Bill to Exempt Muralists From Contractor Licensing Gains Steam

A bill designed to exempt muralists from being known as a contractor and exempting them from getting a license moved ahead in the Senate this week.

Senate Bill 456, authored by Senator Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento), would specifically exempt from the 1971 California Contractors License Law any artist who draws, paints, applies, executes, restores, or conserves a mural, pursuant to an agreement with a person who could legally authorize the work. This essentially means that artists working on murals, including those hired to paint murals on buildings, will no longer need a license (which costs between $700 and $1,000), and will not need an apprenticeship, to take contractors examinations or be bonded.

Senator Ashby wrote the bill because of how the contractor law stalled projects both in Sacramento and across the state. While many murals were approved and funded, many wanted artists didn’t have the necessary license and couldn’t afford the overall costs. Also noted was that the contractors law was designed for regular painters in mind, like housepainters, because of the skills needed and to reduce any potential lawsuits stemming from a “bad job”. By contrast, muralists have artistic freedom but whose works can be covered up and either removed or painted over at a later date, sometimes amidst controversy themselves.

“Cities and counties were struggling with being able to issue those permits that are necessary in order for muralists to be able to do those projects,” explained Senator Ashby. “We cannot narrow them into a small, tiny subset of contractors and say without this, then you can’t do your artwork. The art and the artists that exist in Sacramento are a statement of who we are collectively and are worth protecting.”

In a bill outline earlier this year, Ashby also said that, without SB 456, murals across the state will be at risk. and that mural commissions act as a needed income source for local artists.

“Creates a licensing exemption for muralists, which will allow them to continue to accept commissioned work opportunities for public and private art pieces in our communities. Absent the passage of this important bill, the beautiful murals seen all across the Golden State will be at risk,” added Ashby.

It should be noted that while public murals are protected because of them either being on public land or created made through an agreement, murals on private property are not exempted, with owners being allowed to erase murals at any time. This was pressed a few years ago when a well known Sergio O’Cadiz Moctezuma wall piece in Santa Ana was painted over by new owners.

While bills involving murals, graffiti and other building coverings have sparked debate in years past, especially when state funding for artists is concerned, SB 456 managed to avoid it by focusing strictly on the licensure issue. As a result, 10 Senators, both Republican and Democrat, passed the bill in the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee last month, with only one Senator not voting.

SB 456 is now set to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee soon, with little to no opposition being expected.