Tillis, Roby introduce bicameral legislation to support art students

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and U.S. Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL) recently introduced bipartisan and bicameral legislation to encourage and support art and coding students who participate in congressional competitions.

The legislation would waive copyright registration fees for winners of the Congressional Art Competition and the Congressional App Competition, two competitions that are sponsored by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Currently, the Register of Copyrights does not have the authority to waive registration fees, the senator’s office noted in a statement.

“Our country is full of brilliant, young creators who are the rising generation of America’s creative industry,” said Rep. Roby. “The Artistic Recognition for Talented Students (ARTS) Act encourages young artists and creators to participate in the copyright system, and helps them to learn the benefits of copyrighting their works.”

Sen. Tillis sponsored the bill, S. 2824, with cosponsor U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on Nov. 7, while Rep. Roby introduced H.R. 4997 on Nov. 8 with U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

High school students who win the congressional competitions are recognized by each district and Congressional Art Competition winners have their work displayed in a tunnel between the House office buildings.

“Over the last few months I have had ongoing conversations with today’s leaders in the copyright industry about what Congress needs to do to incentive copyright registration,” Sen. Tillis said. “Introducing these talented students to the benefits of copyright protection is an excellent place to start, and I look forward to seeing what these talented students come up with next.”