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Committee trims and reworks cultural office bill after AG, SFCA concerns
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Summary
Lawmakers amended SB3007 SD2 to remove an appropriation for relocating stadium artwork, shift the new office to a different agency, and add rulemaking and planning requirements after testimony from the attorney generals office and the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
The House committee considering cultural-policy bills on March 18 amended and advanced SB3007 SD2, a measure to create an Office of Community Culture and Innovation, after receiving legal and administrative concerns from the attorney generals office and the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
Deputy Attorney General Charles Lee told the committee the senate draft added a separate appropriation in Section 4 that was not part of the bill as introduced and "may create a non Germain amendment problem under the state constitution." He advised that "the cleanest fix would be to just delete section 4 and move that appropriation to a separate measure." Karen Ewald, executive director of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, said she supported the bills goals but warned of duplication and new administrative costs, noting that the Works of Art Special Fund had been amended "last session to not be able to use that fund to move and relocate and preserve works of art."
Testimony in favor came from organizers and community planners, including Dean Satoru Sakamoto, who described the office as a "community action center" intended to help execute transit-oriented development plans and local revitalization work in neighborhoods such as Chinatown.
In response to testimony the committee: removed Section 4 (the stadium-arts appropriation), required the new office to adopt rules, added language to define "living cultural tourism zones," asked the office to draft a statewide strategic economic and physical revitalization plan beginning with Chinatown, and moved the attachment point for the office from the State Foundation to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to improve fiscal support and administrative capacity.
Chair Cappella said the amendments were intended to address constitutional and administrative concerns and to focus the bill on practical, locally driven implementation. After the changes the committee voted to pass SB3007 SD2 with amendments and adopt the chairs recommendation.
The bill will proceed with the amendments and the removed appropriation can be considered separately per the AGs advice.
