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Legislation
We
have listed important Massachusetts State Legislation that Individual
Artists of all disciplines should know about. Join this site's
list serve to be notified when action is needed. First step, however,
is for you to introduce yourself to your elected State Legislators and
you can find out who they are on our the
Policy Makers section. Special thanks to the Artists
Foundation for analysis and help with this section. Also
see our News Section
to keep up with other important issues. To learn more about how legislation
becomes law see Lawmaking
in Massachusetts. (This page was updated on 3/25/08- * indicates
the update(s)).
An
Act Establishing a Disaster and Emergency Aid Fund for Massachusetts Artists
House Bill 3421
The
bill would allow for the State Treasurer's Office to establish a specific
state fund for Disaster/Emergency Aid for Massachusetts Artists working
in all disciplines. This fund will be used to help artists who have
had a health care emergency (i.e. could not pay their medical bills
or medical insurance) as well as to help those artists who suffered
other types of emergencies (fires, floods, theft). The funds would be
generated from the Treasurer's sale of artwork collected by the abandoned
property division and funds generated from the private sector. No funds
would be taken out of existing state funds or the state budget.
--Filed by the Chairman Representative Turkington of the Joint Committee
for Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development Committee and Chairman Senator
Hart of the Joint Committee for Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.
This bill is endorsed by the State Treasurer. The Artists Foundation
considers this a great bill for artists. Presently it is in the
House Committee on Ways
and Means.
An
Act Relative to Independent Contractors House Bill 311
The
bill would amend the
2004 Independent Contractor law change. The 2004 law change is negatively
impacting the artist community and the arts community because it made
it next to impossible for people to be classified as independent contractors
in this State. This amendment, however, would still keep key changes
in place that keep employers from misusing the independent contractor
worker category.
--The Bill was filled by Chairman Representative Rodrigues of the Joint
Committee on Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure. Chairman
Representative Turkington of the Joint Committee for Tourism, Arts and
Cultural Development Committee has also signed on to this bill.
The Artists Foundation considers this a great bill for artists. It
was released out of committee favorably by the Joint
Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure.*
The Adjunct Pension Bill: HB 2821
also known as the An Act Relative to vesting and accumulating creditable
service in the State Retirement System for Part Time Faculty teaching
in the Commonwealth¹s Institutions of Higher Education House Bill 2821
This bill allows part-time faculty who teach the equivalent of four
3-credit courses per calendar year in the state higher education system
to earn a year of creditable service for each year of such teaching
experience. House Bill 2821 has been reported out favorably by the Public
Service Committee and has been referred to the House Ways & Means Committee
for their review. If reported on favorably, the bill would then be sent
to the entire House for further review and a possible vote.
The Artists Foundation considers this a great bill for artists. Presently
it is in the
House Committee on Ways
and Means
An
Act Establishing the Creative Economy Council House Bill 4227
The
bill would establish a Creative Economy Council with in the Executive
Office of Housing and Economic Development (which is under the Governor).
Presently, as written in the Legislation, there are 23 seats on the
Council.
--Filed by the Chairman Representative Bosley of the Joint Committee
for Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.
The Artists Foundation considers this a good start BUT the
Foundation publicly testified and submitted written testimony to respectfully
ask that more seats be added to the Council and that many of those seats
be for individual artists representing the key artistic disciplines
(music, visual, literary, film/video, dance, crafts, theater/performing
arts). Presently there are no seats slated for individual artists on
the Council.
The
AF was informed that a new draft of this Bill was released with what
are called technical changes. The
new Bill number is HB 4309- the issues the AF raised have not been
corrected in this new draft and it is our understanding that the concerns
that were raised are being taken seriously- more on this as we learn
more.
An
Act Promoting Work Created by Massachusetts Artists House Bill 3152
The
bill would exempt living Massachusetts artists of all discipline's from
collecting state sales tax from the selling of their work (must be non
industry/commercially created work). Also exempt from collecting sales
tax are Massachusetts Businesses who are selling the work of living
Massachusetts artists and come under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts
Consignment of Fine Art Law (that was amended in 2006 by Senator Hart
with SB 2461).
--Filed by the Chairman Representative Turkington of the Joint Committee
for Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development Committee and Chairman Senator
Hart of the Joint Committee for Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.
The Artists Foundation considers this a great bill for artists. The
Joint Committee on Revenue put this bill into a study- which means
it will not be released out of committee. Translation- this bill is
not going anywhere given the present economic downturn.*
An
Act Relative to Eligibility for Cooperative Housing Corporation House
Bill 1224
The
bill would make artist co-ops and other types of co-ops that use any
criteria other than financial criteria to decide membership/ownership
basically illegal in the state. The Governor amended the bill to allow
elder/senior housing co-ops to stay legal in the state, see
HB 4445
--Filed by the Representative Finegold and Senator Montigny and Senator
Tucker.
The Artists Foundation considers this a "bad" bill for
artists and other communities even with the Governor's amendment. It
is our understanding that many other legislators are very concerned
with this bill and are trying to address the concerns of the artist
community. The bill is presently in the
House Committee on Bills in the Third
Reading.
Health
Care Related Legislation:
An
Act Relative to Massachusetts Artists(Health Care) House Bill 3936
This
bill would improve access to affordable health care for self-employed
artists. This bill also increases access for affordable health care
for artists who have combination income (they have some freelance/self-employed
income).
--Filed by the Chairman Representative Turkington of the Joint Committee
for Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development Committee and Chairman Senator
Hart of the Joint Committee for Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.
The Artists Foundation considers this a great bill for artists. PLEASE
NOTE a new version of this bill (due to changes the AF advocated for)
was submitted and it is not the same as the version on the State's website.
The new version is presently in the Joint
Committee on Health Care Financing.
An
Act Strengthening Health Care Reform(SB 661, HB 1166)
This
bill enhances access to coverage and clarifies health reform's definition
of affordability.
--Filed
by Senator Mark Montigny and Representative John Scibak.
The ACT Coalition, which the Artists Foundation is a member of, is
endorsing this bill.
An
Act Relative to Eligibility for State Group Health Insurance Senate Bill
1587
It
is known as the Adjunct Health Insurance Bill: SB 1587 This bill would
provide part-time faculty who teach the equivalent of four 3-credit
courses per calendar year in the state higher education system to be
eligible for a state employee insurance plan that is comparable in both
cost and coverage to insurance policies held by their public higher
education full-time faculty colleagues. After a successful hearing before
the Joint Committee on Public Service on July 12, 2007, Senate Bill
1587 was reported out favorably and referred to the Senate Ways & Means
Committee for their review. If reviewed favorably by this committee,
the bill would then be sent to the full Senate for further review and
a possible vote.
--Filed
by the Chairman Senator Moore of the Joint Committee on Health Care
Financing
The
Artists Foundation considers this a great bill for artists. This bill
is in
the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
Legislation
that is working towards a single payer model in Massachusetts (The AF
has always endorsed and still does endorse a single payer model for the
artists community):
Massachusetts
Health Care Trust Bill (currently S. 755)
From the Nurses Association on this bill:
www.massnurses.org
and Information from MassCare:
www.masscare.org
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