Assembly Standing Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Tourism

All right. Good morning, everybody. I want to welcome you to this morning's hearing of the Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Tourism. We have but one item on our agenda today. That's SB 456 by Senator Ashby. The Bill will have two main witnesses in support and opposition.

Each main witness will get up to two minutes for their testimony, and I invite everybody to feel free to submit written support or opposition through the position portal on the Committee's website. It will, of course, become part of the official record of this Bill. The hearing room will be open for attendance of this hearing this morning.

We are in Room 444 at the State Capitol. All are encouraged to watch the hearing from its live stream on the Assembly's website. And for those attending in person, please know that any conduct which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of this hearing is prohibited.

I want to thank you all for being here right now and in order to establish a quorum, Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll?

[Roll Call]

And we have a quorum. We will await an author, or a representative, or a statement, or a folder, or any of the options. Then we will get on with our day.

So, we are good to go. When you're situated and ready, you can begin to present SB 456.

We've already established quorum, so I'll leave it up to you.

Thank you so much, colleagues, and thank you for waiting for us to come over. This is a really important Bill for us and I'm happy to present it to you. And I apologize, as you know, lots of committees, and I'm on the Senate Government Organizations Committee and, which took a little bit of time from us this morning.

So, okay, this is SB 456. It's the Community Beautification Act. It is about muralists. I'm here to present this Bill and introduce you to a few folks that will explain to you why the Bill is so important for our state.

It allows an exemption for muralists to continue to engage in commissioned work without having to obtain a contractor's license. As you know, and you all spend lots of time in Sacramento and I'm sure in your own communities, too, murals are very place making and we're very proud in Sacramento to have so many of them all around our community.

But there is a new interpretation of the law that leads to confusion regarding requirements around licensing for muralists. In 2023, public notices began being issued to cities indicating that muralists fall within the definition of a professional contractor.

This completely stagnated muralists from being able to proceed with the types of project that we're all so proud of in our community. Prior to those notices, state regulators had interpreted the law not to require muralists to meet those licensing standards. This Bill seeks to codify that original position.

I have worked with the Contractor State Licensing Board to identify this difference, clarifying that SB 456 only applies to authorized works of fine art and does not waive any safety regulations that would apply to painted wall signs. Murals are a powerful tool for transforming communities. They're place making, defining in our cities.

They're truly very often statements of our values, and I love to point to the Johnny Cash that rises out of the center of the core of Sacramento. That is a true statement of the values really of our region and what it means. SB 456 is important.

It's important to me, I'm sure it's important to the artists, it's important to our communities. It's important to the character traits that each of our communities is able to display on the walls that we all call home.

With me to testify today is Donald Gensler, who I worked with for a very long time at the City of Sacramento, in my last role. He is the Arts Manager for Sacramento, so responsible for all art and public places across our city and region.

And also with me is a very impressive, incredible muralist named Jaya King, who's from Sacramento, who can tell you a little bit about some of her artwork which undoubtedly you have seen all across our city.

Thank you. You'll have up to two minutes each.

Thank you, Senator Ashby. Good morning, Chair Ward and Assembly Members. My name is Donald Gensler and I'm the Art and Public Places Manager for the City of Sacramento. I'm here in support of SB 456, the muralist exception, adding Section 750 to the Business and Professions Code.

Our internationally recognized Art and Public Places Program was established in 1977 and hires artists in visual art disciplines, including muralists, to create artwork in and for the city of Sacramento. Artists go through a rigorous application and review process to receive these commissions.

In fact, many of these artists paint murals as only part of their larger artistic practice, while some are fortunate enough to line up multiple commissions to support themselves through mural making. Artists do this work because they have to, because they are the culture bearers of our communities.

They have a deep need to share their dreams and visions with those around them. And we are all, in fact, the beneficiaries of this. As beneficiaries, our cities and communities see images of beauty, empowerment, thoughtful expression. Often, murals help define a neighborhood's identity or allow an artist to share a new perspective.

Cities across California have mural festivals as we do here in Sacramento, promoted and run by nonprofit organizations. They have become a vital part of cities' economic development and creative economy through the—through California. Murals are also a steppingstone, a kind of teaching center, first opportunity for artists to share their work with the public outside of the gallery and museum and learn from other artists in the process.

Murals are available to everyone, but the recent state interpretation of the Business Professions Code definition of contractor and subsequent license requirements for muralists have chilled these venues. In fact, the City of Stockton recently canceled its contracts with artists selected for murals.

Palo Alto has seen over $60,000 in plan mural projects halted and many other cities across the state have seen similar examples. In Sacramento, we have halted a upcoming mural program that would bring artists and communities together.

This Bill gives muralists an opportunity to contribute to the state without with—while being acknowledged for their work as professionals, painting fine art on the walls. Muralists still need to comply with all city permit requirements, safety standards set out by Cal OSHA, and individual contracts they enter into when doing this work.

But with this muralist exception, they can do this work as law abiding citizens in this state or visitors to this state, helping to grow and support the creative expression, jobs, beautification, and community voice through California's cities and towns. Thank you very much. Support your—appreciate your support of SB 456.

Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Jaya King, and I am an artist and muralist based here in Sacramento. My work includes creating original art on walls—murals that are not only a vital source of income, but also how I express myself, connect with community, and contribute to the public landscape.

One example is a 2024 Clean California Underpass Mural I completed in partnership with Caltrans and the City of Sacramento and the local peabid. The project involved months of community engagement, design, and coordination with multiple agencies. I secured permits, followed traffic control plans, and met all city protocols.

Like many muralists, I carry general liability insurance and have completed OSHA safety training. This project was celebrated by a Community Paint Day that brought out over 500 people, families, neighbors, and kids, who helped bring the mural to life. What we created wasn't construction, it was culture, a collective expression rooted in storytelling and creativity.

And SB 456 supports artists like me. The existing law forces us into a system that wasn't meant for us. Mural work is irregular, and licensing costs create financial barriers that could push artists out of public art. Requiring contractor classification shrinks the pool of who can legally paint murals.

Our creative landscape in California risks becoming homogenized with fewer artists and fewer perspectives on walls. I am fortunate to be a full-time artist in California, and I don't want my contribution to be misclassified or criminalized.

My first mural was commissioned by my mom on the hallway wall between our washer and dryer when I was 12 years old. I am proud to be sitting here 32 years later in support of Bill SB 456, in support of my fellow artists and for the next generation of muralists who deserve the freedom to create in a system that supports and values their contributions. I respectfully request the committee's aye vote for SB 456. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much. Are there any other members of the public here wishing to offer a position of support? Please come up to the microphone and if you have a name and organization.

Good morning. Claire Sullivan, on behalf of the cities of Mountain View, Redwood City, Thousand Oaks, Belmont, El Cerrito, and Foster City, in strong support.

Thank you.

Good morning. Caroline Grinder, on behalf of the League of California Cities, which is proud to co-sponsor SB 456.

Thank you.

Good morning. Martha Guerrero representing the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in support. And also, for Ross Buckley, representing the City of Sacramento in support. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning. Sylvia Solis Shaw, here on behalf of the City of Santa Monica and on behalf of the City of West Hollywood, in strong support. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning. Jared Maas, on behalf of the City of Riverside, in support.

Thank you.

Patrick Foy, with the City of Escondido, in support.

Thank you.

Good morning. Kira Rosoff, on behalf of the City of Stockton and the City of Glendale, in support.

Thank you.

Chloe King with Political Solutions, on behalf of the California Travel Association, in support. Thank you.

Thanks.

Zoe Watson, on behalf of Wiedner CA, in support.

Thank you.

Will Rodriguez, on behalf of Wiedner CA and the Capital Creative Alliance, in support.

Thank you.

Jason Schmelzer, on behalf of California Arts Advocates, a proud co-sponsor of the Bill, in strong support. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any primary witnesses in opposition? Sure, sir, if you want to approach.

I'm sorry, I have lost most of my hearing since I've been here last.

No problem.

Oh, yeah, yeah, please. Also, some of my balance.

No problem. If you want to approach the microphone, you can have up to two minutes.

Okay.

You'll have up to two minutes for your comments.

Oh, wow. My name is W. Rodriguez, and I was the one that ignited this fire many years ago when Senator Ashby was Councilman Ashby, and I found the City of Sacramento was awarding contracts to unlicensed contractors and they were totaling some of them, even a million dollars, involving a lot of work that was construction work.

And that's what sent me down this path. Now, I believe this exemption is an inequitable solution to what's basically a non-problem because they can install murals, they can paint them, and they can have someone install them who's a licensed contractor. That's, that's easily done.

But that said, if these protections are stripped away—when I say protections, the contractor's licensing law was put there for a reason. There are restrictions that reign in even artistic works. And creativity does need that. They, they need some, some restraint because this change allows the people that are painting murals to do the background work first.

They're operating pressure washer, sandblasters, and installing substrates and all that. It's all construction work and it needs to be, how you say, overseen. And when you take away the contractor's license law, you also strip away the things like the down payment, the 10%, that's gone. So, the consumer is losing protection.

The insurance requirements, all that stuff is gone with this, as long as they say I'm painting a mural. And murals can be quite expensive. Some of these cities are—they're paying people even $100,000 or more dollars to do murals. Most of them aren't that way, granted.

But it's what affects the city or the municipalities, also affects all the consumers, because anything that is, that is taken away from the, you know, the contractors law is gone. And the background check, there's a big one. Do you know where most of the most prolific muralists are these days? State prison.

Now, I don't want to paint all the artists with a broad brush, but we can also paint them as good people with a broad brush, the same thing. So, carving this exemption address the problems that, that are—that have brought it to the point that, that they—Senator Ashby is complaining about and that the licensing law is restricting these people, the, the.

Thank you.

The time it takes and all that stuff, make it equitable so all painters can get that.

Sir.

Why do we even regulate painters?

Sir. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. No, we, we gave you a little extension on time. Thank you for your comments here today. I want to see if there's any other members of the public here with a position of opposition.

Tweener. You're welcome.

Tweener.

Good morning, Mr. Chair, Members. Mike West, on behalf of the State Building and Construction Trades and also asked to speak on behalf of the painters. We appreciate the engagement with the author and her office. We have a meeting set for later. We have some similar concerns and would appreciate the engagement of the author.

Thank you very much. Okay, with that, we'll turn back to any Member comments. Assemblymember Gonzalez.

In, in the city that, that I live in, we have a little festival called Coachella and Stagecoach, and the art that's inside of the festival, once the festival is done, they move it into the city, and they use open spaces and move it there.

Some of this art is representative of indigenous culture or today's culture, whatever that might be, right? What's really cool about that is that those who didn't get to experience Stagecoach and Coachella by, you know, going in, they can experience it by being inside or walking the, the community and parks, and so on so forth.

Our city has murals on, I feel like on every corner and every streetlight. They use these electrical boxes. The city contracts them. Instead of just being this gray box, it's a—it's painted. And it's actually pretty cool to see.

The fact that we can beautify sometimes underneath an overpass or whatever that might be, it just, it makes me very proud of the place that I live in. So, I'm thankful for this commonsense legislation by the authority. Not only do I strongly support it, but I'd love to be considered as a coauthor.

Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez. Assemblymember McKinnor.

To the author, LA County Board of Supervisors are supporting it, so that draws me in. We, in my district, we also have beautiful murals. We have murals of like our, our champion, Kobe Bryant. I remember seeing a beautiful mural of Assemblymember Sade Elhawary when she was running. It was a gorgeous mural.

And I don't think that that's like our trades. I feel like that's really art. Like, I don't think our trades go and like, paint Assemblywoman Sade Elhawary. I don't know if they can even do that. If they have the skills. I know I wouldn't have the skills.

So, I think there's a difference between painting actual construction and actually like doing art. So, I'll be supporting this Bill today. I think it's a great, like you said, common sense Bill and I'll be supporting it. I also would like to be a co-author on the Bill.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other Member questions or comments? Okay. Seeing none. Senator, I want to thank you for bringing this Bill forward. Like you said, it wasn't until just recent years that this issue even came up through ambiguity in our codes right now.

And I think anyone with a little common sense would think about the distinction that we have because, of course, coming from local government like you, we love our place making. We love the what public art can be able to do to be able to brighten up a neighborhood and really express ourselves, our identity, our culture, and our location.

So, I want to thank you for bringing this Bill forward, because I think it helps to correct that and set the record straight. Reduces a barrier, of course.

And that's something as a theme of the year that we're trying to do across all the work that we're doing and make sure that people can just express themselves, especially the creative sector and the artists that are out there right now, to be able to continue making these contributions, without any further impediments.

With that, I'd like—very strongly supportive of the Bill, recommend an aye vote, and would invite you to close.

Yeah. So, first of all, thank you colleagues so much. Thanks for hearing everyone out and even, you know, the opposition, as we all know, having robust dialogue makes everything stronger. And so, we've taken that all to heart.

I'll continue to have conversations with the Trades and make sure that, you know, everything moves forward in a way that we are able to honor both things that we value in the State of California.

But I just want to say just one clarifying thing, because I think it needs to be said, and that is it would be insulting to assume that our artists don't also know how to do everything it takes to prep a site.

And so, I don't want anybody to walk away thinking that they're somehow don't know how to power wash and sandblast, or they do, and they can hire subcontractors, as you heard. They carry insurance, they carry bond, they do OSHA training. They know how to build a team, and they know how to take all those safety precautions.

And we're not talking about unsanctioned graffiti art. We're talking about permitted artwork through cities and counties. The lineup was of cities and counties who said, we want to permit this work. Please help us be allowed to permit this work. There is oversight. He's oversight. There is oversight. We pay for this.

As you heard, Jaya talked about one of her pieces of artwork that was paid for by us, the state, through a Caltrans program.

So, expression is critically important, and each of our communities is so blessed by the murals and images that we get to have, and public art is so worth fighting for because it is the one space that we know everybody gets to observe it.

And I've been in big, big fights before in this city around how far we will go for public art, and the truth is, we should go as far as we possibly can. So, I ask for your aye vote and I thank you very much.

Thank you, Madam Secretary. Please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Okay, right now, that is at 8-0. We'll hold the roll open for briefly for absent Members and thank you—it will be out.

Thank you, colleagues. Thank you so much.

Okay, we'll keep the roll open for five more minutes for any absent Members.

Reopen the roll on SB 456. Madam Secretary, please call the absent Members.

[Roll Call]

That Bill is out, nine to zero. And with that, we are adjourned.