Assembly Member Mark Leno yanked AB 655 which proposed a 1% surcharge on admissions to entertainment venues as an alternate source of funding for the California Arts Commission. Plow your way through the routine howling this produced in movie theatre and amusement park owners to find the strange silence from the arts community on this one. The bill included taxing nonprofits themselves: 1% of the door, tithed to the CAC on the off-chance we might get it back through our participation in a re-capitalized CAC, which would be, thanks to us in small measure, and cineplexes and six flags in larger measure, back in the bidness of cultural funding.
- Theatre Bay Area published a March discussion with the author.
- This is the text of the languishing bill.
- The committee analysis of the bill, which lists the Oakland City Council as a supporter. Who was that? Nancy Nadel!
THE ITEM | THE REPORT | DID YOU GET THE MEMO? - And my favorite moment on this subject came, as usual, from a right-wing religious political action, er, sorry, educational nonprofit California Family Council who categorized it as a “Just Plain Silly Bill”. They characterize the bill as taxing children who who want only to go see Bambi or Nemo.
One can always count on the religious right for modest proposals.
I think Bambi should be taxed more thoroughly …
What interested me more was the lists on one of the links of the supporting and opposed … lots of usual suspects on both sides, but the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s opposition was surprising. Maybe they actually read the revision of the bill?
In other news on the slogoblere … Jerry Brown says being mayor is hard – you actually have to engage with reality.
http://jerrybrown.typepad.com/jerry/2005/04/all_eyes_on_the.html