BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 580
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 9, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS, TOURISM, AND
INTERNET MEDIA
Ian C. Calderon, Chair
AB 580 (Nazarian) - As Amended: March 19, 2013
SUBJECT : Arts Council Grant Funding
SUMMARY : Creates an annual continuous appropriation from the
General Fund (GF) to the California Arts Council (CAC) in the
amount of $75,000,000, and makes various legislative findings
and declarations. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that the GF shall be continuously appropriated to the
CAC in the amount of $75,000,000 in each fiscal year.
2)Requires that these funds shall be used only to issue grants
to further the arts, as otherwise authorized to be issued by
the CAC.
3)The bill makes the following legislative findings and
declarations:
a) Life in this state is enriched by art, innovation, and
creativity.
b) The source of art is in the natural flow of the human
mind, but realizing craft and beauty is demanding, and the
people of the state desire to encourage and nourish these
skills wherever they occur, to the intrinsic and extrinsic
benefit of all.
c) Every dollar in state support for the arts leverages
seven dollars in earned and contributed revenue, and brings
back more than three dollars in taxes to state and local
government entities.
d) California's cultural enterprises provide nearly 500,891
jobs for its residents, accounting for 7.6 percent of total
employment.
e) Non-profit arts organizations contribute $9,000,400,000
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to the state's economy.
f) Non-profit arts organizations are a partner to the
creative industries and play a key role in the 21st Century
workforce and the global economy, including in the fields
of architecture, advertising, consulting, education,
performing arts, museums, and other cultural industries;
design, including electronic design, software development,
film, games, including computer games, historic
preservation, music, new media, publishing, radio,
television, and tourism.
g) An investment in the arts and the creative economy
industries can revitalize a neighborhood or area by
accomplishing all of the following:
i) Stimulating the economy.
ii) Engaging residents.
iii) Drawing tourists.
iv) Providing a sense of community.
v) Serving as a gathering place.
vi) Encouraging creativity.
vii) Strengthening community
partnerships.
viii) Promoting the arts and supporting artists.
ix) Developing a positive image for the
area.
x) Enhancing property values.
xi) Capitalizing on local cultural,
economic, and social assets.
xii) Creating jobs.
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates CAC, consisting of 11-members who serve four-year,
staggered terms. Nine members are appointed by the Governor,
subject to Senate confirmation, and the Speaker of the
Assembly and the Senate Committee on Rules appoint one member
each. [Government Code Section 8751(a).]
2)Directs CAC to encourage artistic awareness, participation,
and expression; to help independent local groups develop their
own arts programs; to promote employment of artists and those
skilled in crafts in the public and private sector; to provide
for exhibition of artistic works in public buildings; and, to
enlist the aid of all state agencies in the task of ensuring
the fullest expression of artistic potential. (Government
Code Section 8753.)
3)Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue, for
fees in specified amounts, a special interest license plate
bearing a full-plate graphic design that depicts a significant
feature or quality of the State of California and is approved
by the DMV in consultation with CAC. (Vehicle Code Section
5074.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author and Supporters Statement of Need for Legislation :
According to the author, "This bill will create jobs and boost
California's economy by restoring funding to the arts.
Specifically, this bill will allocate $75 million to the CAC,
from the GF, to fund art programs that will be enjoyed and
taken advantage of by local communities throughout the state.
"At the proposed estimate of $2.00 per person (which equals
approximately 75 million), California would still not rank in
the top ten in state funding. However, this bill will provide
a significant amount of support to the arts and to the
residents of California to remediate the lost funding the CAC
has faced in the last decade. The arts provide an
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intellectual infrastructure for our entire creative economy,
from technology to the entertainment industry.
The San Francisco International Arts Festival letter is
representative of many supporters when they write in support
of this bill to say, "The arts are a major player in our
state's economy, generating billions in total economic
activity and fundamentally impacting California's core
creative industries." To illustrate their point, they offer
the following: "California's cultural enterprises provide
more than 500,000 jobs for Californians or 7.6% of total
employment; in addition California's non-profit arts
specifically contribute more than $9 billion to the state's
economy. Additionally, the arts are a key partner to the
creative industries, encourage creativity, help prepare
students and workers to compete in the 21st Century global
economy, attract creative workers and industries of all kinds,
stimulate the economy, engage residents, provide a sense of
community, celebrating diversity and building bridges
understanding, and draw tourists and visitors."
The Californians for the Arts, sponsors of this bill, add in
support, "Since 2003, California has ranked last among all the
states in per capita investment in the arts - allocating just
three cents per person from the GF. This bill will leverage
the arts as a proven and powerful catalyst for spurring local
economies and for preparing California's workforce to prosper
in the global creative economy. The arts are vital to the
quality of life that we are so very proud of in California.
Your legislation will provide a stable revenue source for
CAC's granting programs to non-profit arts organizations,
leveraging the arts as a significant contributor to
California's economic recovery through tourism, job creation,
social services and educational outreach. This bill proposes
a sound investment for California."
Finally, the local arts agency Arts Orange County offer that
"The creative industries are one of the largest employer
sectors in Orange County, represented not only by obvious
examples like Disneyland, but also by digital game creators
like Blizzard Entertainment, the fashion industry like St.
John Knits, Oakley and Quicksilver, and high-tech companies
like Broadcom and Emulex. These firms avidly pursue not just
the best and brightest-but the most creative new hires. They
seek individuals that have not only the technical skills
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required, but the kinds of skills acquired through training
and participation in the arts-inspiration, collaboration,
imagination."
2)Background :
a) California Arts Funding and Program Levels :
The CAC was created in 1975 under then Governor Jerry Brown
to increase access to the arts for all Californians. The
CAC budget had grown from its first full year of funding in
fiscal year 1976-77 at $1,917,000 to $32,224,000 in fiscal
year 2001-02, when 1,590 grants were awarded to non-profit
arts organizations. In 2003, appropriations to the CAC
were cut by 97%, and GF appropriation from the Legislature
has remained essentially flat at $1,000,000 over the past
decade. Since 2003, California has ranked last or next to
last among the states in terms of per capita investment in
the arts.
Current funding levels for CAC in the fiscal year 2011-12
were just over $5,000,000 broken down by source as follows:
General Fund
$1,027,202.70
Graphic Design License Plate Account
$2,794,355.96
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
$1,158,493.86
Reimbursements $
26,500.00
Special Deposit: Donations
$ 125,710.00
Total
$5,132,262.52
According to their annual report for 2011, the CAC,
"Provided $3.4 million in grants and initiatives to the
non-profit arts sector, putting artists in schools and
underserved communities, providing support for local arts
councils in 50 counties and two major cities, providing
support for statewide arts service and multicultural
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networks, organized Poetry Out Loud recitation contest for
over 40,000 students statewide, providing arts programs for
kids and communities in every county in the state, and
supporting over 2,795 California jobs."
a) Arts as an Economic Generator :
The author states that public investment in the non-profit
arts has been proven to both spark economic activity in
communities and return tax dollars to public coffers.
Pointing out recent research which shows that arts
investments made by the state of Pennsylvania generated
$2.50 for the state's treasury for every one dollar spent.
In California, the Los Angeles County Economic Development
Commission issues an annual report on the Creative Economy,
which found when looking at the economic activity of the
creative economy in Los Angeles and Orange Counties,
for-profit and non-profit ventures total $230.7 billion
dollars in 2012. They also found the sector supports
664,000 jobs and generates $3.3 billion in state and local
taxes.
In the last statewide survey of the economic impact of the
arts here in California, a 2004 study commissioned by CAC
(with support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
and others) focused on the economic impact of non-profit
arts on the state's economy. The Arts: A Competitive
Advantage for California II found that "Non-profit arts
organizations attract an audience of 71.2 million and bring
a $5.4 billion impact to the state's economy, including
66,300 full-time and 95,100 part-time jobs, (40,000
arts-related plus 26,300 having an impact on the arts), and
generate nearly $300 million in state and local taxes."
1)Prior and Related Legislation :
a) SB 571 (Price), of the current Session, allows taxpayers
to make voluntary contributions to the California Arts
Council Fund on their state personal income tax returns.
Pending before the Senate Government and Finance Committee.
b) SB 1076 (Price), Chapter 319, Statutes of 2010, allowed
taxpayers to make voluntary contributions to the California
Arts Council Fund on their state personal income tax
returns. This act sunset due to failure of the CAC to reach
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the statutory threshold of $250,000 in tax donations.
c) AB 700 (Krekorian), of the 2009-10 Legislative Session,
would have established the Creative Industries and
Community Economic Revitalization Fund in the State
Treasury, and required that 20% of all revenues derived
from the payment of sales and use taxes that are remitted
to the State Board of Equalization by the taxpayers engaged
in specified lines of business, as provided, be deposited
in the fund. The CAC would be authorized to expend the
moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
to issue grants pursuant to the act, as specified. AB 700
was held in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations on
Suspense.
d) AB 2728 (Karnette), of the 2007-08 of the Legislative
Session, would have required 20% of state sales and use tax
revenues derived from the sales of specified art-related
goods be deposited in the State Treasury for allocation to
the CAC once the GF achieves structural balance. AB 2728
was held in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
e) AB 1365 (Karnette), of the 2007-08 Legislative Session,
was a substantially similar measure to AB 2728, without the
balanced budget trigger requirement. AB 1365 was held in
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
f) AB 655 (Leno), of the 2005-06 Legislative Session,
proposed a 1% surcharge on the price of admission to
specified arts and entertainment venues. AB 655 was held
in this committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Californians for the Arts (Sponsor)
Arts for LA
Bowers Museum
City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture
Colburn Foundation
CounterPULSE
Foundation for the Arts in Alameda County
Jail Guitar Doors
Joe Goode Performance Group
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Laguna Art Museum
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Marin Theatre Company
Mary Lonergan Art
Movimiento de Arte y Cultural
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Quinn Associates
San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory
San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco Opera
South Coast Repertory
St. Madeline Sophie's Center
Theatre Bay Area
Four private citizens
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Dana Mitchell / A.,E.,S.,T. & I.M. /
(916) 319-3450