Arts Cuts to Reach House Floor
April 28, 2001
$5 Million of $10 Million Restored in Committee, But We’re Only Halfway There
Call your House member by MONDAY!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!
TELL THEM: “PUT ALL THE ARTS MONEY BACK!”
Although Rep. Dan McElroy (R-Burnsville) was successful in reducing the arts cut from $10 million to $5 million in the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday (yeah!) we are still in jeopardy.
The Krinkie cut is still so severe that it would be extraordinarily difficult to repair it in conference committee so we must repair the damage on the House floor. The Conference Committee will have limited money to resolve differences between the House and Senate positions. While the McElroy motion helped significantly, we are VERY CONCERNED that restoring the remaining $5 million cut in conference committee will be very difficult.
You should know that Republican members of the House are being told by Rep. Krinkie that the cut is solely to be used to strengthen his negotiating position with the Senate when they get to conference committee. However, Rep. Krinkie’s long standing opposition to arts funding causes us to believe that his real intention is to succeed in eliminating funding to at least the largest of our arts organizations. He has been very direct about this intention.
The House position will result in deficits for many arts organizations. The cut comes specifically out of the Minnesota State Arts Board grant programs, which include the following: Arts in Education, Arts Across Minnesota, General Operating Support and Formula Funds, Presenter Assistance, Arts Midwest, Folk Arts, and individual artist support programs. In addition, Rep. Krinkie added language to the bill that would prevent any organization from receiving more than $100,000 per year in grants, even if it is from different programs with different purposes.
We must get the House to vote to restore ALL the arts funding on the floor next week.
This is where you come in: CALL your representative right away. Call them at home this weekend, or at their office on Monday. Call MCA’s offices if you need to find out who your legislators are and need their phone numbers. We’ll be at the MCA office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and also possibly on Sunday if we aren’t too exhausted. If we aren’t here, leave a message with your home address and we’ll call you back as soon as we are in the office to tell you who your legislators are. Postcards and calls have already started to roll into legislative offices. Keep up the great work!