Gregoire vetoes ban on giving contracts to out-of-state artists

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today vetoed a proposed ban on out-of-state artists receiving contracts from Washington’s main pool of public art funding.

Gregoire nixed the provision in the capital budget. She said she was concerned it would incite retaliation against Washington artists by other states.

Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, authored the prohibition to ensure state tax dollars are plowed into jobs for Washington residents rather than artists living in other states.

“This isn’t foreign aid. This is Washington state taxpayer dollars and it should help Washington state taxpayers,” he said earlier this week.

At stake is about $2 million a year generated from a half-percent allocation out of funding for new construction projects by state agencies, community colleges, universities, and public schools.

Washingtonians receive the majority of work now.

Of currently funded projects, the Art in Public Places program has 48 artists under contract of which 35 live in Washington and 13 live in other states.

Hobbs’s succeeded in getting the provision written into the capital budget passed by the Legislature April 26.