On May 14, the Governor issued the “May revise” to the CA 25-26 budget. This revision included reverting $11.5 million allocated to the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund (PAEPF) back to the General Fund and cancelling the program.

Actions You Can Take to Save the PAEPF

Background

The PAEPF stemmed from five years of grassroots and grasstops advocacy and lobbying to support small budget nonprofit performing arts organizations under $2 million with payroll costs due to changes in California employment laws and increased costs of business.

The PAEPF program had opened in March as a first-come, first-served grant program and closed quickly over a 10 day period due to the demand of hundreds of California small nonprofits applying. The Governor’s revision effectively cancels the program as applications are currently under review.

The PAEPF was established by SB 1116, authored and championed by Senator Anthony Portantino has termed out of the California Legislature. Last year’s May revise also included a cut to this fund and advocates were overwhelmingly successful in getting the appropriation back in the final 24-25 budget.

Learn more about the program on the PAEPF webpage.

What CA Arts Advocates is Doing in Response

CAA was in the Capital the day of the May revise, testifying at a joint committee hearing on the Arts on the impact of the Federal cuts when the news was announced. Our CEO Julie Baker was last on the hearing agenda to testify and was able to add the surprising news of the PAEPF cut to her comments. CAA held several meetings that day to educate lawmakers to the need to reinstate the fund in the final budget negotiations. We need the Legislature to push back on this fund reversal and fight for our small nonprofit performing arts organizations. This has always been a grassroots driven campaign with lobbying support from CAA and Actors’ Equity. We were successful last year getting it reinstated and as we stated in our recent  joint letter to Budget leadership: “The program is built, demand is evident, and the return on investment—for California’s communities, workforce, and cultural legacy—is clear. Let’s finish what we started.”

For the state arts agency, the CA Arts Council, the May revise does not include any further cuts to the grant program but reverses a proposal to add a staff position. We also have our legislative champions, Assembly Arts committee chair Chris Ward and Senator Smallwood-Cuevas with budget requests to restore the $5m to the agency that was lost last year and Smallwood-Cuevas has also requested a $5m restoration to the CA Cultural District Progam. We will keep you posted as we learn more about these requests.

What Happens Next

As the CA budget process unfolds, the legislature will host a series of hearings on budget topics as part of the listening phase. Due to both lobbying and pressure from advocates, the PAEPF was on the agenda of the Senate and Assembly Budget Subcommittees this week, and it may be agendized again in the next coming weeks.

And negotiations are underway as each house produces a budget that will ultimately be reconciled with the Governor’s May revise. A final reconciled budget must be passed by June 15th and signed by the Governor within 10 days after.

Here's How You Can Take Action

1. Sign the petition: Demand the CA legislature to restore the Equitable Payroll Fund!
2. Make phone calls: Call Your State Legislator Campaign
3. Give public comment in Sacramento: The next hearing is on Tues, May 20th at the State Capitol, Room 444 at 9:30am. Sign up to be on-call to give your comment.
4. Engage your local press: Use this press release template 
5. Activate your network: get your colleagues, audiences, board members and supporters involved - stay tuned for social media toolkits and other resources

Stay Updated!

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