The Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee of the CT State Legislature is holding a hearing on HB 7176, including an appropriation of the meals + beverage tax to fund arts and culture programs, tomorrow Friday, March 14th at 11 AM. Whether you can submit written testimony, call your legislator, or provide live testimony in the hearing, we need you.
This is the first time in recent memory that our legislature has seriously considered numerous bills aimed at allocating statewide tax revenue to fund arts organizations, CT Humanities, the Office of the Arts, and CT Tourism Office. These organizations and state agencies receive significant federal funding which may be jeopardized in the face of freezes, cuts, and censorship. We celebrate our legislators for anticipating these fiscal challenges and finding creative solutions to stabilize our arts economy.
📣 USE YOUR VOICE 📣
OUR ASK: In order to be effective and strategic, we’re asking folks to provide written testimony on this bill and/or call your legislators. You may register to provide verbal in-person/online testimony, but our networks are telling us that a high volume of written testimony is more critical at this time.
As federal funding radically decreases, we need state revenue sources to fill the gap. We are asking the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding committee to support HB 7176 to allocate 50% of the increased meals & beverage tax to our Tourism Fund which provides funds to arts & culture organizations, CT Humanities, CT Office of the Arts, and CT Tourism Office.
You must submit written testimony, or register to provide verbal testimony, by TODAY, Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 3 PM. This is a strict deadline.
CLICK ON THE TOOLKIT FOR FULL DETAILS👇
