Join PPA’s Grassroots Action Team to advocate for the creation of a small claims option for claims.

Update from Hill:

PPA is back on Capitol Hill this week, and we have some updates on the progress of copyright small claims legislation. Currently, there are two copyright small claims bills being worked on by members of the U.S. House of Representatives – one bill is being produced by Congresswoman Chu (D-CA) and the other by Congressman Jeffries (D-NY).  Due to recent world events, other issues have been at the forefront of Capitol Hill discussions over the past several weeks.

Consequently, the introduction of Congresswoman Chu’s (D-CA) small claims legislation has been delayed, but only slightly. This slight delay is not all bad news – the more issues that can be worked out among stakeholders on the front-end, the more likely the legislation will be successful.

We are pleased to announce that Congressman Jeffries (D-NY) and Congressman Marino (R-PA) introduced a bipartisan small claims bill, H.R.5757, the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act of 2016. Congresswoman Chu’s bill will be introduced when Congress reconvenes after its upcoming six-week recess. The House of Representatives will be on recess from July 15th until September 6th.  PPA continues to give input as this process unfolds, and we continue to work especially closely alongside Congresswoman Chu’s office as they finalize legislative language.

After both bills are introduced, PPA will review the legislation and direct members of the Grassroots Action Team to take action. Your first call to action will be to ask your representative to co-sponsor the small claims bill that we believe is most favorable for professional photographers.  This call to action will most likely begin in September.

Let’s take advantage of this unexpected little bit of extra time and focus on getting more photographers and visual artists to join the Grassroots Action Team!  We are encouraged by the number of participants so far, but we still have a long way to go.  We need to be prepared to make a very loud statement on Capitol Hill.  Additional delays are always possible – especially during an election year – but that shouldn’t stop us from mobilizing now.  Please continue to encourage every photographer, as well as other creators that you know to sign up at PPA.com/Grassroots. Remember, you do not have to be a PPA member to join – this needs to be an industry-wide effort.

PPA’s government affairs team will be attending important, small claims-related meetings on the Hill this week. Be sure to stay tuned to PPA Today for updates

from D.C.!