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02-04-2008: President Bush releases his FY 2009 budget proposal, requesting a $16.3 million cut for the National Endowment for the Arts and zero funding for the Arts in Education programs.
02-07-2008: Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Bennett (R-UT), lead sponsors of the Artist Museum Partnership Act (S.548), have sent a letter to Senate Finance leaders, Chairman Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member 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.
03-11-2008: National Endowment for the Humanities Chairmen Bruce Cole testifies before the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee.
03-14-2008: The Congressional Arts Caucus circulate "Dear Colleague" letters for the NEA and Arts Education, seeking $176 million in NEA funding and $53 million in funding for arts education at the U.S. Department of Education for FY 2009.
03-25-2008: Reps. John Lewis and Jim Ramstad release a "Dear Colleague" letter encouraging other members to co-sponsor the Artist Fair Market Deduction Bill (H.R. 1524).
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. It is not known when the Senate will consider the bill. You can read about this bill's implications in this article from the New York Times. For more information about improving the visa processes for foreign guest artists, read our issue brief.
04-01-2008: Americans for the Arts and 87 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 2008 Congressional Arts Leadership Award.
04-01-2008: Rep. Norm Dicks convenes the House Interior & Environment Appropriations Subcommittee for a special hearing on the arts, marking Arts Advocacy Day. Witnesses, including Robert Redford, ask for NEA funding to be restored to its 1992 level of $176 million.
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. For more information on this legislation, read our issue brief.
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, H.R. 5889) relating to the copyright protections of orphan works.
05-07-2008: House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property (Chairman Howard Berman, D-CA; Ranking Member Howard Coble, R-NC) 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.
05-08-2008: The House Education & Labor Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities 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 documentary filmmaker Ken Burns; NEA Chairman Dana Gioia; NEH Chairman Bruce Cole; Freeport, NY Mayor William Glacken; Jeanne Schmedlen, former chair of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council ; 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.
06-11-2008: The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which sets the initial funding level for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), approved a $15 million increase for the NEA for its FY 2009 spending bill. If this funding level is maintained by the Senate and signed into law by President Bush, it will bring the agency's budget up to $160 million from its current level of $144.7 million.
Additionally, the National Endowment for the Humanities was also given an increase to match the NEA at $160 million.
07-16-2008: With the addition of Rep. Zack Space (D-OH) as a cosponsor, the Artist Deduction Bill reached a new record number of cosponsors in the House—104 cosponsors plus Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), the chief sponsor, for a total of 105, breaking the record set in 2004. This legislation supports individual artists by allowing them to take a fair-market value tax deduction for tangible works they donate to nonprofit collecting and educational organizations.
09-11-2008: The House Education & Labor Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities (Chairman Carolyn McCarthy, D-NY; Ranking Member Todd Platts, R-PA) held an informational hearing on the programs of the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) highlighting the vital role that museums and libraries play in civic engagement and educational outreach. Witnesses included Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Dr. Anne-Imelda M. Radice; Deputy Secretary of Education and Commissioner of Libraries in Harrisburg, PA, Ms. Mary Clare Zales; Executive Director of the Arizona Health Science Library at University of Arizona in Tucson, Ms. Annabelle Núñez; President of the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul, MN, Dr. Eric Jolly; and Executive Director of the Long Island Education and Commissioner for Libraries in Harrisburg, PA, Ms. Suzanne LeBlanc. Witness' testimony is available on the committee's website.
09-27-2008: The Senate approves the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008, S. 2913. The bill, which seeks to limit liability of those who use hard to find copyrighted material if they perform a statutorily defined diligent search, has a companion piece of legislation in the House which has not yet been reported out of committee. A comprehensive analysis of the legislation can be found here.
09-27-2008: Congress passed H.R. 2638, a year-end appropriations bill containing a Continuing Resolution, which funds most federal agencies and programs at FY 2008 levels through March 6, 2009. The NEA will stay level-funded at $144.7 million; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at $420 million; the Office of Museum Services at $31.2 million; and Arts in Education at the Department of Education at $37.53 million until FY 2009 negotiations resume under a new administration.
10-03-2008: Included as part of the financial bailout package, Congress approved a two-year extension of the IRA Charitable Rollover Provision. Originally enacted as a part of the Pension Reform Act of 2006, the IRA Rollover permits donors age 70 1/2 and older to make tax-free charitable contributions directly from their IRAs, up to $100,000 annually. The IRA Rollover provision expired in December 2007, but has now been extended through December 2009.
11-18-2008: Representative Todd Platts (R-PA) accepted an invitation to serve as Co-Chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus (CAC), joining current Co-Chair Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) for the 111th Congress. Rep. Platts received an “A” grade in the Arts Action Fund Congressional Arts Report Card, and currently serves as the Ranking Member of the House subcommittee which oversees the authorization of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
12-01-2008: Americans for the Arts joined other national arts advocacy organizations in submitting this policy brief to the Obama Transition Office, and to former NEA chairman Bill Ivey, who heads the arts and cultural review team for the transition team. The brief outlines six topics and provides policy recommendations in each of them for the incoming administration.
