© Marceliano Munoz
Articles
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the CASE Act today!
July 18, 2019
Today the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the CASE Act! This is the first of four key votes before the legislation becomes reality. It took us 13 years to get to this point. It was a big, big day on Capitol Hill...Today was a big day for PPA members and all American creators. -- PPA CEO David Trust
Here are some updates from Government Affairs Manager Victoria Person on the big day as it unfolded:
- This morning at 10 am was the markup for the Senate Judiciary Committee; there were about 20 creators in attendance between the groups but due to how the room was set up, only a few were able to come inside.
- There were some other issues on the agenda, such as a bill about money laundering and a few votes for confirmation for federal judges.
- When the CASE Act topic was introduced the overall feel was very positive; even the senators who were not co-sponsoring had pleasant things to say about the bill.
- We also picked up 4 co-sponsors during the discussion! – Feinstein, Cruz, Blumenthal, and Cornyn
- One of the senators we had worried about blocking the bill did not object at this time, which was good news, and we hope that he will ultimately support.
- Ultimately, the bill had a unanimous voice vote; there’s no word yet on what this means going forward but we’ve been told all day that this was positive.
- After the markup, Senator Kennedy came out to meet the creators who had been unable to come inside the meeting.
- We then split up into the same groups we had yesterday, with some additional creators.
- Today my group consisted of the Copyright Alliance, the Science Fiction Writers of America, Graphic Artists Guild, ACG (representing the Copyright Alliance), and another photographer who makes a living photographing politicians and other political events.
- My first meeting was with one of our co-sponsors, Madeleine Dean (4th District of PA); she said that she was glad to be co-sponsoring the bill especially after hearing everyone’s stories and about how the CASE Act would impact their businesses and lives.
- She also said that it is a great sign that the Senate Judiciary Committee markup was favorable.
- The next two meetings were with offices that were not yet co-sponsoring, but the staffers seemed very receptive to what we were telling them.
- At the last minute, we were able to add another meeting with an office and staffer that we met with in previous years. This staffer was also receptive to our stories and mentioned that she loved receiving the cartoons from PPA!
- Overall, the day was productive and there were a few co-sponsors picked up during this trip
The CASE Act has gained BI-PARTISAN support. This is AMAZING news for all of you who have been working so hard on copyright small-claims advocacy. Keep pushing! This is how we will win! Send those emails and share, share, share at www.PPA.com/SmallClaims.