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Theater groups urge Legislature to restore $11.5M performing arts payroll fund removed in May revision
Summary
Advocates, theater leaders and unions told Assembly Budget Subcommittee 5 that the May revision proposed reverting the $11.5 million Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund and that organizations had nearly finalized applications or planned hires; speakers said eliminating the appropriation now would shutter small nonprofits and cost jobs.
Multiple nonprofit performing‑arts organizations, unions and advocacy groups told the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 5 that the governor's May revision would withdraw $11.5 million budgeted for the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund (PAPF), a program established by recent legislation to reimburse payroll costs for small performing arts nonprofits.
Representatives from Teatro Navarre, Capital Stage Company, Celebration Arts, Theatre Bay Area, and other groups described delayed pandemic recovery, continued audience declines and the need for payroll support to retain staff and pay artists. Jennifer Lane, policy chair of California Arts Advocates, said the sector has seen a cascade of statewide reductions, and urged the Legislature to keep the PAPF funding in place and finish the awards process.
CalOSBA (as program manager) told the committee the PAPF application portal closed in March 2025 with 413 applications representing about $40.9 million in demand; the program manager said awards would have been made on a first‑come, first‑served basis and that many applicants would have received reimbursements.
Performing‑arts organizations said the money was already committed in practice: nonprofit managers said they had created or retained payroll positions in anticipation of the reimbursements. Actors' Equity and the United Food and Commercial Workers said payroll support helps unionized jobs and protects workers from a deeper employment collapse.
Assemblymembers including Matt Haney and others urged the committee to find alternatives to cutting the PAPF in the May revision, describing the fund as both a jobs program and a driver of downtown economic activity. LAO analysts weighed the program's role: they said PAPF is closer to a subsidized wage program than a job-creation tax incentive and noted awards were near completion, cautioning the Legislature about a disruptive reversion.
No final appropriation change was adopted at the hearing. Several members said they would continue to press for restoration of the PAPF or another mechanism to support performing arts payrolls during budget negotiations.
