specified duties. It would
provide for a grant program for poetic artists, for the purpose of
specific poetic projects, according to guidelines and criteria
established by the council authorize the council to
pay an appropriate stipend to the California Poet Laureate and would
require the council to provide for the payment of his or her
expenses, as specified .
This bill would authorize the council to solicit and receive
gifts, donations, bequests, grants of funds, or any other revenues,
from public or private sources and to expend those moneys to increase
the stipend of the California Poet Laureate and for any other
purpose it deems necessary to implement this bill.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) It is widely acknowledged that the ability to read is
essential to the acquisition of a good education and to increase the
prospects of a productive life and that general literacy among our
people is essential to our reputation in the community of nations.
(b) In the acknowledgement of this truth, the Governor and the
Legislature in recent years have invested heavily to ensure that all
California's children acquire excellent reading skills and have
engaged with students in reading programs and undertaken other
literacy programs and activities to ensure that the love and
enjoyment of books is a significant component of the education of
every child.
(c) The arts generally have been shown to have a positive impact
on the ability of our children to learn, to create greater interest
in academic programs, and to enrich and enliven the great cultural
heritage of California.
(d) California's poets have long been acknowledged as among the
most prestigious in the nation, and include numerous Nobel Prize,
Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and other significant award
recipients, and at least three United States' Poets Laureate.
California's poets also come from every ethnic, religious, and
geographic region of the state, and have often provided a great
source of inspiration to their communities, students and other young
people, and the people of California generally.
(e) The California Poets in the Schools program, in which
professional poets work with children in Kindergarten through 12th
grade in almost every county in the state, has created great interest
in the poetic arts among California's children and youth. This
interest is evidenced by the large number of reading series, chapbook
publications, poetry-based websites, which have the second
among the largest number of "hits" of all
website types, and other popular poetic activities.
(f) The United States, many states, and many cities have
established the position of Poet Laureate, using vigorous and
competitive appointment procedures and requiring recipients to engage
in specific public projects.
SEC. 2. Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 8760) is added to
Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code, to read:
CHAPTER 9.5. CALIFORNIA POET LAUREATE
8760. (a) The position of California Poet Laureate is hereby
established.
(b) The California Poet Laureate shall be appointed by the
Governor from a list of three nominees provided by the Arts Council
garnered through the following process:
(1) The council shall establish a panel of three literary experts,
which may include any of the following:
(A) Literature professors and teachers, including professional
poets teaching in such programs as California Poets in the Schools
and other arts in schools programs.
(B) Public and private arts organizations that have a significant
literary component.
(C) Professional poets.
(D) Boards and directors of literary organizations.
(E) Literary critics.
(F) Others deemed by the director to have expertise in
contemporary American poetry.
(2) (A) The panel shall solicit nominations from a broad array of
literary sources and individuals, including, but not limited to, all
of the following:
(i) University and college literature departments.
(ii) Literary organizations, societies, and centers.
(iii) Poetry book publishers and poetry editors.
(iv) Directors of poetry reading series.
(v) Independent book sellers specializing in poetry.
(B) The panel shall make every effort to ensure that information
regarding the solicitation of nominations is broadly distributed.
(3) The council may establish other rules and regulations
regarding the nomination process and expend funds for those purposes.
(c) Each nominee for California Poet Laureate submitted by
the Arts Council to the Governor shall have resided in
California for at least 10 years, have a significant body of
published work, and be widely considered to be a poet of stature.
(d) A poet laureate appointed pursuant to this section shall serve
for a term of two years, and may not serve more than two terms.
8761. The Arts Council shall may
establish an appropriate stipend for the California Poet Laureate
for and shall provide for the payment of
the poet laureate's expenses incurred in fulfilling his or her
responsibilities as set forth in this chapter and as established by
the council. Additionally, the council may make available other
funds for activities that the council and the California Poet
Laureate mutually agree to undertake, such as
including, but not limited to, the lease of facilities for
readings and the acquiring of insurance thererfor
therefor , and other similar activities.
8762. The California Poet Laureate shall, as a condition of the
appointment, assume the following minimum responsibilities:
(a) Provide a minimum of six public readings during his or her two
year-term endeavoring to ensure that people in all geographic
regions of the state have reasonable access to at least one reading
during the course of the term.
(b) Undertake a specific project that shall last through the term,
agreed to by the California Poet Laureate and the council, but whose
goal will be to bring the poetic arts to Californians and to
California students who might otherwise have little opportunity to be
exposed to poetry. The California Poet Laureate may, and is
encouraged to, coordinate his or her project with any similar project
being undertaken by the current United States' Poet Laureate.
(c) Any other reasonable activities as agreed to mutually by the
California Poet Laureate and the council.
8763. The Arts Council shall, commencing in 2010 and every 10
years thereafter, and with the agreement of the past California Poets
Laureate and their representatives, publish or cause to be published
an anthology featuring examples of the work of the poets laureate of
the past decade.
8764. The Arts Council shall award grants to poetic artists who
apply for the purpose of specific poetic projects, according to
guidelines and criteria established by the council.
8765. The council may solicit and receive gifts, donations,
bequests, grants of funds, or any other revenues, from public or
private sources, and expend those moneys to increase the stipend of
the California Poet Laureate and for any other purpose it deems
necessary to implement this chapter.