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FY2022 Omnibus Bill
Congress has finally reached a compromise on the federal government's annualbudget for FY 2022. With all 13 appropriation bills pulled into one large Omnibus bill totaling $1.3 trillion, this all-encompassing bill includes everything from Ukraine relief aid and military spending to agriculture, roads, health, and arts appropriations. The Arts Action Fund will be sharing more in the coming weeks on other arts funding provisions that are buried in the 2,741-page and its complex series of committee reports, which include millions of dollars in federal earmark funds for arts related projects in communities across the country.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities will each receive a historic high of $180 million. While this represents a $12.5 million increase from last year, it is unfortunately much less than what we anticipated or need.
There was not any additional COVID economic relief funding for the SBA nor was the Save Our Stages Extension bill included in the Omnibus. For those of you waiting for Congress to pass an SVOG deadline extension to use federal grant funds to pay for expenses incurred until March 2023, that is now looking unlikely.
A determined group of bipartisan Senators and House members still want to pass a stand-alone COVID relief bill to provide funds to support live venues, specifically restaurants and gyms (which did not receive SBA funds last year). While this is another possible bill that the SOS Extension Act could be attached to, it is hard to imagine this bill passing through both chambers of Congress before June 30, 2022.
Federal Creative Economy Legislation Webpage
Americans for the Arts' 4-pager on the 7 federal creative economy bills under consideration by congress has be transformed into a webpage which allows you to dive deeply into each of the bills. Through public policy, we can collectively achieve a stronger creative sector, which would drive economic growth and social cohesion and would ensure a better creative life for all! We hope you and your networks find this resource helpful in your efforts to advocate in support of these bills.
To take action, contact your member of Congress via our Arts Action Center and request that they co-sponsor the legislative proposals.
Artist-Museum Partnership Act (AMPA) is now in the PLACE Act
Many of you have been stalwart supporters of the legislation that the late Congressman John Lewis championed during his time in Congress: the Artist-Museum Partnership Act (AMPA). It was a bill (also led by Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy in the Senate) that sought to address the inequity between how artists are treated versus other tax payers. The AMPA legislation was crafted to change the tax policy that prevents an artist from receiving the full value of his or her artwork when donating to a museum. Current law restricts those artists to only the cost of the materials, whereas any other donor can receive the fair-market value of the artwork to deduct from their taxes.
As Representative Lewis passed away in 2020, and Senator Leahy is set to retire at the end of this Congress, a new path has been set for this important civil rights legislation – it has been included in the “PLACE Act” introduced in the Senate by Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME). The “Promoting Local Arts and Creative Economy Workforce Act” (PLACE) is a broad proposal addressing 20 pro-arts policies, and includes the AMPA proposal as one of its provisions.
We are excited about the continuation of this legislative effort and doggedly pursuing a fix in Congress to right this inequity that restricts the ability of artists from sharing their work in museums throughout the country. To take action in support of the PLACE Act, and other similar creative economy bills, please contact your congressional delegation through our simple federal E-alert with a customizable message.