IAVM's CARES Act Advocacy Toolkit

Advocacy Update: 4/21/2022

We are asking today to urge you to immediately contact your U.S. Senators to ask them to support S.4008, the Small Business COVID Relief Act of 2022. If 60 Senators support the bill, it will be offered as an amendment to the $10 billion COVID funding package that the Senate will take up when it returns to Washington next week.

The Cardin/Wicker Small Business bill will only pass if venues urge their Senators to support the measure. Passage requires 60 Senators. It is especially important to urge Republican Senators to support the bipartisan measure. Please see the sample letter below that you can tailor for your purposes. For those of you that have already received funding from the Shutter Venue Operators Grants (SVOG) program, this package will extend the time to spend SVOG grant monies until March of 2023.

Please act quickly. The Senate will begin consideration of COVID funding early next week.

HERE is a draft letter that you can use to reach out to your senators.

 

 

Advocacy Update: 7/26/2021

The Hospitality, Commerce and Job Recovery Act
We need your help to secure more support in Congress to pass and enact S.477/HR 1346, The Hospitality, Commerce and Job Recovery Act. This legislation would provide new tax incentives to help accelerate the booking and re-booking of conferences, trade shows and other live events as the nation reopens.

The bills, sponsored by Senators Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Cramer (R-ND) in the Senate and Reps. Horsford (D-NV) and Lahood (R-IL) in the House would:

  • Create a general business tax credit (or refundable tax credit in the case of nonprofits) for the cost of attending or hosting a convention, business meeting or trade show in the US between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024.
  • Restore the Entertainment Business Expense Deduction by repealing changes made in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
  • Create Individual tax credits for qualified travel expenses occurring between 1/1/2021 and 12/31/2023.

The bills have 90+ cosponsors in the House and five in the Senate in addition to the two lead authors, but we need more to increase the pressure on Congress to include this legislation in any infrastructure and job creation package they consider over the coming months.

We expect major movement on a massive infrastructure/jobs package this fall - and it will likely include tax provisions. Outreach to Congress between now and during August would be ideal.

HERE is a draft letter that you can use to reach out to your members and senators. If you have questions, please reach out to our DC advocates, Elizabeth Frazee andChani Wiggins from TwinLogic Strategies. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) & Shuttered Venue Operators Grant
The SBA has posted answers to frequently asked questions about the PPP & Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG). These will be updated as new information comes available and additional program details are finalized.

Access the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) website HERE.

Access the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) website HERE 

FAQ’s HERE UPDATED 04.08.21

Eligibility Requirements HERE UPDATED 03.05.21  

Checklist HERE UPDATED 03.11.21 

Legislation Language Breakdowns

For more information about correspondence with congressional offices, please go to VenueNet and look for posts from Tammy Koolbeck, CVE.

Advocacy Update: 9/30/2020

There is still time for congressional action on a Covid-19 relief package before the elections. Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin continue to talk about a compromise deal and House Democrats are teed up to vote as soon as today on a $2+ Trillion package that includes IAVM language to make publicly owned venues eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Save Our Stages Act!

Tell the House and Senate to stay in Washington until a deal is on the President’s desk!

Reach out TODAY to your members of Congress to tell them to pass a Covid-19 stimulus deal NOW that includes public venues. Tell them that so far, most public venues have received no assistance and how your venues are hurting.

We need:

  • A change to the Paycheck Protection Program that is included in the House Heroes II language to allow government owned venues to participate
  • Inclusion of the SAVE OUR STAGES Act, S. 4258, but with sports and professional conventions and conferences added so that multi-function public venues can benefit
  • Revisions to the RESTART Act’s small business grant and loan program to include publicly owned venues
  • Flexibility for state and local funding under the CARES Act to make clear those funds can be spent to cover expenses of public venues

Please don’t delay! Call and email your U.S. representatives and senators urging them not to leave public venues out of the next COVID-19 package. You can use this template for your emails and staff email contacts in each House and Senate office are here.

Please continue to engage with your representatives and senators on Twitter and Instagram. IAVM’s toolkit includes a list of congressional twitter handles and sample tweets.

Twitter Campaign

Tell your members of Congress not to leave DC until the House and Senate send a COVID-19 relief package that includes help for public venues to the President’s desk. 

Negotiations are now underway for another package.  The House is prepared to vote on a bill that includes the language IAVM and our members supports to allow government-owned venues (and all non-profits) to participate in the Small Business Administration’s Payroll Protection Program (PPP).

This can’t wait!  Public venues have been left out of federal assistance and Congress needs to address the problem before the election.  Contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives TODAY to urge them to pass a COVID package that includes public venues!

Please Tweet your Senators and U.S. Representatives (click on links for twitter handles), urging them to ACT NOW to provide federal assistance for public venues.  PUBLICLY OWNED venues have been left out and, like all venues, have been hit hard by the pandemic and are struggling to survive. Download the graphic seen here.

Sample Tweets:

  • #SavePublicVenuesNow! Don’t wait until after the November elections to pass a COVID relief package.  Do it NOW and include assistance for public venues. @Senator/Congressman XXXXX – we need your help! @IAVMWHQ
  • #SavePublicVenuesNow! All venues should qualify for the #PPP during #COVID-19 crisis. But publicly owned venues left out. @Senator/Congressman – please fix the PPP NOW so they can survive. @IAVMWHQ
  • #SavePublicVenuesNow! The RESTART Act is necessary, but needs to include government-owned venues.  Congress needs to take action TODAY! @IAVMWHQ
  • More IAVM Member Sample Tweets

Senate Twitter Accounts
House of Representative Twitter Account

Sample Letters

Simply copy and paste the text of these documents to use in your communications to your elected officials.

Contact Information

 

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