    [Senate Hearing 116-633]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                            S. Hrg. 116-633

                       EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE
                         LIVE EVENT ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                    BEFORE THE

                     SUBCOMMITTEE ON MANUFACTURING, TRADE,
                             AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

                                     OF THE

                             COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
                          SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                         ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 SECOND SESSION

                                   __________

                               DECEMBER 15, 2020

                                   __________

        Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
                                 Transportation

    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                    Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov

                                   __________

                        U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
    52-921 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2023

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

           SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION

                         ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 SECOND SESSION

                      ROGER WICKER, Mississippi, Chairman
    JOHN THUNE, South Dakota             MARIA CANTWELL, Washington,
    ROY BLUNT, Missouri                      Ranking
    TED CRUZ, Texas                      AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
    DEB FISCHER, Nebraska                RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
    JERRY MORAN, Kansas                  BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
    DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska                 EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
    CORY GARDNER, Colorado               TOM UDALL, New Mexico
    MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee          GARY PETERS, Michigan
    SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia  TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
    MIKE LEE, Utah                       TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
    RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin               JON TESTER, Montana
    TODD YOUNG, Indiana                  KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
    RICK SCOTT, Florida                  JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
                           Nick Rossi, Staff Director
                     Adrian Arnakis, Deputy Staff Director
                        Jason Van Beek, General Counsel
                     Kim Lipsky, Democratic Staff Director
                  Chris Day, Democratic Deputy Staff Director
                          Renae Black, Senior Counsel
                                     ------

                     SUBCOMMITTEE ON MANUFACTURING, TRADE,
                            AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

    JERRY MORAN, Kansas, Chairman        RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut,
    JOHN THUNE, South Dakota                 Ranking
    DEB FISCHER, Nebraska                AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
    DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska                 BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
    MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee          EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
    SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia  TOM UDALL, New Mexico
    MIKE LEE, Utah                       TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
    RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin               KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
    TODD YOUNG, Indiana                  JACKY ROSEN, Nevada

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page
    Hearing held on December 15, 2020................................     1
    Statement of Senator Moran.......................................     1
        Letter dated December 14, 2020 to Hon. Jerry Moran and Hon.
          Richard Blumenthal from Jennifer Dorning, DPE President....     3
        Letter dated December 14, 2020 to Hon. Jerry Moran from
          Daniel Newby, President, Ottawa Bus Service Inc............     8
        Letter dated December 15, 2020 to Senator Roger, Senator
          Jerry Moran, Senator Maria Cantwell and Senator Richard
          Blumenthal from the Live Events Coalition..................     9
        Prepared statement from IAAPA--The Global Association for the
          Attractions Industry.......................................    13
        Prepared statement the Recording Academy.....................    15
        Prepared statement from the Business Continuity Coalition....    16
        Prepared statement from the National Association of Theatre
          Owners.....................................................    20
    Statement of Senator Wicker......................................    22
    Statement of Senator Blumenthal..................................    27
    Statement of Senator Klobuchar...................................    46
    Statement of Senator Blackburn...................................    48
    Statement of Senator Lee.........................................    51
    Statement of Senator Sinema......................................    53
        Letter dated April 9, 2020 from the Endurance Sports
          Coalition..................................................    54
    Statement of Senator Young.......................................    58
    Statement of Senator Cantwell....................................    60
    Statement of Senator Rosen.......................................    61
    Statement of Senator Tester......................................    63

                                   Witnesses

    David Fay, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Bushnell
      Center for the Performing Arts.................................    23
        Prepared statement...........................................    25
    Adam Hartke, Co-owner--Wave & The Cotillion; Advocacy Committee
      Co-Chair--National Independent Venue Association (NIVA)........    28
        Prepared statement...........................................    30
    Ron Laffitte, President, Patriot Management......................    33
        Prepared statement...........................................    35
    Peter J. Pantuso, President and Chief Executive Officer, American
      Bus Association................................................    37
        Prepared statement...........................................    39
    Michael T. Strickland, Chair and Founder, Bandit Lites...........    41
        Prepared statement...........................................    43

       EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE LIVE EVENT ENTERTAINMENT
                                    INDUSTRY

                                  ----------

                           TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2020

                                   U.S. Senate,
    Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer
                                            Protection,
            Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in
    room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Jerry Moran,
    Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
        Present: Senators Moran, Wicker, Blackburn, Lee, Young,
    Blumenthal, Cantwell, Klobuchar, Sinema, Rosen, and Tester.

                OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JERRY MORAN,
                        U.S. SENATOR FROM KANSAS

        Senator Moran. Good morning. As the Chairman of the Senate
    Commerce Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer
    Protection, I welcome all of our participants in this hearing
    today. The hearing is entitled ``Examining the Impact of COVID-
    19 on the Live Event Entertainment Industry.''
        The Subcommittee will now come to order.
        As covered in this subcommittee's previous hearing on the
    manufacturing community's response to the pandemic, COVID-19
    continues to negatively impact many industries and businesses
    throughout the American economy and another industry, among its
    hardest hit, is the live entertainment sector.
        Due to airborne transmissions of COVID-19, many states and
    localities have implemented bans on large gatherings of people.
    This has placed, obviously, a tremendous strain on the
    entertainment sector which relies on the gathering of large
    groups of people for concerts, live sports, plays, comedy
    shows, movies, and many other forms of entertainment.
        Companies in this sector have been forced to largely cease
    operations during the pandemic, leaving these businesses
    without revenue or alternative means to replace it. Without
    crowds to perform for, entertainers, venues, and downstream
    vendors have been forced to furlough staff they typically
    employ during a concert season. Without stages to light and set
    up, lighting companies and stagehands have been out of work
    since March. Without entertainers and event goers to transport,
    many bus drivers and public transport companies have been
    largely off the road for months. And without concerts and other
    events to facilitate, independent venue operators and owners
    have been without revenue for much of the past year. These are
    just a few examples of ways the live entertainment industry
    sector has been affected this year, which we will hear more
    about from our witnesses today.
        Back in March, Congress passed the CARES Act, which
    included a number of provisions to help employers of all types,
    including live event entertainment businesses, weather the
    pandemic. The Small Business Administration's Paycheck
    Protection Program provided employers funds to continue paying
    their employees and cover some business expenses. Other
    programs meant to help employers and their employees are the
    Main Street Lending Program and the Economic Development
    Administration's Recovery Assistance Grants. For many
    categories of businesses, these programs were ineffective
    tools. These programs under the CARES Act did not adequately
    benefit the live event entertainment sector.
        This is why I and many of my colleagues have introduced and
    sponsored the Save Our Stages Act, which would authorize the
    Small Business Administration to make grants to eligible live
    venue operators, producers, promoters, and talent
    representatives to address the economic impacts of COVID-19.
    This would offer the struggling businesses a lifeline to
    continue operations until they can return to doing what they
    love, entertaining Americans.
        There are a number of other legislative proposals,
    including the RESTART Act that worked to address the needs of
    the live event sector. And I encourage my colleagues to work to
    ensure this industry is supported in the ongoing negotiations
    around a phase four COVID relief package.
        I should also point out that there is a ripple effect on
    the economy when the live entertainment industry is out of
    work. Restaurants, bars, transportation, and many other
    businesses that thrive on live events bringing people to a
    community from surrounding areas are hurting. This means that
    when lights are dark in the local live event venue, the economy
    in that community as a whole is also dark.
        I look forward to hearing from our witness panel today. It
    will provide a variety of different perspectives to this
    important issue. Joining us today is Mr. David Fay, President
    and CEO of The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in
    Hartford, Connecticut; Mr. Adam Hartke, owner of The Cotillion
    and Wave in Wichita, Kansas; Mr. Ron Laffitte, President of
    Patriot Management in Los Angeles, California; and Mr. Pete
    Pantuso, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American
    Bus Association from Bradford, Pennsylvania; and Mr. Michael
    Strickland, Owner of the Bandit Lites in Knoxville, Tennessee.
        Finally, a number of organizations representing a multitude
    of entertainment industry interests have provided written
    testimony for the record which describes the hardships that
    their portion of the industry is facing, with recommendations
    for how Congress should act to address these issues. I would
    ask unanimous consent that these letters be submitted into the
    record. Without objection, so ordered.
        [The information referred to follows:]

    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                          Live Events Coalition
                                      December 15, 2020, Washington, DC

    Senator Roger Wicker,
    Chairman,
    Senate Commerce Committee.

    Senator Jerry Moran,
    Chairman,
    Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade and Consumer
    Protection.

    Senator Maria Cantwell,
    Ranking Member,
    Senate Commerce Committee.

    Senator Richard Blumenthal,
    Ranking Member,
    Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade and Consumer
    Protection.

    Dear Senators:

        On behalf of the nearly 12 million American workers in the Live
    Events industry and the small businesses that employ them, the Live
    Events Coalition applauds you for holding today's important hearing
    entitled: ``Examining the Impact of COVID-19 on the Live Event
    Entertainment Industry.''
        The Live Events industry may be invisible to most as we primarily
    operate behind the scenes, but we touch the lives of every American
    while serving as a critical engine for the U.S. economy. We provide
    event venues, planning, design, catering, audio, video, lighting,
    entertainment, rentals, decor, tenting, transportation, staging,
    ticketing, event security, floral. . .and so much more. We serve
    corporate meetings, trade shows and conferences. We build concerts,
    festivals and fairs. We create weddings, fundraisers and parties. We
    help sporting events, political events and milestone events. Our
    industry employs nearly 12 million American workers and accounts for
    almost $1 trillion in economic impact. Perhaps most notably, our
    industry is part of a much larger co-dependent ecosystem that includes
    Travel and Tourism, Food and Beverage, Arts, and Hospitality.
        Simply put, the impact of COVID-19 on our industry has been nothing
    short of devastating. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced more than 80
    percent of our businesses to lose 60 to 100 percent of their revenues
    for the past 8-plus months. 78 percent of our employees also remain
    furloughed, and few of our business owners have taken a salary since
    February. This difficult reality is expected to persist well into 2021,
    particularly as more rigid restrictions are put into place in states,
    as the virus spikes across the country. The truth is truly sobering:
    Our industry's small businesses, workers and their families will see no
    meaningful end to this ongoing nightmare until months after an
    effective vaccine has been deployed.
        In the early months of mandatory business shutdowns, our business's
    bills were at least partially covered by the initial Paycheck
    Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).
    Unfortunately, these funds have completely run out, and in most cases
    our businesses are now saddled with crippling debt. Retirement savings
    accounts have been depleted, life insurance policies cashed in, and
    many business owners have had to sell their homes in order to keep
    their operations ready to eventually go back to normal.
        Without additional and immediate relief, the vast majority of small
    businesses within the Live Events industry simply will not survive.
    This is why we are grateful of your attention before the Senate
    Commerce Subcommittee, and we welcome the opportunity to provide
    constructive insight into how Congress can help support us during this
    time of need. Our survival absolutely depends on the critical relief
    measures you and your colleagues are considering today. In light of
    this, we are seeking immediate passage of legislation to include
    additional opportunities to access forgivable PPP loans along with
    extended unemployment benefits for our workers, such as PUA.
        Here is a more detailed look at the needed relief measures that
    could help bridge our businesses and workers from now until the end of
    the pandemic:

       FORGIVABLE LOANS: This is key to helping businesses stay
            afloat until states allow for events to happen again. However,
            for many of us, the restrictions in the current PPP rules are
            less than optimum, since the original bill was geared towards
            bringing back employees that many of us still don't have work
            for, and not enough assistance for the payment of many of our
            fixed business costs. It is critical, therefore, that Congress
            passes this relief measure with a few key improvements to
            existing PPP standards:

          --  A proportional forgiveness system tailored to the hardest hit
                businesses

          --  Wider allowable utilization of funds in order to keep
                businesses operational and out of bankruptcy

          --  Longer utilization period to more reasonably match the
                business realities of the pandemic

          --  Funding amounts tied to the business's actual operating costs

          --  ``Second Draw'' accessibility, to accommodate businesses who
                have already received PPP loans, but have exhausted those
                funds.

       EXTENDED PUA: In order to support our furloughed workforce
            as well as our businesses owners, we request a reinstatement of
            the CARES PUA program. This resource should be available to
            furloughed business owners and workers for a minimum of 4 to 6
            months, with an option for extension in the event that an
            effective and widely distributed COVID-19 vaccine has not yet
            developed by the end of this term, leaving us still effectively
            shuttered.

       SECOND-DRAW EIDL: Many businesses in our industry can still
            benefit from an improved EIDL program, with the same 30-year
            repayment period, but at a 1-2 percent interest rate, an
            initial payment-and-interest forbearance period tied to a 90-
            day margin following our state's full reopening, eased
            qualification standards, and loan amounts greater the recent
            SBA-imposed $150,000 limit.
                                     ______

        As an addendum, please find a summary of recent findings from the
    Live Events Coalition's December 1 nationwide survey of Events industry
    professionals, which further outlines the clear and urgent need for an
    economic lifeline for our businesses and workers.
        As an additional addendum, please find a sampling of the more than
    550 comments left by our survey's respondents, illustrating in our
    business owner's or employee's own words how they have been uniquely
    impacted.
        We thank you for your leadership in holding this hearing and we
    respectfully ask that you please enact these necessary relief measures
    to give our businesses and proud industry workers a chance to survive.
    Please let us know how we as an organization can help you and the
    Committee bring these critical relief measures to fruition.
        Thank you for your service to our country.
                Sincerely,

    --The Founders, Executive Board, and Members of the Live Events
    Coalition

    --The Independent State Chapters of the Live Events Coalition,
    including: Arizona Live Events Coalition, California Events Coalition,
    Colorado Event Alliance, Connecticut Event Industry Coalition, DC
    Events Coalition (DC, Maryland, Virginia), Live Events Coalition of
    Florida, Illinois Events Coalition, Kentucky Events Coalition,
    Massachusetts Live Events Coalition, Live Events Coalition of
    Minnesota, Live Events Coalition of Nevada, Live Events Coalition of
    New York and New Jersey, Live Events Industry of Oregon, Texas Live
    Events Coalition, Utah Live Events Industry Association, Washington
    State Wedding and Events Association

    --Our Partner Live Events Industry Coalitions in Louisiana, New Mexico,
    Philadelphia, and Tennessee
                                     ______

         Addendum 1 to Live Events Coalition Letter to Senate Commerce
                            Subcommittee Leadership

             Live Events Coalition--Recent Business Survey Findings
       On December 1, 2020, Live Events Coalition finalized a nationwide
     survey of Events industry professionals. The results demonstrate the
     clear and urgent need for an economic lifeline for our businesses and
    workers, who are amongst the very hardest hit in our country due to the
     COVID-19 pandemic, and the necessary shutdown of our entire industry.
    The survey generated more than 1,400 responses from Event professionals
    across 43 U.S. states. On average, respondents have spent 20+ years in
          the industry, including both business owners and employees.
       33 percent of industry's professionals have lost 90 to 100
            percent of their income and revenues since the beginning of the
            COVID-19 pandemic, and more than 80 percent of businesses have
            lost more than 60 percent of their revenues.

       Fewer than 8 percent of industry professionals have better
            than a 40-60 percent loss of income and revenue.

       Most industry businesses will not survive without further
            Federal aid, with over 57 percent reporting that they will fail
            within 2 to 4 months without additional relief enacted by
            Congress. Further, 26 percent say they won't even make it to 2
            months. An astounding 80 percent will fail within the next 4 to
            6 months.

       There are nearly 1.1 million events businesses in the U.S,
            employing an average of 10+ employees each.

       Events businesses have furloughed nearly 80 percent of their
            workers, totaling more than 9 million Americans, and the
            majority of these have been out of work since the beginning of
            the pandemic, with no hope for return until months after the
            full vaccination of our country.

       More than half of the smallest Events businesses now have no
            payroll at all, with 100 percent of their employees laid off.

       Of the Events Industry's largest businesses (over 100
            employees), more than 56 percent have downsized to fewer than
            20 employees since the start of the pandemic.

       Nearly 60 percent of Events industry workers say they will
            be unable to remain in the industry and still pay their bills
            for longer than 1 to 2 months, without an extension of PEUC and
            a revival of PUA assistance.
                                     ______

         Addendum 2 to Live Events Coalition Letter to Senate Commerce
                            Subcommittee Leadership

     A sampling of the more than 550 comments yielded by our recent survey:
    ``I employ 4 part-time workers which immediately reduced to 1 in March
    and now I am cutting the last one due to lack of work/income. Arizona,
    where I live and have had my business for the past 6 years does not
    provide unemployment compensation that is close to sufficient and
    without the Federal assistance, I will be forced to close my business
    in the next 4 months. Since I also refer a large number of event
    professionals (I'm an event planner) this will affect many others.''
    --Sally Arnold, Arizona

    ``Covid-19 brought my company to a standstill--we were set to have our
    best year in business. Between March 1 and March 15, we had over $400K
    of booked business cancel, and that does not include unbooked business
    or contracts in the ``bid'' process. I had to lay off my staff and cut
    back on everything. I did nothing for 4 or 5 months. Slowly now, our
    clients are trying to do virtual events, at 10 percent of the rate we
    would get paid for live events--it's not enough to survive. I have been
    doing events for 25 years, have had my company for 12 years, and it's
    crushing to see it destroyed at no fault of my own, and crushing to sit
    back and see no support from the Government.''
    --Ryan Zynger, California

    ``I have been in the event industry for 35 years. It's all I have done.
    In October of 2019 I put everything I saved and earned into buying my
    own venue. A 50,000 sq ft building with 3 event spaces. On March 13,
    2020 we were mandated to shut our doors and I see no hope that in the
    near future our doors will be able to be reopened. I don't do catering,
    I have no way to pivot. My venue and my entertainment company are at a
    screeching halt. I am at a 90 percent loss for the year. I won't make
    it past 6 months!''
    --Shiran Nicholson, Connecticut

    ``My business was shut down since March 2020 to date. I've had no
    income, all my clients have cancelled, postponed and rescheduled for
    2021, and at this point they're starting to reschedule and cancel now.
    I've already lost my January, February and March clients. If I don't
    get any help, I'll be closed in two months. My personal funding has
    been stretched to the limit, my bills are piling up and I haven't
    received one cent from the government, I'm assuming it's because I have
    no ``employees.'' I am a real self-employed business and female owned
    company that is trying to remain open.''
    --Michelle Rodriguez, Connecticut

    ``I have been a meeting travel director for 23 years. I have tried to
    find a job locally, but my salary would be 1/3 of what I was making.
    All I'm qualified for in this area of Florida is to work a part-time or
    full-time minimum wage job. I am sinking quickly, and it does not
    appear that my job will be returning until well into next year.''
    --Nancy Harris, Florida

    ``After 20 years in the industry I had finally reached a point that I
    felt was real success. I taken a leap of faith and created my own
    business contracting out my services for design and show planning. In
    March when the shutdown occurred, I was optimistic and have been
    struggling to hold on to everything that I had worked so hard for. At
    first it seemed that within a few months we would all be back to work
    but now here we are 8 months later and no relief is in sight. I am 57
    years old and quickly approaching what should have been my retirement.
    It would be devastating for me to have to begin all over again.''
    --Scott Duncan, Georgia

    ``I have been in business 18 years. We were shut down in mid-March with
    an order from the governor and mayor. Since we were able to re-open, we
    have only hosted 3 meetings of under 10 people and a handful of small
    events with revenue of under $750. Prior to this, our revenue was close
    to $2,000,000 annually. I went from 25 full and part time employees to
    3.5 staff as of this moment. I had to give up the leases on all 15,000
    sq. ft. of my event space along with my office leases. I have tried to
    expand into event rentals with the furniture and decor I now have in
    storage along with some other new lines of business we developed, but
    none of it is generating any new income as restrictions keep coming
    down and COVID-19 cases rise. I am funding the business out of my
    savings at this point but cannot afford to do this indefinitely. With
    the new restrictions shutting us down again on Friday for an indefinite
    period of time, this is just not sustainable.''
    --Eva Niewiadomski, Illinois

    ``I've been in the hospitality/events industry for 13 years. In early
    2020 my company was on target to more than triple our revenue and had
    moved from high end weddings to large scale corporate events. We had a
    monster of an event scheduled for early March in Louisville which took
    my team months to prepare, design, and produce all of the custom
    elements, purchase the tremendous amount of items needed, and contract
    the many other small businesses needed to pull off such a large
    project. ONE DAY before we were to load our trucks, the client decided
    to cancel their event due to COVID. ALL of my other 2020 events have
    cancelled with only 1 postponing to NEXT OCTOBER. I had to reduce my
    team and my 13-year-old business that I gave everything too is barely
    hanging on. Unfortunately no one wants to buy the entire warehouse full
    of brand new event items right now.''
    --Rayna Wallen, Kentucky

    ``After more than 30 years in the exhibits/tradeshow industry I went
    from $82k as an LLC to making $96 a week on unemployment that is about
    to run out. I have been forced to file for bankruptcy, and if not for
    my wife's income we would have lost our house as well.''
    --David Falcon, Louisiana

    ``I am a single mother of 4. They say if you do a job you love then it
    is not really work. The thing is, there is something magical and
    gratifying being a part of a successful show. From marking the concrete
    floors, to pipe and drape, to late night carpet calls, to building and
    detailing what are often ``tricky'' booths, to the final show open and
    seeing the fruition of collaborative work from my brothers and sisters
    is something that another job just cannot fulfill. I have not worked
    since early March 2020. I had to re-file my MA unemployment in July
    2020 and due to the complete halt of work in March, my benefits reduced
    from what would normally be $475/wk down to $191/wk. In addition to
    that, extensions are not available beyond when I will need one. I have
    to tell my children Christmas is canceled this year because Santa is in
    quarantine. Truth is, I barely have enough money to feed my kids and I
    have reduced myself to one meal a day to get by as I cannot afford
    rent, car ins, medical bills, groceries, transportation, prescriptions,
    clothing, utilities, etc. I have maxed out all 7 credit cards from this
    pandemic and now have a credit score of 350 vs the 750 score I had pre
    pandemic. I have worked really hard. Long hours. Physical labor. I am
    proud of all I have put into my life and for the government to leave
    all of us stranded is a slap in the face. I vote. I pay taxes. I abide
    by the law. What does it take for the government to care? I'm
    absolutely disgusted with Congress and the amount of time it is taking
    them to help us maintain our livelihoods until THEY tell us we may
    return to work. Disgraceful and disgusting.''
    --Jennifer Whatley, Massachusetts

    ``I have lost 97 percent of my business, haven't paid myself since
    March, and had to lay off all of my staff. I have received some
    financial help, but that is very close to running out. Without more
    substantial help my business will close this winter, leaving my
    employees without work, and our customers without a vendor.''
    --Courtney Latham, Oregon

    ``We provide live specialty entertainment for corporate events, fairs &
    festivals, conferences, and private events. We had the biggest year on
    record in 2019 with forecasted growth of ≥10 percent in 2020. We
    were hiring and had a team of 5 core staff at the start of 2020. When
    Covid-19 was officially named a pandemic it changed our world entirely.
    All our contracts for the year cancelled within 3 weeks and we were
    forced to go into survival mode almost instantly. Within the next 5
    months I lost my entire team and now it is just me trying to keep hope
    and make it to the other side. Here we are 9 months later. PPP
    assistance in April was a life saver and through the summer we stayed
    optimistic that the worst of the pandemic was behind us. My company
    pivoted to virtual entertainment services, we have taken any
    opportunity for contracted live events available and yet, while I'm
    working 10 hours a day, 50 hours a week trying to survive this
    pandemic-caused economic crisis, we are still not covering our basic
    expenses of rent, utilities, insurance and salary; all of which are
    very modest. In 2019 we paid out $400,000 to contract workers and
    artists, providing quality live event gigs to the talent in Central
    Texas. I feel it is my duty to survive this recession so I can be here
    to offer jobs to the artists again! But in the meantime, we need
    financial capital in order to hang on. We're dangling on the side of a
    cliff. My company has spent through our business savings--I personally
    am quickly going through my individual savings. We need the government
    to step in and provide more forgivable loans and aid to the hardest hit
    sectors. We fight every day to survive this pandemic recession. We ask
    our government and political representatives to fight for us as well.''
    --Linsey Lindberg, Texas

    ``28 years in the industry and we are decimated. For 2020, a 90 percent
    drop in revenues. For 2021, all of Q1 has canceled, as well as 50
    percent of Q2. My office went from 30 full time employees, down to 2.
    Only options currently, to cover expenses and come close to previous
    salary, would be to work a minimum of 2 full time jobs as most places
    currently hiring are paying less than half of my previous salary. I
    need to support a family of 4.''
    --Relevent Minucciani, Washington
                                     ______

    Statement of IAAPA, the Global Association for the Attractions Industry
        Chairman Moran and Ranking Member Blumenthal,

        Thank you for exploring the needs of impacted industries. The parks
    and attractions industry has many of the same issues as explored today
    but has several unique concerns outlined below. In particular, we would
    like to thank you and the many other Commerce, Science and
    Transportation Committee members who have cosponsored the RESTART Act,
    which we believe is a critical element to help impacted businesses
    successfully move past the pandemic closures.
        IAAPA is the global association for the attractions industry,
    representing major theme parks, local and destination fixed-site
    attractions, waterparks, family entertainment centers, aerial
    adventures courses, museums, zoos, aquariums, manufacturers and
    suppliers. IAAPA's U.S. members employ over 700,000 people in over
    5,450 businesses with an annual economic impact of $51.6 billion on the
    U.S. economy. The pandemic has been devastating to the industry with
    job loss exceeding 250,000 and revenues down by 60-75 percent, on
    average, in states that have allowed the industry to open. The impact
    has been even more devastating in states such as California, New York,
    Massachusetts and Illinois that have not allowed the parks to open
    since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
        The CARES Act was a lifeline to businesses that could utilize it,
    but in March, no one realized the length or severity of the pandemic
    and the extent to which it would cripple businesses such as those in
    the attractions industry. Now, nine months later, staring down a second
    wave of COVID-19 limiting travel and uncertainty preventing future
    bookings or planning, many industry businesses will not survive without
    relief to help them bridge this period of uncertainty and get them to
    2021 and beyond without a daunting debt load, which will hamper their
    ability to invest in their businesses and employees. This will not only
    have a negative impact on their businesses but will also negatively
    impact the suppliers to the industry and the local community, which
    benefit by the travel and tourism generated by parks and attractions.
    For every dollar spent in a park, six is spent in the community.
        Closures and lack of revenue is compounded by the significant
    investment in personal protective equipment and services that
    businesses within the industry have made in order to ensure their
    employees and guests are safe from COVID. The industry has spent
    millions of dollars on personal protective equipment and endless hours
    developing safety protocols (see attached industry-developed
    guidelines). These costs have not ended. While equipment is necessary,
    increased staffing to ensure that guests and staff are screened, and
    staff is properly trained is an ongoing cost for the foreseeable
    future. Additionally, IAAPA zoo and aquarium members have ongoing
    animal care costs, including food, medicine and medical supplies,
    diagnostics, environmental testing, life support and other costs
    related to animal care while their gates remain closed or are opened to
    greatly restricted crowd sizes.
        While some industry businesses were allowed to open for some part
    of the year in 46 states, they lost much of their ``high'' season. When
    they did open, they did so with capacity limitations which led to
    substantial revenue losses. Additionally, group events were non-
    existent in 2020 and with advance sales for school, corporate,
    convention and sports events for 2021 underway, it appears they will be
    virtually non-existent next year as well.
        Like the live venue and restaurant industries, parks and
    attractions have significant ongoing expenses related to substantial
    real estate holdings, ride and machine maintenance and upkeep, taxes,
    loan maintenance and if open, a certain minimum staffing level
    regardless of the number of patrons. Thus, even when allowed to open at
    mandated capacity levels, parks and attractions were operating at
    levels far lower than necessary to successfully sustain their
    businesses.
        Yet another hidden cost to the parks and attractions industry is
    the loss of experienced individuals that businesses had to lay off or
    terminate. These employees often had years of experience that is
    invaluable to the businesses in which they worked. If they cannot be
    brought back and/or find other positions, this expertise, developed
    over years, will be lost.
        The following assistance is necessary to keep businesses in the
    parks and attractions industry open and healthy moving forward:

            RESTART. Pass the industry-neutral Reviving the Economy
            Sustainably Towards a Recovery in Twenty-twenty (RESTART) Act
            (S.3814) introduced by Senators Young (R-IN) and Bennet (D-CO)
            which provides relief to all severely impacted industries.

            Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Provide additional funding
            for PPP extending the program through December 31, 2021 to
            enable a second draw for eligible businesses:

                    Priority should be given to severely impacted
                    businesses such as those required to close or operate
                    at reduced capacity due to COVID-19 related concerns
                    which can show a revenue decline of at least 25 percent
                    in 2020.

                    Clarify that seasonal small businesses with fewer than
                    500 employees who work for six months or more are
                    eligible. Seasonal attractions industry businesses
                    often employ as few as 10-20 percent of their total
                    number of employees on a permanent, year-around basis.

                    Clarify that small businesses can deduct expenses paid
                    with a forgiven PPP loan from their taxes and will not
                    be taxed on amounts forgiven by the PPP.

            Economic Injury and Disaster Loans (EIDLs). Ensure EIDLs are
            not capped by the Small Business Administration but available
            to eligible businesses up to the $2 million allowed.
    Liability Protection
        Provide targeted COVID-19 liability protection for attractions
    businesses that are following best practices to protect guests and
    workers against COVID-related illness
    Tax Credits
        Enhance the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) and the Work
    Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC).

        Provide tax credits for purchase of personal protective equipment
    goods and services.

        Provide investment tax credit for capital equipment purchased.
    Animal Care Financial Assistance
        Provide $800 million in Federal support to help the zoological
    community cover the critical ongoing animal care costs including food,
    medical supplies and diagnostic testing.
        Your leadership in ensuring that Congress addresses the needs of
    businesses in these important industries is critical. Like the live
    venue industry, our businesses are an important part of any community
    eco-system, bringing people into the community where they engage in
    activities with other area businesses. These businesses are also an
    important part of the fabric of the community by training young people
    and providing family entertainment. Assistance in the areas listed
    above will enable the industry to remain viable and vibrant elements of
    the communities in which they are located for years to come.
        If we can answer any questions or assist you in your ongoing
    response to the COVID-19 pandemic, please let us know. We thank
    Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Blumenthal and all the Committee members
    for their interest and attention to the pandemic response needed to
    help impacted industries.
                                     ______

                   Written Testimony of the Recording Academy
        Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Blumenthal, and members of the
    Subcommittee:

        The Recording Academy thanks you for holding the December 15
    hearing, ``Examining the Impact of COVID-19 on the Live Event
    Entertainment Industry,'' and welcoming our testimony for inclusion
    into the hearing's record. As the Nation's leading association for
    songwriters, musicians, performers, producers and engineers, we know
    first-hand how important the live event industry is to our Nation's
    economy and to countless small businesses in communities across the
    U.S. Live events are also the backbone of the music industry, and the
    predominant source of income for the vast majority of our 25,000
    members. As the hearing clearly highlighted, the live events industry
    needs Congressional assistance.
        When the Coronavirus first began to spread in March, it was live
    events that became, painfully, among the first industries to shut down.
    Overnight, tours were cancelled, gigs were put on hold, and festivals
    were rescheduled. An $877 billion industry evaporated in the blink of
    an eye. Nearly ten months later, we remain paused and music makers--
    along with the performing venues, studios, managers, bookers, catering
    teams, crews, and other small businesses--remain reeling from the
    devastating economic effects of COVID-19. They remain in desperate need
    of comprehensive legislation that will save the economic livelihood of
    the music ecosystem.
        Throughout the pandemic, the Recording Academy has championed a
    number of bipartisan legislative proposals and solutions to protect
    jobs and spark a resumption of economic activity. Many of these ideas
    were represented during the subcommittee's hearing, and we are
    heartened to know that many of the proposals have received widespread
    bipartisan and bicameral support in this Congress. It is encouraging
    that Congressional leaders have recognized the plight of the live event
    industry, and we are optimistic that many of these important changes
    will become law before the end of the year.
        During the hearing, it was gratifying to hear committee members
    speak enthusiastically about the Save our Stages Act (S. 4258)--
    critical legislation championed by the Recording Academy and many
    others in the music economy. As witnesses demonstrated, without small
    and independent venues there would be no touring, and without touring
    there would be no live music. Venues and stages make up the backbone of
    communities across the nation, providing direct jobs and opportunities
    for our performing members, and sparking economic activity up and down
    Main Street. The Save our Stages Act must become law.
        The hearing also shed light on the RESTART Act (S. 3814), a
    bipartisan and bicameral bill supported by the Recording Academy, which
    will provide flexible and long-term assistance to many small businesses
    in jeopardy of going out of business. For the music industry, the
    RESTART Act represents a lifeline to countless recording studios, sole
    proprietorships, small record labels, and other small music businesses
    that are vital to the music ecosystem. Short-term and temporary
    measures will not sustain these businesses who continue face an
    uncertain future.
        Together with an expanded and improved Paycheck Protection Program,
    the RESTART Act will ensure that our industry's small businesses and
    sole proprietorships have better access to aid.
        The hearing also brought to focus the pandemic's impacts on the
    workers in the live event industry, who, through no fault of their own,
    find themselves out of work, unable to work, or underworked. From the
    musicians on the stage, to the roadies backstage, to the sound crew in
    front of house, the shutdown of the industry has affected millions of
    workers--many of whom are self-employed or independent contractors.
    Congress set to protect these workers through expanded unemployment in
    the CARES Act, but with the expanded programs set to expire in less
    than two weeks, more protections need to be swiftly passed to ensure
    that American workers in need can continue to receive benefits from the
    Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. Congress needs to extend the
    PUA program for the duration of the pandemic.
        Additionally, Congress needs to ensure that the PUA program truly
    works for the non-traditional workers in the live event industry, many
    of whom were unintentionally left behind by the CARES Act. These
    workers, who receive multiple sources of income--including a mix of
    1099 and W2 wages--were misclassified and denied access to PUA,
    depressing their weekly benefit amount in all 50 states. Passage of the
    Mixed Earner Pandemic Unemployment Act (S. 4442) is a simple and low-
    cost fix to this growing problem. The ``mixed earner'' problem was
    further exacerbated by the expiration of the Federal Pandemic
    Unemployment Compensation program on July 31, 2020, which decimated the
    weekly benefit amount. Congress must act to solve the ``mixed earner''
    problem and also resume the FPUC program so that the non-traditional
    workers in the live event space can receive an appropriate benefit
    amount for the duration of the industry's shutdown.
        Finally, Congress needs to take steps to ensure that live music can
    resume and thrive post-pandemic by encouraging the creation of new
    sound recordings. The HITS Act (S. 4955), a bipartisan tax proposal,
    would help lift music workers, recording studios, and other businesses
    out of the depths of recession through the production of new music. The
    HITS Act is a low-cost, but important, modification of the tax code
    that would create new opportunities for independent music makers to
    return to the studio, and eventually the stage. Congress must pass the
    HITS Act to ensure that creators can continue to create and go on tour.
        The Recording Academy applauds the committee's commitment to the
    live events industry. As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to impact
    our workers and small businesses, Congress must enact common-sense
    solutions to keep the industry afloat. Without Congressional action,
    the live events industry is at risk. We look forward to working with
    the committee and its members on enacting these important policy
    measures, and returning to the stage in 2021.
                                     ______

            Prepared Statement of the Business Continuity Coalition
        The Business Continuity Coalition (BCC) represents a broad range of
    business insurance policyholders--large and small--from across the
    American economy, employing more than 60 million workers. The group was
    launched earlier this year to provide the policyholder perspective in
    efforts by policymakers and stakeholders to develop a public/private
    program to limit future economic damage from pandemics that cause
    business interruptions.
        The BCC Steering Committee includes the American Gaming
    Association, American Hotel & Lodging Association, Fox Corporation,
    International Council of Shopping Centers, Live Nation, Marriott
    International, Motion Picture Association, Nareit, National Association
    of Broadcasters, National Association of Manufacturers, National
    Association of Realtors, National Restaurant Association, National
    Retail Federation, The Real Estate Roundtable, Sony Pictures
    Entertainment, ViacomCBS and the Walt Disney Company. A full list of
    member organizations as of this date appears at the end of this
    statement but the coalition continues to expand and the most up-to-date
    list of members can always be found at the BCC website here.
                               Executive Summary
        The magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic's financial and social
    impacts has exposed significant shortcomings and vulnerabilities in our
    country's preparedness for and resilience to systemic catastrophic
    events of this scale and nature. This includes coverage gaps in
    insurance protection for losses from business interruption occurring
    arguably in the absence of ``physical damage'' to the business
    location. Equally important, coverage gaps for the pandemic risk have
    also been revealed or developed as a result of this year's crisis in
    other lines of insurance, including event cancellation, film & TV
    production package, general liability, and employment practices
    liability insurance. The crisis has also put stress on workers
    compensation insurance.
        Although overshadowed for the moment by other effects of the
    pandemic, if not remedied, these insurance gaps will hinder any
    recovery. This is especially true in the entertainment industry,
    including live performance and broadcast, as well as TV and movie
    productions, and it also impacts business lending (including to
    entertainment), new leasing activity, retail and hospitality sectors.
    Private insurance alone cannot and will not remedy the gaps--at least
    not in the sort-term, and certainly not on the scale of the current
    pandemic--but private insurers need to be part of the solution. What is
    urgently needed is a federally-backstopped availability mechanism
    similar to the highly successful one which Congress put in place for
    terrorism following 9/11--in short, a TRIA-style program for pandemic
    risk.
        The BCC recommends that all of the impacted lines of insurance,
    including event cancellation insurance, need to be supported with both
    a ``make-available'' requirement and a robust Federal backstop for the
    private insurers making the insurance available. During at least a
    five-year economic recovery period (subject to reset if the pandemic
    recurs), the Federal backstop should be provided without charge (as is
    the case with TRIA) to ensure affordability and maximum take-up, and
    the economic resiliency that will foster.
        As recognized by all other major proposals currently being vetted,
    the BCC understands that the business interruption line of insurance
    needs a special rule given the particular gap exposed by the COVID-19
    crisis. That is, the insurance product needs to be both for non-
    physical-damage business interruption (NDBI) \1\ and provided on a
    parametric basis, which may be the only way to ensure widespread, rapid
    delivery of assistance to America's businesses in future pandemic
    crises. Liquidity to meet these rapid pay-outs should be guaranteed.
    Insurers can be given an option to satisfy their availability duty by
    supporting a joint underwriting facility which would itself have a
    Federal backstop. Maximum utilization of global reinsurance capacity
    and capital markets should also be encouraged. Long-term program
    continuity is paramount given the time horizon needed for financing
    this risk.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ As a general matter, standard business interruption policies
    include a condition of coverage that suspension of business ``must be
    caused by direct physical loss or damage to property'' at the insured
    premises. While the exact extent of ``direct physical loss'' as it
    relates to COVID-19 is the subject of litigation, any physical impact
    caused by the virus has not typically been sufficient to sustain a
    claim in many jurisdictions.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                   Discussion
        The BCC brings together more than two dozen industries and
    companies to develop a plan with policymakers and other stakeholders to
    protect American jobs and to limit future economic damage from
    pandemics and other national emergencies that cause business
    interruptions.
        The BCC thanks the Subcommittee for its leadership and for holding
    today's hearing to address the challenges facing the live entertainment
    industry stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. Contributing to the
    severe economic and employment headwinds we face is the nation-wide
    business insurance crisis that has impacted all aspects of our economy.
    That insurance protection gap has been exacerbated by insurers
    withdrawing event cancellation coverage going forward, leaving the live
    entertainment industry particularly vulnerable.
        Closures and shutdowns caused by COVID-19 have significantly
    impacted the employees and operations of businesses across the country,
    shuttering the live entertainment industry. The BCC, representing more
    than 60 million workers in the entertainment, broadcasting,
    hospitality, retail, communications, restaurant, gaming, and real
    estate industries, encourages policymakers to take urgent steps to
    prepare for future risks. While programs like Save Our Stages and
    RESTART will provide some short-term or immediate relief to impacted
    sectors, the live entertainment industry--and indeed all businesses--
    need Congress to address the insurance protection gap to address
    viability concerns going forward.
        Beginning in March 2020 when many sectors of the economy
    experienced dramatic interruptions of demand or production, often but
    not always as a result of government-ordered lockdowns or shelter-in-
    place orders, the insurance which is vital to resuming production also
    ceased to be available in many cases.
        When COVID-19 began, insurers and policyholders initially focused
    on non-physical damage business interruption claims and coverage, or
    lack thereof. As COVID-19 has evolved over time, the availability of
    pandemic-related insurance in other lines has greatly diminished for
    policyholders when their policies renew. Pandemic exclusions and
    related clarifications have since become commonplace in event
    cancellation insurance policies, as well as business interruption
    insurance policies and other commercial property and casualty insurance
    lines such as general liability, employment practices liability, and
    specialty lines like production package insurance. While there may have
    been debate regarding whether business interruption insurance did or
    did not cover claims arising from this pandemic, there is no question
    event cancellation insurance was offered with viral infection coverage
    prior to the start of COVID-19. Its withdrawal has particularly
    devastated the live entertainment industry. Like what was experienced
    with terrorism insurance after 9/11, policyholders are increasingly
    finding themselves in the untenantable position of being unable to
    secure pandemic coverage, leaving them exposed to business threatening
    risks.
        The alarming constriction of coverage that commercial policyholders
    are now seeing is unquestionably related to the financial impact of the
    COVID-19 crisis on the property and casualty insurance sector. While
    BCC is not in a position to know directly the exact dimensions of the
    problem (if indeed it is possible to determine at this stage) the
    evidence being offered by longtime industry spokesmen is instructive.
    At the September 29th meeting of the Treasury Department's Federal
    Advisory Committee on Insurance (FACI), an insurance industry expert
    estimated potential 2020 insured losses from COVID-19 across just five
    lines of business--workers compensation, business interruption/
    contingency, general liability, mortgage guaranty, and D&O--at between
    $3.5 billion and $146.7 billion (to be sure, an extraordinarily wide
    range), while also acknowledging that there was pandemic risk exposure
    in several other lines (event cancellation, travel, trade credit, PL,
    medical professional liability), even with the patchwork of
    communicable disease policy exclusions which existed before the COVID-
    19 outbreak.\2\ The same FACI presentation also noted that insurers had
    begun during 2020 to seek approval from State regulators for ``near-
    absolute communicable disease exclusions'' but that ``many of those
    filings'' were ``not being approved'' by State regulators.\3\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \2\ See presentation of Robert P. Hartwig to Federal Advisory
    Committee on Insurance, September 29, 2020, particularly slides 13 and
    17 (accessed November 16, 2020 at https://home.treasury.gov/system/
    files/311/FACI-Presentation-Hartwig-9-20.pdf).
        \3\ Hartwig FACI presentation at slide 19.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Imposition of ``near-absolute'' exclusions is no more a workable
    solution for the American economy now than it was after 9/11 when the
    immediate reaction--albeit understandable--of the insurance industry
    also was to seek to exclude terrorism risk from coverage across-the-
    board. Simply put, the ability of American businesses to secure
    pandemic risk insurance will be a key factor in America's economic
    recovery and getting our workers back on the job. Collectively we need
    to find a way to maintain and restore coverage in many lines of
    commercial property and casualty insurance. A public-private
    partnership is essential to achieving that objective, just as it was
    after 9/11.
        The BCC is advocating for a public/private insurance program that,
    in the event of a government-declared pandemic health emergency, would
    enable employers to keep payrolls and supply chains intact, help limit
    job losses and furloughs, reduce stress on the financial system, and
    speed economic recovery when government-imposed limitations on
    operations are lifted. Equally important, as with terrorism risk
    insurance, the value of a workable insurance program is not just the
    payment of losses but the confidence that adequate protection gives to
    businesses and their lenders and workers in the meantime--before, and
    whether or not there is, a crisis. As such, the plan must meet the
    needs of a broad range of groups: the businesses and employers directly
    impacted, insurers, lenders and other creditors, policymakers, and
    importantly, taxpayers.
        The BCC policy recommendations outlined below embrace several
    elements of other pandemic-related proposals providing a parametric
    NDBI insurance product. In contrast to many of these proposals,
    however, BCC recommends mandating availability in other lines of
    insurance, including event cancellation. While mandating availability
    in these lines, the BCC proposal would give insurers the option of
    supporting a joint underwriting facility instead of issuing the
    backstopped NDBI on their own paper. An important backstop support for
    insurers' developing workers compensation exposure would also be
    provided.
        In short, the BCC policyholder proposal seeks not only widespread
    availability and affordability of NDBI coverage but also restoration
    and expansion of pandemic coverage in other lines, including event
    cancellation, movie/TV production package insurance, general liability,
    employment practices liability, and other lines that have been hit hard
    by COVID-19.
        A number of successful models can provide guidance in structuring a
    government-backed pandemic-risk reinsurance program. Besides TRIA,
    perhaps two of the most salient models are the Federal Crop Insurance
    Corporation \4\ (when the Federal entity reinsures private crop
    insurers at various quota share levels) and the War Damage Corporation
    (WDC) \5\ developed during World War II (when WDC insured directly but
    required distributing insurers to share in its risk of loss or profit).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \4\ Public Law 96-365 (Sept. 26, 1980); amended by the Federal Crop
    Insurance Reform Act of 1994; and by the Federal Agriculture
    Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-127).
        \5\ See Appendix for brief overview of the War Damage Corporation
    and its interface with private insurance industry.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      Recommendations for Program Features
        For all these reasons, the Business Continuity Coalition urges the
    design of any pandemic risk insurance program adhere to the following
    principles:

       1.  Scope: Any Federal backstop should support not only NDBI
            coverage but also other pandemic impacted lines of insurance,
            such as event cancellation, workers compensation, production or
            cast insurance (for film and TV productions), and general and
            employment practices liability insurance. These lines may need
            to be supported by a robust backstop even for a recurrence of
            COVID-19.

       2.  Private Insurer Utilization: Insurers should be included in any
            pandemic insurance program to involve a number of current
            industry advantages: (1) determine appropriate premiums to
            reduce taxpayer outlays; (2) use existing claims-paying
            infrastructure to pay claims; and (3) leverage insurer
            expertise in risk mitigation to help businesses understand how
            they can reduce pandemic risk, comply with imposed
            requirements, and get their businesses up and running
            expeditiously.

       3.  Availability: Eligible insurers should be required either to
            share some portion of the risk in the primary NDBI coverage
            layer or to support other covered lines of insurance, including
            event cancellation insurance, as a condition of being permitted
            to sell any government-supported NDBI coverage. Any pandemic
            program must properly balance the need to ensure participation
            with the reality that insurers cannot take on too much
            uncertain exposure.

       4.  Affordability: Premiums for the program should not aim to cover
            full program costs. During an initial economic recovery period,
            the backstop should be without premium, after which the
            government should charge at least some premium for the risk it
            bears, but policymakers should not expect premiums to cover the
            full cost of the program. Premium levels should be set to
            result in widespread take-up. Cost recovery should be premised
            on 50+ years.

       5.  Solution Must Meet Needs of Businesses of All Sizes: TRIA should
            be the template for both availability and backstop, although
            there are important differences to the pandemic peril that must
            be reflected in final design. However, the NDBI benefit and the
            general availability requirements should avoid an arbitrary
            headcount cliff (e.g., 500 employees), just as the backstop
            should avoid ``deductibles'' or co-shares tied to volume rather
            than risk exposure.

       6.  Rapid Claims Payment/Minimum Transaction Costs: Any primary NDBI
            program should be structured as parametric coverage, which
            would be triggered by defined external conditions (i.e.,
            national health declaration + state/local action affecting
            specified business categories) without recourse to usual proof-
            of-loss; although use of proceeds might be audited. A Federal
            Reserve liquidity facility should be authorized to ensure rapid
            pay-outs.

       7.  Pooling Alternative for Offer of NDBI Coverage: Insurers that do
            not wish to underwrite the primary NDBI coverage directly
            should be given the option to support a joint underwriting
            facility for that coverage which would also enjoy the Federal
            backstop support.

       8.  Stop-Loss As Well As Quota-Share Protection: Federal reinsurance
            protection for both NDBI primary program and for other covered
            lines, including event cancellation insurance, should be
            offered, on an optional paid basis, in the form of stop-loss
            protection in addition to the co-share element, given the
            potentially extreme cumulative risk of pandemic losses.

       9.  Utilization of Reinsurance and Capital Markets: The Federal
            program should, like NFIP, be encouraged to foster development
            and use of private reinsurance markets as well as capital
            markets' alternative risk-transfer mechanism to further reduce
            or protect taxpayer exposure.

      10.  Continuity: A Federal pandemic risk insurance program should be
            administered by a Federal entity housed within the Department
            of Treasury with continuous existence, such as the WW II-era
            WDC (later wound-down) or the Federal Crop Insurance
            Corporation.
                                   Conclusion
        The Business Continuity Coalition and its members are grateful for
    the opportunity to submit these comments, and we stand ready to assist
    this Subcommittee and all Members of Congress and the Administration in
    developing a pandemic risk insurance program.
        We urge Congress to move expeditiously to pass bipartisan
    legislation that creates a public-private insurance solution consistent
    with the principles offered above to share the financial risk of losses
    related to pandemics. Due to the nature of the pandemic and the
    increased risk of large gatherings, the live entertainment industry is
    in dire need of a sustainable solution in the form of pandemic risk
    insurance. This urgent task is an essential precondition to the prompt
    recovery of this Nation's economy, and going forward will help protect
    jobs and reduce economic damage from further pandemics.
    The Business Continuity Coalition Members
    American Gaming Association
    American Hotel and Lodging Association
    American Institute of Architects
    American Land Title Association
    American Resort Development Association
    Appraisal Institute
    Associated General Contractors
    Building Owners and Managers Association
    CCIM Institute
    CRE Finance Council
    Fox Corporation
    Independent Film & Television Alliance
    Institute for Portfolio Alternatives
    International Council of Shopping Centers
    International Franchise Association
    Live Nation
    Marriott International
    Motion Picture Association
    National Apartment Association
    National Association of Broadcasters
    National Association of Home Builders
    National Association of Manufacturers
    National Association of Realtors
    NAIOP--Commercial Real Estate Development Association
    Nareit
    National Independent Venue Association
    National Restaurant Association
    National Multifamily Housing Council
    National Retail Federation
    NCTA--The Internet & Television Association
    Sony Pictures Entertainment
    The Real Estate Board of New York
    The Real Estate Roundtable
    ViacomCBS
    The Walt Disney Company
                                     ______

        Prepared Statement of the National Association of Theatre Owners
        The motion picture exhibition industry has been uniquely devastated
    by the COVID-19 pandemic. Theaters were among the first industries to
    be ordered closed and will be among the last to recover. Cinema
    operators from the largest to the smallest companies have experienced
    dramatic revenue losses while ongoing expenses have continued unabated.
    We urge Congress to act swiftly to pass legislative solutions that will
    provide relief for theater operators of all sizes so that this
    essential American industry is able to recover and thrive once again.
    Movie Theater Industry Pre-Pandemic
        Across the United States, movie theater operators ranging from
    publicly-traded circuits to mid-size regional companies to mom-and-pop
    businesses operate a total of 5,800 theaters and 40,000 movie screens.
    Movie theaters serve communities of all sizes and demographics, and are
    an essential home for the world's most creative and ambitious cinematic
    achievements.
        Theaters across the country provide over 153,000 direct jobs, many
    of which are held by first-time job holders, minorities, and people
    with disabilities. Theaters also support millions of jobs across movie
    production and in the cinema supply chain, including concessionaires
    and food suppliers, construction and design, in-theater advertising,
    digital cinema equipment manufacturers, seating manufacturers, sound
    equipment manufacturers, ticketing and point of sale system providers,
    and accessibility equipment manufacturers. Further, theaters boost
    thousands of local jobs that support the day-to-day operations of
    theaters, including electricians, plumbers, HVAC services, pest
    control, security providers, and janitorial services--in addition to
    driving foot traffic to surrounding retail and restaurants.
        Moviegoing remains one of the most popular and desirable out-of-
    home activities. Seeing a film on the big screen is one of the most
    affordable entertainment options for families, and draws significant
    attendance: 268 million people in North America went to the movies in
    2019, more than all the people who attended major sporting events and
    theme parks combined--a staggering three-quarters of the population.
    Moviegoing is especially enjoyed by minority audiences: in 2019,
    nonwhite moviegoers made up 45 percent of all tickets sold,
    overindexing on their share of the population. The movie theater
    industry thrived in 2019, with 1.24 billion tickets sold in North
    America and box office grosses of $11.4 billion. 2020 was expected to
    be a similarly successful year, with major titles such as Black Widow,
    Fast & Furious 9, Minions: The Rise of Gru, No Time To Die, and Top
    Gun: Maverick anticipated to gross billions domestically.
    Pandemic Impact on Movie Theaters
        The COVID-19 pandemic has had an immediate and unrelenting impact
    on our Nation's movie theaters. As indoor community gathering places,
    theaters were among the first to face declining revenue from consumers
    nervous about reports of a possible spread of COVID-19 into the United
    States. Once the United States officially declared the pandemic, movie
    theaters were among the first businesses to be ordered shut down by
    state and local governments, and tens of thousands of theater employees
    were placed on furlough or laid off.
        Movie theater operators of all sizes and geographic locations have
    faced deep financial distress due to the pandemic. As a result of
    closures, consumer concerns, and lack of new content, the domestic box
    office is down 80.2 percent from 2019. For theaters across the country
    the overall impact is dire: 96 percent of independent and midsize
    theaters have lost over 70 percent in revenue in 2020; public companies
    have faced 65-75 percent declines in revenue. Without relief tailored
    to their circumstances, at least 69 percent of theaters will close
    permanently or be forced into bankruptcy before the spring of 2021.
        Theaters have faced extreme difficulties in the theatrical
    distribution supply and in remaining operationally viable. Movie
    theaters rely heavily on a steady supply of new film product to draw
    audiences, and without this content, theaters simply cannot survive. As
    the pandemic continued, studio suppliers moved their releases to later
    dates in 2021 or removed them from theatrical distribution altogether,
    leaving remaining theaters to play old titles that were available to
    consumers in the home. Additionally, while movie theaters have been
    permitted to reopen on a limited basis in some states and localities,
    they have been subject to drastic capacity reductions and curfews that
    make operations impracticable. Without new films, theaters cannot draw
    necessary audiences; this reduction in the film slate combined with
    capacity and curfew changes means that for many theaters they lose more
    money being opened than being closed. Many theaters in localities that
    otherwise permit them to operate have been forced to remain closed or
    drastically reduce operations. Movie theaters in major markets like New
    York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland and across New Mexico and
    DC have been shuttered for the duration of the pandemic, and Illinois,
    Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington have
    shut down theaters statewide for the second time.
        With a majority of screens closed, and content in short supply,
    thousands of individuals who work in theaters remain furloughed.
    Although small business theater owners were able to get Paycheck
    Protection Program (PPP) funding, the affiliation rules excluded
    midsized and large companies whose losses have been similarly extreme.
    For the owners who did qualify for PPP, the limited amount of funding
    ran out quickly, and the enduring closure orders made it difficult or
    impossible for many theater owners to spend their funding on payroll
    for a workforce that was otherwise entitled to pandemic unemployment
    insurance due to closures, childcare, or valid health issues. As the
    pandemic stretches into 2021, theaters risk permanently losing these
    valuable employees forever, particularly as unemployment benefits run
    out. Should that happen, theater owners will have to endure further
    costs to hire and train an entire new team.
        If the cinema industry is allowed to fail, the fragile ecosystem of
    suppliers that depend on the cinema channel will fail as well. From
    popcorn and concessions to projectors and reclining seat manufacturers,
    an entire industry exists to support movie theater exhibition. A
    dramatic reduction in the theatrical footprint could decimate many of
    these businesses as well.
        Movie theaters also act as anchor tenants in malls and shopping
    centers. Move theaters are single-purpose buildings, and landlords will
    face significant difficulty securing new tenants in these spaces,
    particularly tenants that will have the same kind of draw as movie
    theaters.
    Solutions for Movie Theaters
        Given the dire situation facing motion picture exhibition, NATO
    urges Congress to swiftly enact solutions that could provide relief to
    theaters of all sizes and their employees:

       Pass the Save Our Stages Act (S. 4258/H.R. 7806), as amended
            to include movie theaters, with an allocation of $15 billion.
            The grants provided under the SOS framework to small and mid-
            size theater companies, many of which have been unable to
            access any other relief programs, would be a financial lifeline
            to these struggling companies.

       Create a new loan program for larger companies that allows
            borrowers in the hardest-hit industries to obtain lines of
            credit. The Main Street Lending Program was well-intentioned,
            but the cumbersome application process, difficult rules, and
            low lender subscription meant that very few exhibitors were
            able to access the program.

       Urge the Treasury Department to continue providing liquidity
            to capital markets so that publicly-traded companies in
            distress are able to access needed funds. Publicly-traded movie
            theater companies provide nearly 40 percent of the industry's
            jobs. Should their firms face an inability to access capital,
            those jobs could disappear.

       Provide robust unemployment support to furloughed and laid-
            off workers. With hundreds of cinemas still shuttered,
            thousands of cinema employees remain furloughed. Congress
            should provide robust assistance to individuals whose jobs have
            been lost or paused due to the pandemic.

        We appreciate the Subcommittee's consideration of movie theaters,
    our 153,000 employees, and solutions that could assist this essential
    American industry to survive and recover.

        Senator Moran. With that, I will turn to the Ranking Member
    who will join us in about five minutes. I also understand the
    Chairman of the Full Committee, Senator Wicker, would like to
    have opening remarks as well. Senator Wicker.

                    STATEMENT OF HON. ROGER WICKER,
                     U.S. SENATOR FROM MISSISSIPPI

        Senator Wicker. Thank you very much. I do appreciate your
    leadership on this important issue. The Senate Commerce
    Committee has taken many opportunities this year to examine the
    impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Americans' lives and our
    economy. At the full committee level and in our various
    subcommittees, we have heard about the unique hardships faced
    by thousands of middle class, hardworking Americans in the
    manufacturing industry, the transportation sector, and
    consumers who are most vulnerable to scams.
        Today we will hear from representatives of the live event
    entertainment industry, a sector that has been hit particularly
    hard this year. Because the coronavirus spreads so easily among
    large crowds in confined spaces, Americans have essentially had
    to give up attending live performances such as concerts and
    theater productions. This full shutdown of live events has been
    devastating for performing artists and for the venues that host
    their shows. But the live event entertainment industry also
    supports an entire ecosystem of businesses, including lighting
    technicians, food vendors, transportation providers, many
    [inaudible] businesses themselves and many more just average
    American workers.
        Live events are part of the fabric of American life. The
    ability of people to travel across the country and join
    together to experience the great performances has been joy for
    many Americans. Live music in particular is of great importance
    to me. After all, the State of Mississippi is known around the
    world as the birthplace of America's music. Before the pandemic
    began, I was fortunate to see Garth Brooks perform when he was
    honored with the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize. No doubt
    Garth Brooks and other stars have been financially successful
    enough to weather the economic shutdown caused by the pandemic.
    That is not the point of this hearing today.
        Our concern today is about the average men and women behind
    the lights, food trucks, and tour buses who support their
    families by bringing the arts and cultural experiences to so
    many. It is my sincere hope that when I see a performance like
    the one I saw with Garth Brooks again, companies, large and
    small, and the thousands and thousands of hardworking Americans
    that make up the live event entertainment industry will have
    received the support they need to stay in business.
        Thank you very much, Chairman Moran. This is an important
    hearing, and I look forward to hearing from the witnesses.
        Senator Moran. Mr. Chairman, thank you for joining us. And
    it is through your encouragement that we are able to have this
    hearing. Thank you for highlighting this issue for this
    subcommittee and for the U.S. Senate.
        Let me begin then with our testimony. We will begin with
    Mr. Fay, followed by Mr. Hartke, followed by Mr. Laffitte,
    followed by Mr. Pantuso, and followed by Mr. Strickland. I now
    recognize Mr. David Fay, President and CEO of The Bushnell
    Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut.

                        STATEMENT OF DAVID FAY,

                 PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,

              THE BUSHNELL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

        Mr. Fay. Chairman Moran, thank you. Chairman Wicker. My
    Senator, Blumenthal, I am sure will be here momentarily.
        Senator Moran. Would you prefer, Mr. Fay, that we wait till
    Senator Blumenthal arrives and we should go to the next
    witness, if you want to make sure that Senator Blumenthal is
    here when you testify?
        Mr. Fay. That is up to you. He and I have talked about this
    many times.
        Senator Moran. I am sure he is very familiar. Please
    proceed.
        Mr. Fay. OK. Thank you.
        I am David Fay, President of The Bushnell Center for the
    Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut.
        I feel like I am in a pandemic-induced time warp. Our
    downtown, like so many, has suddenly become a ghost town, all
    too similar to those of the 1960s and 1970s that were decimated
    by the explosive growth of suburban communities. The hard work
    to revitalize abandoned city centers like Hartford has been
    driven in no small part by the substantial public and private
    investment in restoring and building new performing arts venues
    that have become magnets for attracting people back to our
    downtowns. This spawned the development of restaurants, bars,
    clubs, and other venues creating a vitality that has led to
    residential and commercial development, all of which has
    brought new economic strength and restored civic pride.
        It has also led to the creation of an unprecedented touring
    circuit supporting tens of thousands of performing artists,
    entertainers, and shows. An industry that once was centered in
    a few major cities is now a systemic part of a uniquely
    American artistic mosaic that stretches literally from sea to
    shining sea. This vibrant national industry has provided an
    essential economic and cultural anchor for communities all
    across our country, that is, until March when the music
    stopped.
        Today we face an existential threat, a threat not only to
    our industry but to the businesses and the city centers, large
    and small, that have come to depend on us. The CARES Act was a
    step but it was scaled to cover a much shorter period of
    closure than our industry continues to face. We simply cannot
    reopen our venues nor restart our industry until the virus is
    subdued, and unfortunately, that does not appear likely until
    next fall at the earliest.
        Our industry is built on venues from the smallest club
    where new talent is discovered and nurtured to the playhouses
    and regional theaters where local directors, actors, designers,
    stagehands, musicians, writers, and more learn and develop
    their craft; to the Broadway theaters and producers who look at
    those venues and look to them for new talent and to find half
    of all the new shows they open each year.
        It is also built on performing art centers like The
    Bushnell. We are part of a delicately balanced live
    entertainment ecosystem. We depend on it to develop the
    extraordinary talent and shows that grace our stages, inspiring
    our audiences, and uplifting the spirit of our communities.
    Without your help, this ecosystem is in grave danger of
    collapsing and taking with it the pulse of our city centers.
        Yet, this is also about the heart and soul of our country.
    Even after the virus is gone, we face a long road of healing
    and recovery. The Irish playwright Sean O'Casey once said,
    ``All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately
    unrehearsed.'' We live in a time when emotional intelligence is
    being outstripped by artificial intelligence. Increasingly, we
    look to Alexa for information and to social media for personal
    validation rather than pausing to look at ourselves and reflect
    on what it means to walk in someone else's shoes. Music and
    theater are a lens through which we see ourselves, our society,
    and our world. It is an avenue to explore the miracle that is
    the Declaration of Independence, to examine the roots and
    repercussions of slavery, and to try to make sense out of the
    often confusing evolution of our great American society.
        It has been said that everyone dies twice: once when we
    stop breathing and then again when our name is spoken for the
    last time. We need your help to ensure that our venues and our
    industry will survive this pandemic so that the voices of our
    great American creative community will have the platform from
    which to sing to us, to challenge and inspire us to be our best
    selves so that when our names are spoken for the last time, it
    will be to honor the contribution we made to our neighbor, our
    country, and to our world.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Fay follows:]

    Prepared Statement of David Fay, President and CEO, The Bushnell Center
                            for the Performing Arts
        Thank you, Chairman Moran and Ranking Member Blumenthal, for
    inviting me to testify today on behalf of the live performing arts and
    events industry. I am [David Fay] the President of The Bushnell Center
    for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut. Our downtown, like so
    many, has become a literal ghost-town, not too dissimilar from those of
    the 60s and 70s that were decimated by the explosive growth of suburban
    communities. The arduous work to revitalize these abandoned city
    centers over the past forty years has been driven in part by private
    investment in restored and newly built performance venues, spurred by
    an array of federal, state, and local tax incentives and great civic
    pride. This, in turn, has spawned the development of restaurants, bars,
    clubs and other venues creating a vitality that has led to new
    residential and retail development, adding economic strength to entire
    regions who have successfully established their own unique cultural
    identities around these revitalized centers.
        It has also led to the creation of an unprecedented touring circuit
    for regional and national performing artists, entertainers and shows.
    An industry that was once centered in a few major cities is now a
    systemic part of a uniquely American artistic mosaic that stretches
    literally from sea to shining sea. This vibrant national industry has
    provided an essential economic and cultural anchor for communities all
    across our country, but today this industry is facing an existential
    threat. A threat not only to the industry, but to the businesses and
    city centers, large and small, that have come to depend on it. The
    Cares Act was a critical step, but it was scaled to cover a much
    shorter period of closure than our industry continues to face. We
    cannot reopen our venues nor restart our industry until the virus is
    substantially subdued, and I do not expect that to occur until, at
    least, the fall of this coming year--hopefully!
        Our industry is built on live performance venues from the smallest
    club where new talent is discovered and nurtured; to the playhouses and
    regional theatres where local directors, actors, designers, stagehands,
    musicians, writers and more, learn and develop their craft; to the
    Broadway theatres and producers who look to these venues for new
    talent, and to find half of all the new shows they open each year; and
    to the performing arts centers, like The Bushnell and those much
    larger, who are a part of this delicately balanced ecosystem and who
    depend on it to develop the extraordinary talent and shows that grace
    our stages, inspire our audiences, and uplift the spirit of our
    communities. Without your help, this ecosystem is in grave danger of
    collapsing and taking with it the pulse of our city centers.
        It is also about the heart and soul of our country. Even after the
    virus is gone from our shores, we face a long road of healing and
    recovery. The Irish playwright, Sean O'Casey, said, ``All the world's a
    stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.'' I submit to you
    that it is in our arts and culture that we find the greatest
    opportunity to explore what it means to be a human being. We live at a
    time when emotional intelligence is being outstripped by Artificial
    Intelligence. Increasingly we look to Alexa and Siri for information,
    and to social media for personal validation and guidance, rather than
    pausing a moment to look at ourselves and reflect on what it means to
    walk in someone else's shoes. The arts are a lens through which we
    examine ourselves, our society and our world. It is an avenue to
    explore the inspiration of the Declaration of Independence, the roots
    and repercussions of slavery, and the often-confusing evolution of our
    great American society.
        It has been said the everyone dies twice. Once when we stop
    breathing, and a second time when our name is spoken for the last time.
    We need your help to ensure that the arts, our venues, and our industry
    will survive this pandemic so that the voices of our great American
    creative community will have the platform from which to speak to us, to
    challenge us and to inspire us to be our best self--so that when our
    names are spoken for the last time, it will be to honor the
    contribution we've made to our fellow man.
                                     ______

    NIVA: National Independent Venue Association
    Fact Sheet and Policy Ask Update--November 9, 2020

       NIVA includes more than 2,900 independent live entertainment
            venues and promoters from all 50 states and Washington, D.C.,
            banding together to fight for survival.

       Due to the national routing of most tours, our industry will
            not recover until the entire country is open at 100 percent
            capacity. NIVA members need assistance in order to survive
            until that day.

       According to a survey of NIVA members, 90 percent of
            independent venues report they will close permanently in a few
            months without Federal funding. Current PPP funding will not
            solve the crisis.

       Pollstar estimates a $9 billion loss in ticket sales alone--
            not counting food and beverage revenue -if venues remain closed
            through 2020.

       Live events provide 75 percent of all artists' income.

       For every $1 spent on a ticket at small venues, a total of
            $12 in economic activity is generated within communities on
            restaurants, hotels, taxis, and retail establishments.

       The estimated direct annual economic impact venues bring to
            local communities is nearly $10 billion.

       NIVA members are among the hardest hit. While nearly 90
            percent of U.S. businesses have reopened in some capacity,
            independent venues remain shuttered.
    The Broadway League
    Touring Broadway Facts: April 2020

       In 2019, Broadway shows performed in over 240 cities across
            North America and Canada welcoming over 32 million patrons.
            Broadway theatre had an economic impact of approximately $20
            billion in the US, fueling the economies of all cities it
            visits including local restaurants, hotels, shops,
            transportation, and vendors.

       Broadway tours garnered 18.5 million admissions in the 2018-
            19 season.

       Broadway tours grossed $1.6 billion in the 2018-19 season.

       Touring Broadway contributes an estimated cumulative $5.14
            billion to the metropolitan areas that host shows.

       On average, Broadway tours generate an economic impact of
            3.28 times the gross ticket sales to a local metropolitan
            area's economy.

       Tens of thousands of performers, crew members, musicians,
            artisans, vendor shop workers and other workers in the live
            entertainment industry are unemployed and will remain so until
            the theatre industry re-opens.
    Americans for the Arts
    COVID-19's Impact on The Arts Research & Tracking Update: December 7,
            2020
    1.  Impact on Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Sector
        Nationally, financial losses to nonprofit arts and cultural
    organizations are an estimated $14.6 billion, to date. 99 percent of
    producing and presenting organizations have cancelled events--a loss of
    481 million admissions and $15.2 billion in audience spending at local
    businesses (e.g., restaurants, lodging, retail, parking). The total
    economic impact of organizational and audience-spending losses is $5.04
    billion in lost government revenue and 867,000 jobs no longer being
    supported. Findings are based on 19,900 survey responses. (Survey.
    Dashboard.)

       35 percent laid off or furloughed staff.

       63 percent make their cultural product available online or
            through social media (67 percent of these organizations expect
            to continue their virtual presence post-pandemic).

       10 percent are ``not confident'' that they will survive the
            pandemic (a potential loss of 12,000 organizations).

       41 percent of nonprofit arts organizations are currently
            open. 59 percent of organizations remain closed.

        3 Open: 12 percent have remained open throughout. 29 percent have
                since re-opened.

        3 Closed: 20 percent have a target date for re-opening. 39 percent
                have no target date for re-opening.

       Top 4 Barriers to Reopening: (1) customers unlikely to
            attend, (2) government restrictions/guidelines, (3) staff/board
            do not feel it is yet safe, and (4) impractical to produce art
            product in current environment.
    2.  Impact on Artist/Creative Workers
        Artists/creatives are among the most severely affected workers by
    the pandemic. 63 percent have become fully unemployed. They expect to
    lose an average of $22,000 each in creativity-based income in 2020
    ($50.6 billion, nationally). Findings are based on 30,000 survey
    responses. (Survey.Dashboard)

       95 percent report loss of income.

       79 percent experienced a decrease in creative work that
            generated income (62 percent ``drastic decrease'').

       67 percent are unable to access the supplies, resources,
            spaces, or people necessary for creative work.

       78 percent have no post-pandemic financial recovery plan.

       Black, Indigenous, artists of color (BIPOC) have higher
            rates of unemployment than white artists due to the pandemic
            (69 percent vs. 60 percent) and expect to lose a larger
            percentage of their 2020 income (61 percent vs. 56 percent).

       Top 3 Needs for Artists: unemployment insurance, food/
            housing assistance, forgivable business loans.

        Senator Moran. Mr. Fay, thank you. Very well spoken.
        In my isolation in my basement on the weekends, the
    Smithsonian channel has been doing Aerial America and recently
    focused on Hartford, Connecticut. Assuming I can get your
    Senator to invite me to Hartford, I would be glad to come see
    one of your performances as soon as that is possible.
        Senator Blumenthal. You are invited, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Moran. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member.
        Let me see. Senator Blumenthal, would you like to--Mr. Fay
    was our first witness. Would you like to follow him?

                 STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL,
                     U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT

        Senator Blumenthal. I would be delighted.
        And first, thank you to David Fay, a hero of many of us who
    revere Connecticut's stages and venues.
        And thank you to you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this
    hearing. Senator Klobuchar is here. She has been a leading
    cosponsor of the Save Our Stages Act as she has been on so many
    efforts to aid small business.
        I want to thank all of the participants who are here today
    on this really critically important legislation. Our cultural
    institutions are really the lifeblood of our democracy. They
    distinguish us as a democracy, as a country. They are examples
    of our cultural heritage and treasure, and we ignore their
    needs at our grave peril.
        I am so glad to have heard Mr. Fay's very eloquent and
    powerful remarks, and I am going to take the transcript with me
    all around Connecticut and to my colleagues. Over the past
    months, in fact, I have heard from theaters and stages across
    Connecticut, as well as the country, who are facing life and
    death decisions and struggling to keep the lights on,
    literally.
        In September, I visited the Palace Theater, a 1,600
    performing arts institution, that has been a cultural center
    for Stanford, my hometown, for nearly a century. In normal
    times, the Palace Theater would be hosting the Nutcracker
    ballet to a sold-out audience, and now like much of our lives,
    the ballet is broadcast online.
        In Fairfield, the Fairfield Theater Company turned
    initially to live stream shows. They have recently reopened for
    the first time since March, but with barriers between the stage
    and the audience, literally physical barriers that severely
    reduce capacity to accommodate distancing. This kind of limited
    performance is not sustainable. I have been to The Bushnell,
    Mr. Fay's great institution, the Warner, the Schubert, as well
    as Long Wharf in New Haven, and I have seen for myself the
    limits that have been applied.
        I think we need, for the sake of the employees of these
    great institutions, for the sake of the economic institutions
    that depend on them, whether they are small businesses like
    retailers or restaurants that depend on people coming
    downtown--they are great sources of economic driving impetus as
    well as cultural heritage.
        I am proud to be a cosponsor of the Save Our Stages Act,
    which has been introduced by Senator Klobuchar. This
    legislation would authorize grants for theaters like The
    Bushnell to help cover payroll and operating costs, including
    personal protective equipment, and as well, the RESTART Act,
    which is so important also to small businesses. We are now
    approaching a critical point when we must save our stages and
    our small businesses that are hanging by a thread. For the sake
    of the businesses in their proximity who depend on them whether
    they are places to eat or venues to shop, for the sake of the
    employees who work there, the actors, as well as the stagehands
    and the lighting assistants, for the sake of our cultural
    heritage and the great treasures of enjoyment, for the sake of
    our families that come there to be together and friends and
    neighbors who regard them as social centers, as well as
    artistic gems, we should pass this measure. And I am very
    grateful to all of our witnesses today for providing the
    intellectual ammunition that we will need to convince our
    colleagues to include this step in the compromised rescue
    package now under negotiation. It is in that package now and
    hopefully it will remain there.
        And, Mr. Chairman, thank you for bringing us together.
        Senator Moran. Senator Blumenthal, thank you very much.
        Our second witness is Mr. Adam Hartke. He is the Owner of
    the Cotillion and Wave in Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Hartke, fellow
    Kansan, welcome to our subcommittee hearing, and I look forward
    to your testimony.

               STATEMENT OF ADAM HARTKE, CO-OWNER--WAVE &

              THE COTILLION; ADVOCACY COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR--

             NATIONAL INDEPENDENT VENUE ASSOCIATION (NIVA)

        Mr. Hartke. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Moran and
    Ranking Member Blumenthal and distinguished members of this
    Committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify.
        We are here because we urgently need your help. My wife and
    I are small business people. We co-own two live music venues in
    Wichita, Kansas, Wave and Cotillion. I also serve as advocacy
    committee Co-Chair for the National Independent Venue
    Association, a coalition of nearly 3,000 independent music
    venues and promoters in all 50 states and D.C.
        My early aspirations came from stories of my grandparents
    working shows at The Cotillion in the 1960s. My grandfather
    helped manage the facility and my grandmother worked the box
    office.
        After attending Kansas University, I took a job as a
    stagehand with IATSE Local 190. I could not afford a car, so I
    would catch rides with the union business agent who would
    always make sure I could get to work.
        In the following decade, I became operations and promotions
    director at the Orpheum Theater and later as operations
    director at Wichita Festivals, producer of River Fest. There I
    shared a common experience with my father who helped set up the
    infrastructure of the first River Fest in 1970 in his role as a
    laborer with the parks department.
        In 2018, I became Co-Owner of The Cotillion where my
    grandparents had worked 60 years ago. My mother still has
    memories of babysitting her four younger siblings on nights my
    grandparents worked shows. Becoming a co-owner of The Cotillion
    was the realization of not only my dream but it seemed to be
    the realization of the dreams of numerous generations of those
    within my family.
        In 2018, I realized another dream: to design and build a
    large outdoor venue. This idea started with a drawing I did on
    graph paper, and the next year Wave was built and opened with
    my wife Jessie and me at the helm of its operations.
        In 2019, business blossomed. We pushed more events through
    The Cotillion, and Wave quickly became a favorite destination
    for concert goers. Both venues drove tourism and our local
    economy, drawing visitors from all 50 states. By the end of
    2019, we were projecting 2020 to be our best year on record. In
    preparation for the new year, we made large capital investments
    in both venues. The beginning of 2020 showed increased
    revenues. Then on March 13, in response to the COVID-19
    pandemic, our businesses were mandated closed. Operations
    ceased. We scrambled to understand the impact this would have
    on our industry and our community as a whole.
        Our employees are our family, many of whom I worked with in
    IATSE. We eat together, sweat together, bleed together, smile
    together, and cry together. They were our first concern, and we
    quickly created a plan to pay our core staff crisis pay while
    shuttered. We then assessed hard costs. ``Gutted'' is the only
    word that truly reflects how we felt in this moment.
        We received PPP assistance, and the funds were used as
    originally stipulated with 75 percent going to payroll. These
    funds ran out in June, and since then, most of our employees
    have been furloughed or laid off. The amount of PPP, 2.5 times
    payroll, was not sufficient for an industry with 100 percent of
    its core bills, 95-plus percent revenue loss, and we will be
    fully shuttered for 18 months. With PPP, we were able to pay
    about 8 weeks of payroll and about half a month of core bills.
        We also received EIDL loans. Once again, the amount of
    these loans were insufficient, and within 3 months, the funds
    were depleted. This is now a debt we have to pay off for the
    next 30 years.
        Many of us have personal guarantees on our businesses.
    Without help, we could lose our homes. Our children will not be
    provided for, and everything we have worked for will vanish. A
    survey of NIVA members shows that 90 percent of mom and pop
    venues will go under without assistance. These are the same
    venues that a 2019 study showed generate $12 of economic
    activity for every dollar spent on a concert ticket at a small
    venue.
        Unlike many industries, we rely on a national reopening
    before we can resume operations, as the artists have to tour
    across the country. In other words, we have no inventory until
    artists begin to tour again. These are the same artists that
    recently sent Congress a letter on NIVA's behalf with over 600
    artists' signatures supporting our request for help. To date,
    we have had more 2.1 million e-mails sent to Congress from our
    fans pleading to save our stages.
        We are asking Congress to pass the Save Our Stages Act and
    an extension of PUA and FPUC as part of the next COVID relief
    bill this week. This is what will save us. Time is of the
    essence. After 9 months, venues are going under at a quickening
    pace. We desperately need help now.
        On December 7 of 2020, The Cotillion celebrated its 60th
    year of continued operation while our historic venue sat
    shuttered. Our biggest fear is that we will have to close our
    doors forever and the institutions, for which we have
    sacrificed so much, will be destroyed. We are sitting before
    you pleading with Congress to help those like us. Please do not
    let the music die. Please save our stages so our small family
    business can survive and maybe some day my 7-year-old son Henry
    will take over and the music will be passed on for generations
    to come.
        We thank Senator Cornyn, Senator Klobuchar, Senator Moran,
    Senator Blumenthal, and other committee members for their
    support on the Save Our Stages Act and our industry as a whole.
    Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Hartke follows:]

      Prepared Statement of Adam Hartke, Co-owner--Wave & The Cotillion;
      Advocacy Committee Co-Chair--National Independent Venue Association
                                     (NIVA)
        Good morning Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Blumenthal, and
    distinguished members of this committee. Thank you for inviting me to
    testify. My wife and I are small business people who co-own two live
    music venues in Wichita, Kansas, Wave and The Cotillion. I also serve
    as advocacy committee Co-Chair for the National Independent Venue
    Association (NIVA), a coalition of nearly 3,000 independent music
    venues and promoters in all 50 states and DC that formed as a response
    to the pandemic. My career in the live music industry began 20 years
    ago, as a student at Kansas University (KU) and a member of the
    promotions staff at the student run radio station KJHK, hanging
    posters, working merchandise tables at shows, and helping bands carry
    gear. My early aspirations came from hearing stories of my grandparents
    working shows at The Cotillion Ballroom in Wichita in the 1960s. My
    grandfather helped manage the facility, and my grandmother worked the
    box office.
        My uncle, who worked on the artist management and label side of the
    music industry for 45 years, also captured my attention as a child and
    seeded my future career. In the years following my time at KU, I moved
    back to Wichita with the goal of creating a thriving live music
    industry in my hometown. At that time there was little opportunity for
    a kid without resources and capital. I found myself doing small DIY
    shows, sleeping in a makeshift recording studio I had set up in an old
    musty office space I was renting, and cooking ramen on a space heater.
    Luckily, I found support through my colleagues and friends in the
    industry and landed a job with IATSE local 190 working load ins/outs,
    and jumping at every chance offered when the phone rang. I was broke
    and couldn't afford a car, so I would catch a ride to the venue with
    the Union Business Agent, who took a liking to me and would always make
    sure I could get to work. Most of my friends and family told me to
    forget about doing shows and just go get a ``real job.'' But I felt I
    was making progress, even though it seemed slow to those watching from
    the sidelines.
        The following decade I continued to work diligently. I found myself
    a job as operations & promotions director at the Wichita Orpheum
    Theater, and later as operations director at Wichita Festivals Inc,
    which produces the Wichita River Festival. At Wichita Festivals I
    shared a common experience with my father, who helped set up the
    infrastructure of the very first Wichita Riverfest in 1970 through his
    job as a laborer within the parks department. Live music has always
    been an integral part of our family dynamic. From my parents traveling
    to the Denver Pop Festival in 1969 on their honeymoon to see Jimi
    Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Frank Zappa, to the hundreds
    of shows they took me to as a child. Some of my earliest memories stem
    from the joy I felt when attending shows with my parents. And then, in
    2018, I became a co-owner of The Cotillion, where my grandparents had
    worked nearly 60 years ago. My mother still has memories of babysitting
    her 4 younger siblings on nights my grandparents had to work shows.
    Becoming a co-owner of the Cotillion was the realization of not only my
    dream, but it seemed to be the realization of the dreams of numerous
    generations of those within my family.
        In 2018, I also realized another dream of mine, to design and build
    a large outdoor venue in downtown Wichita. This idea started with a
    drawing I did on graph paper, and the next year Wave was built and
    opened with my wife Jessie and me at the helm of its operations.
        In 2019, both businesses blossomed. We pushed more events through
    The Cotillion than previous years and Wave quickly became a favorite
    destination for concert goers from all over the region. Both venues
    brought visitors from all 50 states, increasing tourism in Kansas and
    driving our local economy. We also expanded the cultural offerings
    within Wichita, taking big risks on shows that typically would not play
    our market. While these shows were not always financially successful,
    they had a huge impact on the overall morale of our city. We found we
    were in line with the Chicago Loop study that shows for every $1 spent
    on a concert ticket at a small venue, $12 of economic activity is
    generated for local businesses.
        By the end of 2019, we were projecting 2020 to be our best year on
    record, and our community was set to reap the benefits. We made
    facility improvements at The Cotillion to make the experience more
    enjoyable for artists as well as the customers. At Wave, we built an
    upper deck that would expand the capacity of our outdoor space, create
    a unique show experience, and further increase the economic benefit of
    our venue to Kansas.
        The beginning of 2020 was going well. Revenues were up at both
    venues. Our facility improvements were completed, having invested a lot
    of capital in preparation for a very busy year. Then, on March 13, in
    response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our venues were mandated closed by
    Sedgwick County. All operations ceased as we scrambled to understand
    the impact this would have on our industry.
        Our employees are our family. Many of whom I worked with in IATSE
    or during my DIY promotion days. We eat together, sweat together, bleed
    together, smile together, and cry together. The first concern I had was
    what we could do to help our employees through this if it lasts. We
    quickly created a plan to pay our core employees crisis pay while we
    were shuttered. I then looked at the hard costs of utilities, rent/
    mortgage, insurance, licensing, and all the other expenses we would
    still be responsible for paying. Gutted is the only word I can think of
    that truly reflects the feeling my wife Jessie and I had when
    projecting our finances through 2020. Not only would the business'
    survival rely on furloughing or laying off our employees, but all of
    our reserves and liquidity would completely dry up within 6-9 months.
    We quickly realized, much to our horror, that without help, we would
    not make it through this crisis. Our dreams were shattering in front of
    our eyes. Through no fault of our own, we had to tell our employees
    that we could not continue to pay them. We faced the looming disaster
    of our personal guarantees on the business being called out, which in
    turn made it entirely possible that we would lose our home, our son
    would not have a roof over his head, and we would lose everything.
        Both of our venues received PPP assistance, but that ran out in
    early June; the funds were used as intended with 75 percent going to
    payroll. Since then, most of our employees have been furloughed or laid
    off, and we've done our best to help them navigate the pandemic
    unemployment assistance (PUA) program. Many of our employees have been
    with us for many years, or decades, and have been trained to a point
    where they are some of the best in the industry. In smaller markets,
    like Wichita, one of our biggest fears is that we will lose these
    highly trained professionals to other industries, or even worse to
    other communities. The restrictions on PPP also made it impossible to
    pay our bills in full, and the fact that we are fully shuttered with no
    work for our employees to do, further complicated our situation.
    Lastly, the amount of PPP, 2.5X payroll, wasn't sufficient for an
    industry that has 95 percent+ revenue loss, and has been fully
    shuttered now for nearly 9 months, with likely another 9 months of
    being fully shuttered ahead of us. With PPP we were able to pay 8 weeks
    of payroll, and about half of a month of core bills.
        Beyond PPP, our venues received assistance from EIDL loans. Once
    again the amount of the EIDL loans did not cover the extent of impact
    this crisis has had on our industry and within 3 months these funds
    were depleted. This is now a debt we will be paying off for the next 30
    years. We are expecting to be closed for a total of at least 18 months,
    with no revenue, but still shouldering 100 percent of our core bills.
    We also fear that once we are able to reopen, we will face a recovery
    period of at least 6-18 months in which our revenues will be
    drastically reduced due to social distancing measures and capacity
    restrictions. Our business model relies on our ability to sell a
    minimum of about 80 percent of our total capacities, so operating at
    anything less than that will automatically cause us to lose money.
    Coupled with additional costs incurred due to social distancing, extra
    cleaning, extra safety protocols, and the additional equipment needed
    to safely operate, it will be very difficult for us to simply break
    even. It is likely we will not realize our full revenue streams until
    2023 or later, which puts us in a very volatile situation coming off of
    such a crippling closure.
        Again, many of us have personal guarantees on our businesses. If we
    do not get the help we need, we will lose our homes, our children will
    not be provided for, and everything we have worked for will vanish
    before our eyes due to no fault of our own. A survey of NIVA members
    shows that 90 percent of mom & pop venues, venues like Wave and The
    Cotillion, will go under without Federal assistance. We have remained
    closed in the name of public health and safety, risking everything we
    have with no promise from anyone that we will receive further aid, only
    the hope that Congress will deliver for us.
        But we have not simply been sitting at home hoping we'll get
    relief. NIVA formed shortly after the pandemic so that we could not
    only share tips and resources to navigate this new normal, but also to
    band together and fight for our survival, which has become our full-
    time job. And we've been glad to do this alongside and with support
    from others across the live event industry--from the artists to our
    workers to our vendors to our fans. We are very mindful of the
    ecosystem of the live entertainment industry as a whole.
        Unlike many industries, we rely on a national reopening before we
    can resume operations, as the artists that play in Wichita have to tour
    across the country. In other words, we have no ``inventory'' until
    artists begin touring again. And due to inconsistencies in local
    mandates and restrictions on venues, artists are unable to route shows
    at this point. The booking and promoting process has a 3-6 month lead
    time on average, which adds an additional layer of complexity to our
    recovery period. Any seemingly small glitches like unexpected temporary
    closures or restrictions due to outbreaks, inconsistencies in local
    COVID related licensing policies, consumer confidence causing low
    ticket sales, or many other unknown circumstances will make navigating
    the national reopening much more difficult for our industry.
        Our venues are the catalyst to many artists' careers. Without
    smaller stages for new artists to perform, we will see fewer superstars
    in the future, and in turn the entire industry will suffer. Recently, a
    letter was sent to Congress on NIVA's behalf with over 600 artists
    signatures supporting our request for help. Live events provide 75
    percent of artists' income, and without independent stages, many
    artists will have no options of spaces to perform once this crisis is
    over.
        Because of our focus on artists we have a strong alliance with the
    National Independent Talent Organization which represents hundreds of
    mom and pop talent agents and managers. We also have support from
    organizations like RIAA, A2IM, Recording Academy, Country Music
    Association, and Music Biz. Without these industry partners it would be
    nearly impossible for any of us to operate in isolation.
        Beyond our industry partners, and those we do business with, our
    fans miss attending shows at our venues. One of the biggest signals
    that this crisis is behind us will be the ability to go to shows with
    your friends and loved ones once again. To date, we have had more than
    2.1 million e-mails sent to Congress from our fans in support of the
    Save Our Stages Act.
        We also have bipartisan support of 57 Senate cosponsors for the
    Save Our Stages Act, as well as 172 House cosponsors. The Save Our
    Stages Act has been in bills presented by Republicans, Democrats, and
    bipartisan groups.
        What we are asking for is the passing of the Save Our Stages Act as
    written and an extension of PUA to take care of our employees until we
    can rehire them and resume operations. This is what will save the mom
    and pop venues across the country, and ensure we are there to once
    again be the anchors within our communities, and the overall live
    entertainment ecosystem within America.
        The Save Our Stages Act (S. 4258/H.R. 7806) led by Senators John
    Cornyn (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Representatives Peter Welch
    (D-VT) and Roger Williams (R-TX):

       Ensures forgiveness and increases access: This bill
            establishes a grant program for live venue operators,
            promoters, producers and talent representatives. By offering
            grants, forgiveness is ensured. In addition, grants increase
            access for business owners that may not have a relationship
            with banks. Finally, the bill extends eligibility to state and
            locally owned venues (like Red Rocks in Denver, CO) and non-
            profits that otherwise meet the eligibility requirements.

       Doesn't penalize industries that rely on part-time
            employees: Counts Full Time Employees as 1 employee and part-
            time employees as 1⁄2 an employee. Based on this
            definition, NIVA members have fewer than 250 FTEs.

       Ensures sufficient funding to survive until reopening:
            Rather than basing loan amount on payroll, grants are made to
            eligible recipients in an amount equal to 45 percent of gross
            earned revenue from 2019, with a cap of $12 million.

       Provides long-term support: Provides supplemental grants to
            independent businesses that demonstrate continued need based on
            continued revenue loss. This is the only bill that recognizes
            venues will be closed well into 2021 and seeks to provide truly
            long-term support.

       Ensures the ability to keep the lights on: With no
            restrictions on percentage used for payroll versus other costs,
            the bill permits recipients to use grants for costs incurred
            during the COVID pandemic for rent, utilities, mortgage
            obligations, PPE procurement, payments to contractors, regular
            maintenance, administrative costs, taxes, operating leases, and
            capital expenditures related to meeting state, local, or
            Federal social distancing guidelines.

        Make no mistake, time is of the essence. After 9 months, venues are
    going under at a quickening pace. We desperately need help now, not
    next month or the month after. We need Congress to pass the next Covid
    Relief bill this week.
        On Dec 7 of 2020, The Cotillion celebrated its 60th year of
    continued operation. Instead of a big show and a week-long celebration,
    the historic venue sat empty and shuttered for the first time. Jessie
    and I sat at home, as did our employees, wanting nothing more than to
    be back at work surrounded by the ones we love doing the thing we are
    most passionate about. Our biggest fear, and I think I can say with
    confidence that this is a collective fear of thousands across the
    country, is that we will have to close our doors forever and the
    institutions for which we have sacrificed so much will be destroyed
    after weathering so many hard times throughout history. We are a small
    family business, and have always hoped we would persevere for
    generations to come. We are now pleading with Congress to help those
    like us, don't let the music die, and please save our stages. With your
    help we can survive this, our small family business will survive and
    maybe someday my son Hank will take over and the music will be passed
    on for generations to come.

        Senator Moran. Mr. Hartke, thank you for your compelling
    testimony. And, I too, hope your son is capable of carrying on
    the family business.
        We now turn to our third witness, Mr. Ron Laffitte. He is
    the President of Patriot Management in Los Angeles, California.
    Mr. Laffitte.

                 STATEMENT OF RON LAFFITTE, PRESIDENT,
                           PATRIOT MANAGEMENT

        Mr. Laffitte. Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Blumenthal,
    and other distinguished members of this subcommittee, thank you
    for the opportunity to appear before you today for this
    important hearing on the impact COVID-19 has had on the live
    entertainment industry.
        My name is Ron Laffitte, and I am the President of Patriot
    Management, an artist management company owned by Live Nation.
    Patriot represents over 45 artists, record producers, and
    songwriters, including Pharrell Williams, Ryan Tedder and his
    band, One Republic, the Backstreet Boys, and Usher.
        I have been a part of the music business since I was 14. I
    started helping local bands by doing things like selling T-
    shirts and making flyers. Fortunately, for me one of those
    bands was Metallica. I was able to turn that opportunity into a
    career. Instead of going to college, I went on tour. That was
    my education.
        Since then, I have had the privilege of managing many
    bands, running a record company, and ultimately coming back to
    doing what I love the most, representing the artists as their
    manager. Before any of this, I was a music fan and I still am.
    From the beginning, you could always find me in front of the
    stage somewhere as an obsessed fan. That obsession has become
    my life. Most of my closest friends are people I have grown up
    with in this business, people I met on the road, those who
    promote the shows, those who work in the venues, and those who
    manage and staff these tours.
        My story is not unique. A concert is more than an
    opportunity to just listen to music. It is a shared experience
    that creates and requires a community.
        There are many aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic that make
    it an unparalleled tragedy: the lives lost, the jobs destroyed,
    and the social isolation. Our industry has been deeply and
    profoundly affected by this crisis. The pandemic has brought
    concerts and the vast economic ecosystem that supports those
    concerts and all other live events to a screeching halt.
        This ecosystem starts with the artists creating their music
    in bedrooms or garages with a dream of one day performing in
    front of a live audience that
        [inaudible] their own. Artists are feeling the pain of this
    pandemic personally and professionally. They miss performing
    live for their fans but they also feel responsible for the
    thousands of people who help make these concerts and tours
    happen.
        As you all know, the live entertainment industry in the
    United States is massive, with thousands of people who make
    each tour and concert possible, including the road crews, the
    venue personnel, and the concession staff. But when you
    consider the economic impact of the live entertainment
    ecosystem, it goes far beyond just these professions. It
    impacts many local and regional economies. That includes the
    hotels where the performers, crews, and fans stay, the
    restaurants where they eat, and the transportation we use to
    attend these events.
        When the pandemic struck in the United States, live
    entertainment jobs disappeared overnight, jobs that will not
    return until we have conquered this virus. Everyone employed in
    this industry is hurting, whether they have been small towns or
    the big cities, whether they work in independent venues like
    the ones Adam talked about, or the biggest arenas. No venue has
    been immune from the impact of this crisis.
        It is critical that Congress include comprehensive relief
    for the entertainment industry in the next COVID-19 legislative
    package. We were one of the first industries to bear the brunt
    of this pandemic, and we will likely be one of the last to get
    back to normal. This relief should help every venue and every
    professional working in the live entertainment space until this
    crisis ends.
        The pandemic's economic impact on our industry is
    staggering. Ninety-five percent of all events in 2020 have
    either been canceled or postponed, with 77 percent of workers
    having lost 100 percent of their income. In addition, 97
    percent of contract workers, the backup bands, sound mixers,
    lighting companies, et cetera--everyone has been out of work
    since March, and unlike restaurants or airlines that can
    operate at a reduced capacity, live entertainment is largely an
    all-or-nothing proposition.
        There are two specific ways Congress can help.
        First, all live event workers are hurting regardless of
    their employer. Any relief for our industry should focus on the
    employees and the contractors. Grants and loans should be used
    for payroll and made available to all venues with less than
    5,000 seats, as well as all public venues. Save Our Stages is a
    great start, but we can do so much more. All venue employees
    need your help.
        Second, Congress needs to extend the retention tax credits.
    With these credits, workers still employed can maintain
    employment until shows return and furloughed employees can
    continue to receive their employer-sponsored health care.
        Thank you again for this opportunity to testify. I
    appreciate this subcommittee drawing attention to the plight of
    the live entertainment business, especially our workers.
        I look forward to answering your questions.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Laffitte follows:]

       Prepared Statement of Ron Laffitte, President, Patriot Management
        Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Blumenthal, and other distinguished
    Members of this Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear
    before you today for this important and timely hearing examining the
    impact of COVID-19 on the live entertainment industry. My name is Ron
    Laffitte, and I am the President of Patriot Management.
        Patriot Management represents over 45 artists, producers and
    songwriters, including Pharrell Williams, Ryan Tedder, The Backstreet
    Boys, and Usher. I also spent more than 10 years as a record label
    executive as GM of Elektra Records and President of Capitol Records,
    where I had the privilege of working with numerous iconic acts,
    including Coldplay and Radiohead.
        Music plays a profound and intangible role in our lives. Music
    evokes a vast array of emotions--and live entertainment is one of the
    most powerful and important ways to experience it. Live entertainment
    is where we gather with friends and loved ones to experience the music
    that stirs our emotions and the events that become life-long memories.
    These experiences also have the ability to be a great equalizer,
    uniting people from all ages, walks of life, and backgrounds as one
    community.
        There are many aspects of the COVID-19 Pandemic that make it an
    unparalleled tragedy--the lives lost, the jobs destroyed, the social
    isolation inflicted, and the educational opportunities missed. No
    industry has been more deeply and profoundly crippled by this crisis
    than live entertainment.
        The pandemic has brought concerts, and the vast economic ecosystem
    that supports concerts and other live entertainment events, to a
    screeching halt. In addition to the economic impact of the shutdown,
    the isolation and despair that has made this pandemic so difficult for
    many is amplified as millions of fans are missing the connection,
    community, and culture these events provide.
        Restrictions on mass gatherings, to rightly protect public health,
    have caused numerous live entertainment events to be cancelled or
    postponed, resulting in a sharp contraction in live entertainment
    revenue. Live music in the United States generated $10.9 billion in
    2019,\1\ revenues that largely disappeared in 2020. PWC estimates that
    live music revenue will contract 64 percent globally in 2020.\2\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ PwC, Global Entertainment & Media Outlook, 2020-2024: Music,
    Radio, and Podcasts, 15, Sept. 2020.
        \2\ Id.

        How big is the economic impact? The United States is home to the
    world's biggest music market.\3\ The music industry added $143 billion
    annually in value to the U.S. economy in 2016 and created 1.9 million
    jobs across a broad swathe of vocations.\4\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \3\ Stephen E. Siwek, Economists Incorporated, The U.S. Music
    Industries: Jobs & Benefits, Recording Industry Association of America,
    5, April 2018.
        \4\ Id.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        What is the live entertainment ecosystem in the United States? This
    ecosystem starts with artists creating music in their bedrooms or
    garages with the dream of one day performing in front of a live
    audience. Artists feel the pain of the pandemic personally and
    professionally. They miss performing live for fans. They miss the joy
    of telling a story through music. But, most importantly, they feel
    responsible for the thousands of people who help make concerts and
    tours happen.
        The live entertainment ecosystem is comprised of more than 80,000
    businesses, including businesses of promoters, agents, managers,
    performers and artists. Most artists also have small businesses setup
    to employ tour managers, production managers, lighting directors, audio
    engineers, bus drivers, and other individuals critical to the artist's
    execution of a live event. There are also the hundreds of people
    working behind the scenes to make a tour and concert successful from a
    venue's perspective, including stage and sound crews, truck drivers,
    electricians, welders, security officers, ushers, ticket takers as well
    as employees who operate food and beverage concessions and sell
    merchandise.
        Much of the workforce involved in putting on a live event of any
    size are highly skilled in their craft. Lighting technicians, sound
    engineers and stage designers and builders, among so many others, spend
    years honing their expertise to deliver memorable events under
    circumstances that can be taxing for people physically and personally
    as they live much of life on the road.
        But when you consider the economic impact of the live entertainment
    ecosystem, it goes far beyond these professions, and implicates many
    local and regional economies. It includes hotels where performers,
    crews, and fans stay, restaurants at which they eat, and transportation
    they use to attend an event and haul equipment from one city to
    another. All of these industries suffer when live entertainment does
    not exist.
        When the pandemic struck the United States, live entertainment jobs
    disappeared overnight, jobs that will not return until we have
    conquered the virus. I implore Congress to help us protect and preserve
    this ecosystem during these challenging times. No venue, vendor, artist
    or live entertainment worker has been immune from the impact of this
    crisis, whether they live in small towns or large cities, or work at
    small venues or large arenas. Live entertainment workers can be full-
    time or part-time, part of a tour or part of a city's base of skilled
    workers that bring sets, stages, and venues to life.
        I strongly urge Congress to include relief for the live
    entertainment industry in the next COVID-19 legislative package. We
    were one of the first industries to bear the brunt of the pandemic, and
    we will be one of last to get back to normal. This relief should help
    every venue, company and professional involved in the live
    entertainment ecosystem stay afloat until this crisis abates.
        This is a sector which will see demand return at rates of 2019 or
    more once the virus is contained. I would ask Congress to help us
    ensure the supply chain is in place and strong enough to meet this
    demand when it returns. Businesses such as live entertainment will be
    critical in fueling the United States' economic recovery.
        Many performers feel as isolated from their fans as their fans do
    from them. They cannot wait to go back on tour to bring joy and a sense
    of togetherness to millions of fans. And once they do, crews and
    communities across our Nation will once again tap into the economic
    output of live entertainment. Congress needs to help bridge the gap
    until that can occur.
        As an industry, we are all hurting. And unlike restaurants or
    airlines that can operate at reduced capacity, live entertainment is
    largely an all or nothing proposition. The pandemic's economic impact
    on our industry is staggering: 95 percent of all events in 2020 have
    been cancelled or postponed and 77 percent of workers have lost 100
    percent of their income. In addition, 97 percent of contract workers
    (back-up bands, sound mixers, bus drivers, lighting companies, etc.)
    have been out of work since March.
        There are three specific ways Congress can help the live
    entertainment industry. First, expand the Save Our Stages legislation
    to provide relief to more venues, including any venue with less than
    5,000 seats as well as all publicly owned venues. The employees of
    these venues and the vendor ecosystem they support need your help just
    as much as those employed and supported by the subset of venues in the
    current draft bill. And these venues are essential places of work not
    just for employees, but for contractors. They need access to grants
    until mass gatherings can resume safely.
        Second, Congress needs to extend employee retention tax credits.
    With these credits, workers still employed can maintain employment
    until shows return and furloughed employees can continue to receive
    their employer-sponsored healthcare. Maintaining employment
    arrangements will limit having additional live entertainment industry
    workers pushed into unemployment, which will ultimately allow a quicker
    economic recovery and lower long-term worker dislocation within the
    industry.
        Third, I urge you to pass the Mixed Earner Pandemic Unemployment
    Assistance Act (H.R. 7691) to address unnecessary burdens when filing
    for unemployment faced by gig musicians with multiple employment
    streams.
        Thank you again for the opportunity to testify at this important
    hearing. I greatly appreciate this subcommittee drawing attention to
    the plight of the live entertainment industry and live entertainment
    workers caused by the pandemic. I look forward to answering your
    questions and working with you to support the sector, and the
    workforce, I regard as family.

        Senator Moran. Mr. Laffitte, thank you very much.
        Now Mr. Pantuso, President and Chief Executive Officer of
    the American Bus Association.

     STATEMENT OF PETER J. PANTUSO, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE
                   OFFICER, AMERICAN BUS ASSOCIATION

        Mr. Pantuso. Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Blumenthal,
    members of the Committee, thank you very, very much for giving
    us the opportunity to testify today.
        Our message is unique. We represent bus companies that
    bring entertainers and bring fans to the venues and events.
        There are three key points I would like to make today.
        First, the entertainer motorcoach industry, like the entire
    motorcoach industry, is in dire shape. They need a lifeline.
    Without one, 40 to 50 percent of the industry could be out of
    business by 2021. The industry is an essential part of
    America's transportation network. It is very capital-intensive
    with high fixed costs, and it has a very specialized workforce.
        The Emergency Coronavirus Relief Act of 2020, which
    includes the CERTS Act that most of this committee has
    sponsored or supported, is critical to our survival.
        ABA's motorcoach members represent private, mostly small
    businesses, including the entertainer motorcoach operators, and
    we also support the travel and tourism industry around the
    country. The motorcoach industry provides nearly 600 million
    passenger trips annually, on par with U.S. commercial airlines.
    3,000 U.S. motorcoach companies employ approximately 100,000
    individuals and generate $15 billion in revenue. But they also
    support 2 million additional jobs around the country and create
    over $200 billion in economic activity.
        Today the industry is operating at about 10 percent of 2019
    levels. 85,000 of our workers are unemployed, and the path to
    recovery is another 12 to 24 months away. Without any direct
    financial support, up to 50 percent of these businesses could
    close forever, meaning their employees will be out of work
    permanently.
        The live entertainment performances include advance
    preparation, onsite activities, and post-event activities, and
    motorcoaches play a critical role at every juncture. The
    entertainer motorcoach vehicles are built to serve the
    essential and unique transportation needs of entertainers,
    celebrities, and their crews. But they also serve politicians,
    the media, and other specialized customers. These vehicles
    carry people and equipment for ground-based tours. They are
    designed to include sleeping, meeting, and culinary support
    facilities. They get celebrities to the event, serve as a
    support vehicle onsite, and then get them to the next event.
        Traditional motorcoach companies also play a very important
    role in the entertainment industry by bringing fans to the
    events and venues. All motorcoach companies are a vital
    component of this nation's transportation network. They provide
    inter-city scheduled bus, commuter services, school
    transportation, charters, and entertainment services. The
    industry also serves the country in times of crisis, moving
    people out of harm's way during hurricanes and wildfires, and
    moving the military and their equipment for training and
    deployment. Earlier this year, FEMA and State emergency
    management agencies hired entertainer motorcoaches to house
    emergency response personnel during many of the evacuations and
    hurricane relief efforts in the Gulf region.
        COVID is also having a significant impact on the motorcoach
    manufacturing and downstream suppliers. In previous years, up
    to 1,500 new motorcoaches, valued at a cost of over $500,000
    each, were sold in the U.S. Now production and sales of new
    motorcoaches to the private sector have all but stopped. The
    impact of hundreds of good paying manufacturing jobs and
    thousands of workers who supply engines and tires, seats,
    electronics, and hundreds of other components are affected, and
    this impact will last for years.
        On top of this, the value of motorcoaches has dropped by as
    much as 50 percent, making it impossible to sell used coaches
    or trade them in, severely limiting the abilities of motorcoach
    operators and owners to borrow money to keep their businesses
    afloat.
        In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, we appreciate your leadership
    in identifying the entertainer motorcoach segment and the
    entire industry since it has been overlooked for a long time
    and it is a critical element of our nation's transportation
    network. We urge you and your colleagues to pass the Emergency
    Coronavirus Relief Act of 2020, which includes the provisions
    of the CERTS Act, when it comes before Congress this week.
    Thank you very much.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Pantuso follows:]

          Prepared Statement of Peter J. Pantuso, President and CEO,
                            American Bus Association
        Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Blumenthal, and distinguished
    members of the Subcommittee: on behalf of the American Bus Association
    (ABA) thank you for calling today's critical hearing regarding the live
    event entertainment industry and the impacts affecting the industry as
    a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
        My name is Peter Pantuso, and I am the President and CEO of the
    American Bus Association in Washington, DC. As CEO, I am responsible
    for the Association's day-to-day operations, including policy
    development, government and regulatory affairs activities, membership,
    communications and marketing, meetings and conventions, finances, and
    publishing. In addition to my role at ABA, I also serve as President of
    the National Bus Traffic Association and the ABA Foundation.
        ABA has grown to become North America's leading and largest
    motorcoach, group tour, and travel association, and serves as the
    oldest and most respected voice of this industry. In addition to
    representing 800 motorcoach companies and 65 percent of all
    motorcoaches on the road, the ABA also represents more than 2,500
    businesses in the tour and travel industry (those who rely on
    motorcoaches to bring business to their communities, including retail
    businesses, convention centers, hotels, restaurants, entertainment
    venues, and other attractions), along with motorcoach manufacturers and
    suppliers. The ABA has also expanded the breadth and inclusiveness of
    the industry by bringing management services to other organizations,
    including Skal International--USA and the Florida Motorcoach
    Association and creating the Hispanic Motorcoach Council, Entertainer
    Motorcoach Council and the Women in Buses Council, among others. The
    ABA also offers safety educational opportunities to the motorcoach
    industry by creating the Bus Industry Safety Council and Bus
    Maintenance and Repair Council. The ABA Foundation has evolved into an
    $8 million organization that conducts critical motorcoach industry
    research and provides scholarships to support and promote the industry,
    workers and their families. Since its inception, the ABA Foundation has
    awarded over $1 million in scholarships to nearly 400 individuals.
        ABA's motorcoach members represent private motorcoach operators,
    including entertainer motorcoach manufacturers and operators, tour
    operations and all facets of small businesses supporting the tour and
    travel industry. More broadly, motorcoach companies are a vital
    component of the national public transportation network, providing
    intercity scheduled bus service, commuter and shuttle operations,
    school bus transportation, charter, and entertainment services, and in
    some cases contracted services for public transit authorities,
    airlines, and Amtrak. Annually, the motorcoach industry provides nearly
    600 million passenger trips, on par with the domestic commercial
    airline industry. The industry is comprised of 3,000 companies, mostly
    small family-owned businesses, operating 36,000 motorcoaches. While
    motorcoach companies directly employ nearly 100,000 people and generate
    $15 billion in economic activity, the motorcoach, tour, and travel
    industry supports nearly two million additional jobs across America and
    creates over $236 billion in direct and indirect economic activity
    nationwide.
        Before March 2020, the motorcoach, tour, and travel industry helped
    drive the tourism and transportation economy, and the charter sector
    was preparing for another strong tourist and entertainment season.
    However, with outbreak and spread of COVID-19, the industry came to a
    standstill. Motorcoach ridership dropped on all scheduled service
    routes as people stopped traveling between communities and cities, and
    commuter buses stopped carrying passengers as workers shifted to work
    from home and stopped commuting. All contracted trips for charter
    operations, including entertainment and sports related contracts were
    cancelled. As the summer proceeded, hope further faded as government
    directives and spiking health concerns forced anticipated concert tours
    and sporting events to be cancelled. For example, the NCAA's March
    Madness tournament was one of the first national sporting events to
    cancel at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, impacting hundreds of
    motorcoach companies that would be moving teams and fans during that
    one-month march to the Final Four.
        Today, the industry is operating at less than 10 percent of 2019
    levels, with no clear path forward for a possible recovery, even
    factoring in the positive discussions surrounding vaccines. Lacking the
    support of any form of direct financial assistance, the motorcoach
    industry and specifically the entertainer motorcoach sector, face a
    dire situation. As this Committee examines the impact of COVID-19 on
    the live entertainment industry, we appreciate you identifying the
    motorcoach transportation industry as a supporting industry of the
    broader entertainment industry and including it in your examination. To
    date, our industry has been entirely overlooked in terms of its
    critical role in the Nation's transportation network and economic
    engine.
        For purposes of this hearing, it is important to understand that a
    live entertainment performance or event is a multifaceted undertaking,
    that includes advance preparation, post-event activities, and the
    actual events. Within the scope of this undertaking, motorcoaches play
    a critical but sometimes understated role. First, there are entertainer
    coaches which serve the unique and necessary transportation needs of
    not only artists, entertainers, and other celebrities and their crews,
    as well as politicians, the media, and other specialized customers that
    rely on motorcoaches for their businesses. These vehicles carry people
    and equipment, for ground-based tours to various entertainment venues,
    political events, or other scheduled events, and provide sleeping,
    meeting, and culinary accommodations in an efficient manner. In terms
    of the larger entertainment industry, these vehicles play a critical
    role in advancing the event and post-event activities, facilitating the
    transportation of both the lead artist and the crew. Currently, there
    are 30 entertainer motorcoach companies nationwide, operating over
    1,000 of these specialized vehicles. But, due to COVID-19, most of
    these vehicles are parked and providing zero revenue. A sad, but
    noteworthy outcome of this situation, is that during recent hurricanes
    in the gulf coast region hundreds of these coaches were put into
    service in the Lake Charles, LA area, and other parts of the gulf to
    support first responders by providing sleeping facilities and
    restrooms. If it were not for the horrible hurricane and wildfire
    season we experienced this year, where once again the motorcoach
    industry stepped up to help FEMA, these entertainer motorcoach
    operators, as well as other motorcoach companies around the country,
    would have been entirely out of work.
        Many of these entertainer coach companies are also often considered
    second stage manufacturers and these companies are small, family-owned
    businesses, often multi-generational, that pride themselves on their
    unique niche in the motorcoach industry. Generally, they purchase a bus
    ``shell'' from an original equipment manufacturer and customize it to
    meet the needs of their customers. An average entertainer coach,
    depending on its configuration for the ``star'' or crew will
    accommodate up to 12 passengers. Over time and use, these coaches are
    often modified for reuse within the same industry, for the life of the
    vehicle.
        In addition to entertainer motorcoaches serving the explicit travel
    needs of entertainers and others, the motorcoach industry also plays an
    important role in the entertainment industry by bringing fans and
    audiences to events and venues. As these vehicles generally seat 35 or
    more, and include a bathroom facility, they provide an opportune way
    for large groups to travel to widely attended events. It is not unusual
    within the motorcoach tour industry to offer entertainment events as
    part of a tour or larger tour package. But, like the entertainer
    motorcoaches, due to COVID-19 and the cancellation of tours, sports and
    entertainment events, this segment of the industry is almost entirely
    parked and has been for months, with no to limited expected recovery
    within the next 12 months--even with a smooth vaccine process.
        In short, ABA and its members have been at the center of the COVID-
    19 ``storm.'' The cancellation of entertainment events, including
    concerts and tours, theatrical productions, sports schedules and more,
    compounded by broadly publicized warnings against using public modes of
    transportation, and government directives limiting movement, is taking
    a serious toll on the collective motorcoach industry. Because the
    motorcoach industry is dominated by small entrepreneurial businesses,
    95 percent of which are privately owned family businesses who operate
    on very thin margins, it was not prepared to withstand this
    unprecedented, significant economic downturn. For comparison, the
    current situation is far worse than the downturn following the tragic
    events of September 11, 2001, and the industry's condition continues to
    deteriorate as we head into the slow winter season for the industry.
    Following 9/11, although fear of travel was a factor, it was focused on
    air travel and travel to larger urban areas. Travel did continue by
    other modes and to other venues and it returned to ``normal'' in a much
    shorter period of time.
        We are hearing daily from our members who are struggling to survive
    and are seeking a bridge to recovery, which at this point we believe is
    at least 12 to 24 months away. In the interim, we note that the
    Administration's and Congress's efforts to assist have fallen short for
    our industry. The motorcoach industry is a capital-intensive business
    with more than 60 percent of the costs tied to equipment, facilities,
    insurance, and other fixed costs that companies must continue to pay
    despite the lack of passengers and income. The Paycheck Protection
    Program (PPP), although well-intentioned, reached about 10-20 percent
    of our membership and only provided short-term assistance. The PPP
    money was quickly spent to bring employees back although there was no
    possible work, and the PPP program provided no relief from the burdens
    associated with the capital-intensive nature of the industry. The Main
    Street Lending Program, also well-intentioned, was delayed in
    implementation and the requirements are too steep for most struggling
    companies seeking a lifeline for survival. At this point, targeted
    financial assistance to bridge the industry through this crisis is
    necessary for it to survive.
        We need Congress to act and include the Coronavirus Economic Relief
    for Transportation Services Act or CERTS Act, or other direct financial
    assistance in a COVID-19 relief package before the end of the 116th
    Congress. As background, the CERTS Act provides direct relief for
    private motorcoach, school bus and passenger vessel industries and now
    has 59 bipartisan co-sponsors in the Senate (S. 4150), and over 270
    bipartisan co-sponsors in the House (H.R. 7642), which is 60 percent of
    the entire Congress and more than any other relief bill that has been
    proposed--and both bills continue to gain support as members start
    comprehending the extreme circumstances facing the motorcoach industry.
    The supporters include bipartisan leaders in both chambers, including
    chairman and ranking members of appropriations and authorizing
    committees.
        All sectors of the motorcoach industry provide vital transportation
    services to not only the entertainment industry, but to the larger
    national transportation network. The motorcoach industry also provides
    sustainable employment for hundreds of thousands of workers, both
    directly and indirectly. As well, 0ne third of motorcoach companies
    provide critical school bus service, and those operations of our
    members have also been harmed by school districts refusing to pay
    contracts during school closures in the spring and continuing this
    fall.
        The motorcoach industry also serves this country in times of
    crisis, moving people out of harm's way, such as evacuating citizens
    during hurricanes and wildfires, and serving as component of our
    national defense by moving our military and their equipment for
    training and deployment and protecting critical infrastructure. A
    robust motorcoach industry is an essential element to the recovery of
    the live entertainment industry, as well as the entire national
    economy. If this industry fails, the effects will be devastating. The
    industry's failure will exacerbate the unemployment burden and reduce
    transportation capacity nationwide, and will reach beyond the immediate
    industry to the related supply chains, affecting manufacturing,
    financial services, tourism and beyond. For these reasons, an immediate
    investment in bridging the motorcoach industry through this crisis will
    yield a more long-term and sustainable outcome for the national
    economy.
        We need your leadership now and urge you to work with your
    colleagues in this body and the U.S. House of Representatives to
    negotiate another COVID-19 relief package with the inclusion of the
    CERTS Act. This legislation provides the direct economic assistance the
    motorcoach industry needs. The latest $908 billion proposal offered by
    a bipartisan, bicameral group of members included $8 billion in funding
    based on the CERTS Act language, and has broad support in both
    Chambers. The ABA strongly encourages members of this Subcommittee and
    all Senators and Members of Congress to pass a bipartisan package of
    this nature, that includes $8 billion for these severely impacted
    industries including the motorcoach industry, before the end of this
    Congress.
        Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today before this
    Subcommittee. In sum, we need Congress to provide dedicated funding for
    motorcoach, tour, and travel industry businesses. Timing is critical,
    and ABA stands ready to assist Congress and this Committee in any
    capacity.

        Senator Moran. Thank you, Mr. Pantuso.
        Mr. Strickland.

               STATEMENT OF MICHAEL T. STRICKLAND, CHAIR
                       AND FOUNDER, BANDIT LITES

        Mr. Strickland. Thank you. I would like to thank first
    Chairman Wicker, Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Senator
    Blumenthal, my own Senator, Ms. Marsha Blackburn, my Senator,
    Lamar Alexander, and all of the distinguished members of this
    committee for all that you have done and will do.
        I am Michael T. Strickland, Founder and Chairman of Bandit
    Lites. We are an entertainment lighting company. And Senator
    Moran, to your point, Garth Brooks is one of my best friends
    and biggest customers, a great gentleman. But Garth Brooks,
    Jimmy Buffett, Alice Cooper, Barry Manilow, Carrie Underwood,
    the NFL, NASCAR--these people all count as my clients.
        I am batting cleanup today because I have got my arms
    around the entire live event industry from buses and trucks to
    labor forces such as the IATSE, to catering people, to rodeos,
    to fairs. We are all shut. We are like a band of gypsies. We
    have no lobby and we have no PACs. We have no representation on
    the Hill. That is why I am sitting here today. That is what we
    do.
        If you remember nothing today, remember the word ``spurs,''
    spurs like in a cowboy.
        S, shut. We have been shut since March 13. We will not be
    open until June or July at the earliest. Zero income. 97
    percent of our industry is sitting dead in the water. We are an
    $877 billion industry per the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    There are 10-plus million people employed, as you have all so
    eloquently stated, across all of the different strata of this
    industry. We are all sitting dead still.
        P, PPP. Thank you very much for the PPP you gave us in
    April. It ran out in June. The virus is still with us. That
    money is long gone. I urge you by this Friday in whatever it is
    that you pass, that you pass another round of PPP. That will
    allow all of the folks in the live event industry to get
    through January and February. That is crucial because hopefully
    in January and February we can effect a broader relief.
        U, unemployment. I urge you to continue all the pandemic
    economic relief actions that you put forth in the wonderful
    CARES package back in April. That was a stunning decision. I
    applaud you for what you did. Please continue those at least
    through June to allow those people that are negatively impacted
    and need those pandemic relief funds made available to them.
        RESTART, which is really why I am here. RESTART is the only
    vehicle that I have identified that holistically allows anyone
    that has been devastated to survive. In the case of our
    industry, our industry is at zero. In order to get a Main
    Street lending loan or, indeed, in order to get a commercial
    loan, you have to go before a lending institution, and you have
    to have three things: a strong balance sheet, a strong profit
    and loss statement, and an income stream. We have none of the
    above. There are $595 billion sitting unused in the failed Main
    Street Lending Program. Certainly in the future, we could
    repurpose some amount of that to get that money to the people
    in the crushed small businesses.
        I have spoken to Senator Todd Young who wrote it, and we
    realize it needs to be retooled. At the moment it was written,
    a 25 percent reduction in revenue was phenomenal. A year later,
    a 25 percent reduction in revenue is not so significant. I
    would urge you to retool it, up the amount of revenue loss,
    which narrows the bill which will give it a CBO score which
    will allow it to function within a bigger bill. But I know we
    can get there.
        And the last part of this whole thing is S, Save Our
    Stages. I applaud you for the vision. Senator Klobuchar,
    Senator Cornyn, a wonderful job. That is Omaha Beach. It is D-
    Day for the live event business. We landed on Omaha Beach. You
    so graciously gave us Save Our Stages. We have got to go up the
    cliff and on to Paris. How do we get up the cliff and how do we
    get to Paris' RESTART. That is the only vehicle that gets us
    there. Save Our Stages is a great first step. I urge you to
    pass it as soon as possible, but we must go to the next step
    and we must have something like RESTART that will give us some
    amount of our income, 45 percent which is what is in RESTART,
    and it will convert to a 7-year loan which will allow us a path
    to recovery.
        As I said, we have no lobby. We have no PAC. And to quote a
    friend and client of mine, Jackson Brown, we are running on
    empty. There are lives in the balance.
        I urge you to assist small business in general, live events
    in particular, and pass RESTART and all of these other
    wonderful bills. Imagine a world with no arts and culture. That
    is a world with no live events. At Bandit Lites, we coined a
    word years ago called ``humanomics.'' We make business
    decisions based on the human effect first and the business
    effect second. I urge you to look at the human effect as 10
    million people are sitting idle.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Strickland follows:]

        Prepared Statement of Michael T. Strickland, Chair and Founder,
                                  Bandit Lites
        Commerce Committee Chairman Wicker, Subcommittee Chairman Moran and
    Ranking Member Blumenthal, distinguished members of this Committee, I
    would like to thank you on behalf of myself and over ten million people
    in the Live Events Industry for affording us this opportunity to
    testify today.
        I am Michael T. Strickland, Chair and Founder of Bandit Lites, a
    52-year-old global leader in entertainment illumination. Garth Brooks,
    Jimmy Buffett, Alice Cooper, Carrie Underwood, Barry Manilow the NFL,
    NASCAR, Carnival Cruise Lines and over 300 others are part of our
    client base.
        On March 13, 2020, the entire Live Event industry closed in a
    moment. Covid 19 was upon the world and large events were no longer
    possible and would not be until the virus was eradicated. Congress
    moved quickly to provide the CARES Act which included many things
    including the Payroll Protection Program.
        By June 2020 all the PPP money was expended, but the virus
    continued. Most industries found ways to pivot, alter their methods,
    and learn to open and survive. Live Events could not open, as large
    crowds were still not possible. The issue before Live Events was purely
    medical and we understand that. Unless and until the vaccine is
    eradicated, Live Events cannot return.
        As we sit before you, it has been nine months that the entire
    industry has earned zero income. Live Events cannot return to work
    until June 2021 at the earliest, and that is only if the vaccines are
    effective and we achieve herd immunity, which is not guaranteed. The
    return-to-work date may be even further away. Live Events is an $877
    billion dollar industry with over 10 million people per the U.S. Bureau
    of Economic Analysis. There are over 500,000 companies. Every company
    sits idle earning zero income. The 10 million plus people are either on
    unemployment or working in a different field, at a lower rate of pay.
        The companies and the people in the Live Events Industry have only
    received 10 weeks of PPP, and nothing else. If Live events can return
    to work in June 2021 it will have been 15 months with no income aside
    from the original 10 weeks of PPP. Even if a second round of PPP is
    provided, that would be only 20 weeks of partial payroll to cover a 64-
    week period. This amount of money is not enough to remain open and pay
    employees.
        Congress has worked tireless for months to deliver relief to the
    Nation and has done a great job in many areas. There is a still a
    segment of society that is at the brink of extinction, and that is the
    Live Events Industry. No other industry is 100 percent shut down and
    will be until June 2021. Live Events is the true industry that was the
    first to shut and will be the last to reopen.
        Both the House and the Senate have suggested in various bills that
    the Save Our Stages Act be passed to save Americas important venues
    which are a part of the Live Entertainment Industry. I applaud you for
    this wisdom and urge you to pass this important piece of legislation as
    part of a relief package. However, Save Our Stages only provides
    funding for venues, managers, booking agents and promotors. This is 8
    percent of the Live Events Industry. All other segments of the industry
    receive no support via Save Our Stages. Here is a partial list of
    companies and people still in need of funding: Artists, Actors,
    Performers, Sound, Lighting, Video, Pyrotechnics, Lasers, Caterers,
    Rigging, Trucking, Bussing, Staging, Wardrobe, Designers, Dancers,
    Opera, Theaters, Festivals, Tours, Orchestras, Corporate Shows, Trade
    Shows, Conventions, Speakers, TV Studios and Stations, Radio Stations,
    Film, Theme Parks and attractions, Museums, Movie Theaters, Labor
    Companies, Free Lance workers, Circuses, Fairs, Rodeos, Water Shows,
    Freight, Drapes, Power, Radios, Manufacturers, and many others. We urge
    you to pass Save Our Stages, but to also save the rest of the Live
    Events Industry. All these industries need one another to survive.
    Venues will have no artists to play in them or people to staff the
    events without holistic industry funding. Please Save All Live Events.
        We have already lost 30 percent of our companies, never to return.
    Over 20 percent of the people that have left the industry will never
    return. We lose more people and companies every day. If Congress does
    not pass additional PPP and Enhanced Unemployment in December, we will
    lose another 20 to 30 percent of the firms and people by the end of
    January. But that is only the start.
        No firm and no person in Live Events qualify for a commercial loan.
    You must have a strong balance sheet, strong profit and loss statement
    and a viable income stream to borrow money. No company in the Live
    Event Industry qualifies, therefore they cannot secure a loan.
        The only path that will save Live Events is the RESTART Act.
    RESTART will provide every firm 45 percent of 2019 income which will
    allow most firms to survive well into 2021. The portion spent on
    payroll and allowable expenses will be forgiven in the style of PPP.
    The balance will convert to a 7-year loan with no payments year one,
    interest only year two, and amortization years 3 through 7 at around 1
    percent interest. This format allows companies to survive, gather cash,
    and repay the loan over 7 years. There is a $12 million dollar limit
    per firm. Many venues, radios stations, TV stations, and not for
    profits are owned by or controlled under governmental agencies or
    municipalities. They all need relief as well, as they function as
    stand-alone entities with no source of income other than their Live
    Event revenue stream.
        RESTART as written requires a 25 percent loss of income and is
    available for firms of less than 5,000 people. The CBO Score on this is
    $700 to $800 billion and is simply too costly. RESTART was written in
    May 2020, when a 25 percent reduction in revenue was significant. Now
    that we are one year into the pandemic 25 percent is simply a bad year.
        RESTART must be written to save small businesses that have suffered
    loss of income over 50 percent and that have under 500 employees. This
    will CBO Score at around $250 billion which is much more affordable.
    Much of this will be repaid as a loan.
        Repurposing of $200 billion dollars from the failed Main Street
    Lending Program will fund RESTART, and this money is already
    appropriated, thus it would require no new funding. There is also
    $134.5 billion dollars sitting unused in the PPP fund. These two funds
    are more than sufficient to fund all small businesses with less than
    500 employees (the Federal definition of a Small Business) with a loss
    of revenue of over 50 percent in 2020 compared to 2019.
        The Live Event Industry is becoming extinct as we hold this
    hearing. Every day that passes, more people and firms fail. Unlike any
    other industry, 100 percent of Live Events is facing extinction now. If
    RESTART is not passed in January, the industry will cease to exist.
    Imagine a world without entertainment and events. The loss of arts and
    culture to our society will be a blow to us all.
        Please save all the Live Events Industry as well as all other small
    businesses that are on the brink of extinction. Please pass RESTART in
    January.
        Thank you very much for your time and attention. Thank you and
    Congress for all that you do for our great nation.

        Senator Moran. Mr. Strickland, thank you very much. Even in
    the absence of lobbyists, you perform very well in lobbying.
        Mr. Strickland. Thank you.
        Senator Moran. Thank you for your presence today.
        Let me see if I can take a theme that I am interested in
    pursuing that resonated throughout all of the testimonies, the
    inability of the Paycheck Protection Program to solve the
    problem. And I heard Mr. Hartke say that it did not work in
    circumstances where there was virtually no revenue and it was
    too short-term in its duration.
        Mr. Strickland, you talked about the Paycheck Protection
    Program and asked that it be reauthorized. I would ask all of
    our witnesses, tell me what has been missing in the Paycheck
    Protection Program to meet your needs? Does a separate program,
    as some of you have testified, need to be addressed, need to be
    enacted, or what is it that the Paycheck Protection Program can
    do to make it--we can do to make it work better for all of your
    circumstances?
        Mr. Strickland. Thank you, Chairman. That is a great
    question.
        The Paycheck Protection Program, when it was initiated, I
    think to Congress and, indeed, to most of us, myself included,
    seemed like that would be the answer because we all believed we
    would be back to work in June. The fact that it was only 10
    weeks of income in retrospect was far too little. By the time
    we get back to work, it will be 74 weeks. So all we have
    received as small businesses is 10 weeks of payroll.
        So I think the first issue would be the longevity of it. In
    a perfect world, this Friday you would pass a payroll
    protection plan that provided 36 to 48 weeks of PPP. I think
    that is a bit of a stretch. But just the shortness of it--
    because even now if you pass an additional round of PPP this
    Friday, that is 10 weeks. That is the last 2 weeks in December
    and January and February. The live event industry is not going
    to be back until the vaccine takes hold and we have herd
    immunity, and that is June, July, August, September. And that
    is simply payroll. So what do we do for the rest of the time?
    Ergo, RESTART.
        Senator Moran. Mr. Pantuso?
        Mr. Pantuso. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        The PPP program had great intentions, and we appreciate
    that. We have a very valued and skilled workforce, so we want
    to bring them back. The reality is that we have no business. So
    when we brought people back for that 8 or 10-week period, they
    merely came and sat, collected the PPP monies and then left
    again and back on unemployment. All it really did was transfer
    the unemployment system from a State system or Federal system
    onto a private individual using Federal dollars for a period of
    time.
        Our business is gone. As I said, 10 percent of the business
    is operating across the board. That is about all. And there
    will be no recovery for at least another 12 months. Until that
    time, there will not be an opportunity for people to come back
    and drive buses for the most part. We really need to keep the
    industry alive so that we can be a vibrant part of the
    transportation network, and to do that, we need to help the
    companies stay alive either with help covering their fixed
    costs or their capital costs or their interest payments that
    they are paying on a bus that is worth $500,000 or $600,000.
        Senator Moran. Any of our other witnesses wish to address
    that question?
        Mr. Hartke. Yes. Thank you, Chairman Moran. I will jump in
    with that.
        You know, just to repeat what Pete just said, we have been
    fully shut for 9 months now with no work for our employees to
    do. Many, many, many venues across the country are completely
    out of funds. So the amount of PPP and the restrictions placed
    upon it will not save our industry. It will not save the
    venues. There are people that will completely go out of
    business with those restrictions.
        So the Save Our Stages Act is targeted toward our industry
    specifically, and that is what is going to get us through this.
        Senator Moran. Let me ask a follow-up question with you,
    Mr. Hartke. The Paycheck Protection Program I think you
    highlight does not work well when there is little or no income.
    What about the restrictions on audiences, the size, the
    distancing, the percentage of capacity? Is it possible for the
    entertainment industry to operate at a smaller volume, fewer
    people in the audience and still earn a living?
        Mr. Hartke. So there are a couple things with that. Right
    now, no, absolutely not because there are no tours. We rely on
    a national reopening to get back to work. The artists that we
    book in Wichita, Kansas--they have to go through Denver or
    Dallas or Kansas City or another major market around us and
    have those connected across the country for them to get here.
    So we have no inventory. There are no artists touring right
    now.
        Beyond that, we operate at about 70-80 percent to capacity
    ticket sales. So if we are opening at 30-40 percent capacity,
    we are losing money immediately. We actually tried that back in
    June. We opened briefly for about 3 weeks. We booked a bunch of
    local bands, and we lost more money being open than we did just
    in hibernation mode. So that bleeds us out quicker.
        Now, at the end of this, we are going to have to open at a
    reduced capacity, but hopefully there is a better understanding
    of this virus. The restrictions are not, you know, ebb and
    flowing right now. We are back to restrictions of the max of
    100 people in Sedgwick County for an event. So those were
    lifted and then reinstated and lifted and reinstated. So with a
    3 to 6-month lead time it takes to book a touring act and
    promote it efficiently, there is no way to do that right now.
    So, yes, we are pretty stuck.
        Senator Moran. That unfortunately makes sense to me.
        Senator Blumenthal.
        Senator Blumenthal. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
        Mr. Chairman, I would like to yield part of my time to
    Senator Klobuchar so she can have the opportunity to make some
    opening remarks. She is a leader of this effort. And I will
    save my questions to the end of her remarks or after the next
    witness, if I may.
        Senator Moran. Senator Klobuchar.

                   STATEMENT OF HON. AMY KLOBUCHAR,
                      U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA

        Senator Klobuchar. Thank you. I am doing marketing of our
    Save Our Stages with a mask. But I wanted to thank everyone and
    just embrace everything that you guys have said in such
    wonderful words. You can see the creativity of the State of
    Tennessee, Senator Blackburn, coming through in your turn of
    phrases, Mr. Strickland. And I am more than happy to have, with
    Senator Cornyn, led this, in your words, band of gypsies over
    here so that we can get something done.
        I think one of the things we have learned from this
    pandemic is it is not one-size-fits-all, that not every
    business and every group of employees are affected in the same
    way. I know the home State of Jefferson Bus Lines, Minnesota,
    understands that. I see it in the faces of the people literally
    starting to cry in an event at the Moorehead Bluestem
    Amphitheater as they talked about the Merle Haggard concert or
    see it in the face of Dayna Frank, who heads up First Avenue in
    Minneapolis, as we stood in front of that iconic star of
    Prince, knowing that he and so many other artists across this
    country could not have gotten their starts without
    entertainment venues.
        And I think we all know that you cannot go stand in a
    moshpit in the middle of a pandemic. I think you know you
    cannot sit elbow to elbow in a small theater, whether it is in
    a big city or a little town. And so many of these venues are
    literally the heart of our communities. They are the place that
    people go.
        And since we are quoting a lot of things, we do not want to
    be the Congress that lets the music die, and we do not want
    this to be the year that we let our cultural icons die.
        So with that, Senator Cornyn and I have introduced this
    bill. We are working really, really hard to get it in the
    relief package. We are feeling good about the work that is
    going on. There still have to be some changes made.
        I am also a big fan and cosponsor of the RESTART Act that
    you just spoke to, as well as the CERTS Act involving the bus
    lines.
        And again, I just want to remind our colleagues--and I know
    they know this or we would not be doing this hearing--thank you
    to Chairman Moran and Ranking Member Blumenthal--if it was not
    for that understanding, that not every industry--tech
    companies. Man, they are doing great. But so many of these
    small venues are not.
        And so my question I guess of you, Mr. Hartke, with your
    cool drum set over there in Wichita is just could you explain
    how it will be really hard to bring back these venues. It is
    just like you cannot snap a finger and they are going to be
    able to come back with your low margins if we let the music
    die.
        Mr. Hartke. Yes. I mean, many of our venues have taken
    generations to build, as I told an example of The Cotillion in
    Wichita. You know, especially in smaller markets like Wichita,
    this is an ongoing effort that is passed on from generation to
    generation. To get the acts to come to Wichita, Kansas has been
    the work of many, many decades of people.
        So, you know, not only that, but to get the spaces that are
    appropriate for hosting music--I mean, you mentioned First
    Avenue. I mean, that is a magical place. There is not another
    space like that in the world. So if you lose a First Avenue, it
    is going to be nearly impossible to replicate that. You cannot
    just go into any warehouse and set a stage in it and it has
    that magic. And that is true of The Cotillion in Wichita and
    Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, and all these venues across the
    country that have been there. Even if they are not historic,
    the new venues like Wave--I mean, it has a certain theme to it.
        Senator Klobuchar. Mr. Hartke, we have limited time, and
    Senator Blumenthal was so kind to give me this time early on.
        Could you talk about how it was hard enough for your venues
    being independent venues, so many of you competing, as we have
    seen more and more consolidation with some of the big guys in
    the industry? To me, the pandemic has simply put a magnifying
    glass on this problem. We are not going to talk about antitrust
    here, as I look at Senator Lee and Senator Blackburn and
    Senator Blumenthal, all involved in this issue. But could you
    talk about how it is hard to get by right now anyway without
    the pandemic?
        Mr. Hartke. Yes. The live music industry is increasingly
    difficult due to the consolidation of the industry, and mom and
    pop businesses are fighting tooth and nail to ensure they still
    get the shows and are able to route tours to the cities. And it
    is hitting secondary markets just as hard as it is hitting
    major markets.
        Senator Klobuchar. OK, very good.
        I think I will end with you, Mr. Strickland. Just words for
    us as we go into these next few days when everyone is waiting
    for a result from this Congress to be able to do a package at
    the end of the year. Any advice?
        Mr. Strickland. Again, consider the humanomics. There are
    10-plus million people holistically across this entire industry
    doing nothing. I want to reiterate that. We are not like
    restaurants or gymnasiums or hair salons that open and close
    and have a chance to do something. We are doing nothing. Right
    now, 97 percent of the people are either unemployed or under-
    employed. Can you imagine being a dental assistant and not
    being a dental assistant for 18 months and having to go work at
    Home Depot? That is what has happened. You have got a lot of
    really talented people. And we do this in the live event
    industry for one reason: we love it, for the love of the game,
    for the love of the music. And we have got entertainment and
    event people scattered across the landscape working at Home
    Depot and Amazon, and it is so crushing. As an industry--not
    just venues--as an industry we will not come back if we do not
    receive relief because the RESTART style relief is the only
    thing that we have. We cannot go get a commercial loan.
        Senator Klobuchar. Thank you so much.
        Senator Moran. Next is Senator Blackburn.
        But lyrics, Senator Klobuchar. I was thinking of the
    Wichita Lineman. The line is: ``And I want you for all time,
    and the Wichita lineman is still on the line.'' So keeping
    these folks in business is an important component.
        Senator Klobuchar. Very good. Thank you.
        Senator Moran. I want to keep up with you and your lyrics.
        Senator Blackburn.

                  STATEMENT OF HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN,
                      U.S. SENATOR FROM TENNESSEE

        Senator Blackburn. Yes, and there is a neat story behind
    how that song was written and how it came to be Wichita. And in
    Nashville we say everything begins with a song, and indeed it
    does.
        And to our witnesses today, I want to thank you for being
    available to us.
        To Chairman Moran and Chairman Wicker, thank you for
    working with me and my team so that we could have this.
        The live entertainment industry is vitally important to us
    in Tennessee. It is a complete sector of our state's economy.
    It is not just an add-on. It is not something that is just
    there for the fun of it. It is the music business.
        And I appreciate what Senator Klobuchar has done with Save
    Our Stages--and she and Senator Schumer and Senator Blumenthal.
    And that really is the front-facing part of the industry. That
    is what you see when the curtains open. That is what you see in
    the videos on stage in these venues. That is great. And we want
    these venues to thrive.
        However, in order to make those shows appealing and
    exciting and to keep these venues open, there is an entire
    behind-the-curtain that takes place. And full disclosure, in
    the mid-1990s I led the Tennessee Film, Entertainment, and
    Music Commission. That is when I got to know many of the folks
    that drive the buses and the motorcoaches. It is when I got to
    know the caterers and those that are grips and gaffers. And it
    is when I got to know Mr. Strickland and appreciate what Bandit
    Lites does.
        But this sector of the industry does not benefit from what
    will be passed in Save Our Stages. And to my colleagues on the
    other end of the dais, this is why we need you to work with us
    so that the support system that makes those venues work is able
    to stay live, so that they are able to participate because
    right now, I have a lot of friends and neighbors in Nashville
    that they basically go out and crank the motorcoach every week
    to be sure that the things are still going to be operational.
    They go through and they check the catering equipment. They go
    through and they check the equipment that is sitting in the
    warehouse waiting for the lights to go back on on these stages
    so they can gear back up. And right now, there is no avenue for
    them.
        They did nothing wrong. And I think this is an important
    thing to realize. These folks that support live entertainment
    did nothing wrong. They did not cause this. But when the
    pandemic hit, when the economy got shut down, they went from
    running wide open to a dead stop overnight. That was it. I
    talked to people that were on tour buses. They turned the tour
    buses around on the interstate and headed back to Nashville.
    They did not go to the next stop. They boxed up equipment and
    they sent it back to Knoxville. So it is important to realize
    they do not have another source.
        And, yes, Save Our Stages is good but you got to have
    something to save the stage with and it is the support network.
        So let me do this. I am running out of time. You know, we
    are so determined to help with this industry. Mr. Strickland
    and Mr. Hartke, let me come to you with my question. Talk to me
    about what the next 6 months is going to look like for this
    industry and how you think you are going to be able to recover?
    So, Mr. Strickland, you first.
        Mr. Strickland. Thank you, Senator Blackburn.
        I have a degree in business from the University of
    Tennessee, Haslam College of Business. Even Wharton College of
    Business does not teach one how to run a business for 18 months
    with no money. It is just simply not taught.
        To answer your question and the biggest point here is the
    industries, the companies, and the people within these
    industries--we are not almost out of money. We have been out of
    money. 30 percent of our industry is gone now. If nothing is
    done by February, 60 percent of our industry will be gone. 60
    percent of the people will either be unemployed or doing
    something else. We simply, as you so eloquently stated, Senator
    Blackburn--we have no alternative. If the Federal Government
    does not step up with a RESTART-style relief for small business
    in general but for the live event space in particular, we
    simply have no alternative and the companies will all be
    shuttered.
        Senator Blackburn. Mr. Hartke.
        Mr. Hartke. Without the Save Our Stages Act passing
    immediately, we will not last 6 months. We will not be here for
    a recovery period. It is as simple as that. With a relief bill,
    then we will get back to work and we will hire staff back and
    we will start planning for a reopening. But without it, we will
    not be here.
        Senator Blackburn. Thank you.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Moran. Thank you, Senator Blackburn, for your
    leadership on this issue.
        Senator Blumenthal.
        Senator Blumenthal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Let me say, first of all, to Mr. Pantuso, I really
    appreciate your being here. The transportation, the motorcoach
    industry is often overlooked in its importance to our economy.
    I recently visited the DATTCO company in New Britain,
    Connecticut. It is a family run motorcoach school and school
    bus operator, a third generation, and it is vital to our
    economy, as are the companies that you have reflected in your
    remarks. So I am so glad that you are here.
        Let me ask Mr. Fay a question because I think that, Mr.
    Fay, you have brilliantly outlined the ecosystem that is at
    stake here. Senator Blackburn referred to a part of it, but it
    is also the small clubs, the sources of the talent that
    eventually reach The Bushnell and Broadway. It is also the
    restaurants that are providing service to patrons of The
    Bushnell when they go there. The Bushnell is the type of
    community anchor that will show the Lion King musical one
    evening and a political debate the next. They also run
    innovative community-based programming that brings art and
    literacy to countless inner-city children.
        What I would like to know from you is some examples, number
    one, of those smaller institutions that depend on The Bushnell
    and theaters and venues like it and also the timeline that is
    necessary for you to have a production on your stage. You
    cannot just snap a finger and have it overnight. It takes
    infinitely difficult planning. And if you could speak to that
    issue and the smaller parts of that ecosystem that depend on
    you.
        Mr. Fay. That is a good question.
        First of all, let me address the second one first, and that
    is, it has been already pointed out that getting started,
    restarting this business is going to take the entire country
    opening up and in a way that we can really open to full
    capacity. We have explored, as others have, over the last
    several months the ability to do smaller performances at
    different times, but they just do not work.
        But one of the biggest problems with that is our public is
    frightened, and until the vaccine is out and really takes
    effect, even after that it is going to take months and months
    for our public to decide that it is safe for them to come back
    and that they are comfortable doing it. Patterns of behavior
    have changed dramatically. And another 6 months of this is
    absolutely something we are facing. To come out of that, it is
    going to take many, many months. It is probably going to take 2
    or 3 years for us to really come out of it. So being in a
    position to open is critical.
        The challenge of the small businesses around us that we
    participate with and work with all the time is very real. There
    are six or seven major restaurants that have closed in downtown
    Hartford since we opened.
        One of the other aspects of this is as a result of all the
    work from home and the digital working, there is a real concern
    that, on the one hand, businesses will never repopulate the
    downtown area with as many employees. The work from home is
    probably going to become a part of our economic process and
    businesses in the future. As a result, there will be fewer feet
    hitting the street at 5 or 6 o'clock in the evening. We are
    going to be one of the real major features of trying to bring
    people back to the downtown area in the evening, as we were
    back in the 1970s and 1980s when we started trying to rebuild
    these cities. So that aspect of it is frightening for our own
    mayor who has expressed his concern that we be alive and
    thriving as soon as possible to pull people back into our
    downtown.
        You mentioned how our venue and others do more than just
    concerts. There are all kinds of events. Hartford Hospital
    raises over $1 million a year, an event that they do in our
    theater on the various stages that we have. The smaller clubs--
    the Infinity Hall, 450 seats, a beautiful space, doing
    tremendous business under new ownership, and all of a sudden,
    after 6 months of their new ownership, shut down.
        So it all works together. There is an ecosystem that is in
    a delicate balance. And every one of the people who has
    testified today represents a significant part of that
    ecosystem. If any part of it falls apart, then the whole thing
    kind of crumbles.
        So we will rebuild but it could be decades to rebuild if we
    do not get this help now.
        Senator Blumenthal. Thank you, Mr. Fay.
        My time has expired, but I just want to thank you and all
    of the venue operators. I have been to that Hartford Health
    Care benefit. I am a regular. I have also been to The Bushnell
    in the last couple of months when it has been empty, and there
    is nothing so heartbreaking and gut-wrenching as an empty
    theater, as a venue like yours that is so full of life and
    laughter and the kinds of performances that really make
    memories for people when we know it will take months and maybe
    as long as a year, as you have said, to reopen. And the
    Hartford community really depends on The Bushnell and other
    venues like it as an essential piece of the economy but also
    our culture.
        So thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Moran. Senator Blumenthal, thank you.
        Senator Lee.

                      STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE LEE,
                         U.S. SENATOR FROM UTAH

        Senator Lee. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
        Thanks to all of you for being here.
        The COVID-19 pandemic has turned everyone into a state of
    disarray. It has been hard on so many industries. Basically
    every aspect of our economy has been harmed by it. It has
    devastated businesses of all shapes and sizes from the food
    industry, manufacturers, travel and tourism, energy and
    transportation, just to name a few. So today's hearing with the
    live entertainment industry is important.
        Luckily with the approval of a COVID-19 vaccine and
    hopefully more approvals yet to come, along with an effective
    distribution chain for those vaccines, I am guardedly
    optimistic that we will soon find ourselves coming into or at
    least able to see a better outcome in the coming year.
        While I am confident in our logistics networks and our
    ability to swiftly transport the vaccine, we know that it is
    going to take some time before all Americans are going to have
    access to it. And today's hearing acknowledges that there is
    still a lot left to be done as we consider the full economic
    impact of the pandemic and the government's response to it and
    as we carefully consider alternatives that we have, solutions
    that not only provide funds but also ensure a smooth trajectory
    toward reopening and a swift bounce back to normal, which is
    what we all crave.
        But the live entertainment industry has certainly suffered
    very severe economic harm during the pandemic, and I am glad
    that we could hear your testimony today.
        So with the vaccine on its way, now seems like a good time
    for us to address policy solutions of every stripe that we can
    imagine to help facilitate that smooth transition back to
    normal. Federal regulations, bureaucracy, Federal rules put in
    place by Executive Branch agencies can be one of many things in
    an economy that can slow things down. And it is especially
    important right now, in addition to considering the funds that
    have been appropriated and may yet be appropriated, for us to
    also look at ways in which we could get government to not do
    things that it might otherwise do that might be harmful and
    that might slow down a return to normal.
        So I was wondering if each of you could just identify--is
    there any regulation that Congress ought to be aware of, that
    Congress ought to be looking at carefully in such a way that
    could help restore your transition to normal? We will start
    with you, Mr. Strickland.
        Mr. Strickland. If I might chime in. Thank you, Senator
    Lee. A great question. It goes a lot of different directions.
        The 500-pound gorilla--and I hesitate to mention it--is the
    liability indemnity situation. Unless and until there is
    something dealt with on liability indemnity, all of the live
    events business is at risk. Let us assume that we in one way or
    another resolve the financial struggles and issues. If the
    liability situation is not resolved in a manner such that class
    action lawsuits are not rampant, then you will find very few
    venues, promoters, artists, cities, states that will want to
    put on a large-scale event.
        Let us go to Garth Brooks, a client of mine. We have three
    sold-out 100,000-person stadium shows from last year that we
    have moved to this year. We want to do a lot more of those.
    100,000 people in a football stadium with no liability
    protection is a class action waiting to happen. You will find
    5,000 people that will join a class action.
        So legislatively and administratively, that is probably the
    next big issue. And as I tell people why did I bifurcate
    financial relief from liability indemnity, I learned from
    watching what has gone on in Congress for the last 9 months
    that we keep getting back to liability indemnity as a sticking
    point. So I find it imperative that we resolve the financial
    issue first to allow the live event industry to survive and
    then we start drilling down and looking at what we can do about
    liability indemnity.
        Senator Lee. There are those who say states can handle that
    fine on their own. We do not need a single Federal standard.
    What is your response to that?
        Mr. Strickland. It absolutely will not work and here is the
    reason. As other people have referenced today, our industry is
    reliant largely on what we call a tour, which is when a large
    band goes to, in most cases, all 50 states and does shows. And
    if you have a patchwork situation where you cannot play in
    particular states because it is a hazard or because the rules
    are different, you will never be able to book a tour. And when
    you cannot book a tour, which is the backbone of the live event
    industry, then suddenly you are stuck with no ability to mount
    large-scale tours such as Garth Brooks or the Rolling Stones or
    U2. But even when you work down to the smaller level, the
    smaller acts will not be able to work until there is a singular
    fit.
        Now, it has been suggested, as you all I am sure know,
    flood relief falls back on the Federal Government simply
    because there is no insurance agency, years ago, that would
    step up and take that. There probably is some kind of a work-
    out whereby a situation like the flood relief becomes the
    pandemic relief. But again, I would leave that to those of you
    in Congress to figure out the details.
        Senator Lee. Thank you.
        Mr. Chairman, I see my time is expired. Thanks so much.
        Senator Moran. Senator Lee, thank you.
        Senator Sinema.

                   STATEMENT OF HON. KYRSTEN SINEMA,
                       U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA

        Senator Sinema. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter
    from the Endurance Sports Coalition.
        Senator Moran. Without objection.
        [The information referred to follows:]

    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Senator Sinema. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        And I want to thank our witnesses for their testimony on
    this important topic.
        Arizona has a vibrant entertainment economy that creates
    thousands of jobs and provides Arizonans with opportunities to
    enjoy art, theater, and music and sports. These numerous
    entertainment options also draw tourists to Arizona, in
    addition to our excellent weather and our stunning landscape.
        Nationwide 85 percent of the live entertainment industry
    has been furloughed. I am hearing daily from Arizonans and
    Arizona small businesses in the entertainment industry that are
    struggling to stay afloat as our venues are closed or strictly
    limited due to the pandemic.
        I am proud to be a cosponsor of the Save Our Stages
    legislation and the RESTART Act, both of which can provide
    necessary assistance to the entertainment industry. The Save
    Our Stages bill will provide $15 billion to support independent
    clubs, theaters, concert halls, and movie theaters that meet
    certain criteria. The RESTART Act includes a new loan program
    to support businesses that have taken a substantial revenue hit
    during the COVID-19 pandemic.
        As the bipartisan COVID discussions continue, I will
    continue to encourage my colleagues to provide assistance to
    Arizona's entertainment industry.
        My first question is for Mr. Strickland. The sports and
    live athletics industry has struggled during the pandemic. I
    was looking forward to many races and events this year, such as
    the Boston Marathon, that were canceled or made virtual. When a
    large event like a marathon is canceled, it is not just the
    participants who are disappointed. The vendors who provide
    services for those events are also out of work.
        I understand that your company has provided lighting for
    many live athletic events, including races like the Country
    Music Marathon and the National Rock and Roll Marathon. From
    your perspective, how would the RESTART Act help companies like
    yours that provide services to marathons, triathlons, or
    similar events?
        Mr. Strickland. Thank you, Senator. I appreciate that.
        You are very correct. We have moved into what I call the
    less sexy side of the live event business. When you are doing
    sound and lights and production for a foot race or for a
    baseball game--I was once involved with SkyCam, the flying
    camera system. When you are doing those kind of things, it is
    not anything sexy. It is not anything that is obvious that
    anyone wants to talk about, but it is very vital. And indeed,
    as we sit here today, the cameras, the microphones, the folks
    working this stuff today are part of the live event ecosystem.
    They are part of the 3 percent that is working.
        So sports are near and dear to my heart. I sit on the Board
    of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. One of my mentors was
    the late Pat Summitt. They are struggling mightily, and again,
    they are sort of part of the lost set of people that you do not
    realize are infected by that. And these are again people that
    RESTART holistically allows the largest number of people to
    survive. And to quote the gentleman that founded Maryville
    College in Tennessee, ``do the most good on the largest
    scale.'' That is what we need to do. I do not think that
    Congress intends to pick winners and losers, and I think that
    by passing a holistic bill like RESTART with a high revenue
    loss trigger, you would allow those devastated businesses,
    including those in the sports sector, to survive.
        Senator Sinema. Thank you.
        My next question is for Mr. Hartke. An 87-year-old family
    owned chain of movie theaters based in Phoenix, Harkins
    Theaters, has experienced a 95 percent drop in revenue since
    the pandemic began. Harkins' CEO described the difficulty of
    making payroll, rent, tax, and utility payments without taking
    in revenue. I am told that Harkins' patrons are so eager to
    support the business that they are buying the movie theater's
    popcorn to go.
        Other Arizona independent venues are expressing the same
    concerns. For example, the Rhythm Room, which is an R&B venue
    in Phoenix, is supposed to celebrate its 30th anniversary next
    year, but last week they put up a gofundme page because they
    are in danger of closing after 9 months without revenue.
        I understand that you and your wife co-own two live music
    venues. From your perspective, which aspects of the SOS Act are
    essential to supporting our independent theaters and music
    venues?
        Mr. Hartke. Thank you for that question, Senator.
        You know, we love the SOS Act because that focuses on the
    small mom and pop businesses, independent venues. And, you
    know, this ranges from venues of 250 capacity to 18,000
    capacity. Actually here in Kansas we have a member that is 40
    capacity that is an independent venue, and we also have an
    18,000 capacity at Providence Medical Amphitheater. It also
    includes nonprofits. It includes for-profits, and it includes
    publicly-owned venues. So we cover the gamut with the bill
    which is first and foremost to us and those within our
    industry.
        Beyond that, it has a flexibility on spending. Payroll is
    not our biggest expense, so we are able to pay our bills that
    we either have not paid or need to pay now. And then it gives
    us a little bit of time that we can persevere this 18-month
    foreclosure.
        Beyond that, it is a grant. It is not a loan. Many of us
    are highly leveraged. You know,
        [inaudible] just the nature of our business. So we have
    grants or we have loans out on our businesses already. So
    taking out a loan is not what people really want to do right
    now or they have already exhausted that option.
        So those are kind of the main points.
        Senator Sinema. Thank you.
        Mr. Chairman, I see my time is expired. If there are no
    other members, might I ask one more question to Mr. Hartke?
        Senator Moran. There are other members, but go ahead and
    ask.
        Senator Sinema. You are very kind, Mr. Chairman.
        Mr. Hartke, one final question for you. In 2019, the Rialto
    Theater in Tucson hosted over 400 shows throughout the year. In
    2020, they only had 68 shows, and every single one of those was
    before March 12. They used to employ 106 staff, but they have
    not opened their doors to the public in 9 months.
        Similarly, the owner of Rebel Lounge in Phoenix--his club
    has been closed for months, and he told us that the PPP program
    did not work well for his business.
        You shared the same experience in your testimony. Can you
    tell us why PPP did not work for you? And did you have access
    to the EIDL programs or any other access to capital?
        Mr. Hartke. Yes. And the PPP loan did not work, A, for the
    amounts. 2.5 times payroll was not sufficient for an industry
    that has been closed for 9 months, and we have another 9 months
    at a minimum ahead of us before we can get back to work.
    Payroll is not our biggest expense. I think Pete mentioned that
    earlier. We paid 75 percent as originally stipulated into
    payroll, and many of our employees did not have a lot of work
    to do since we were fully shuttered. So those two are the
    biggest components of why PPP does not work.
        Additionally, it is a loan. We are trying feverishly not to
    draw more debt.
        Senator Sinema. I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Hartke.
        And, Mr. Chairman, thank you for your indulgence. I
    appreciate it.
        Senator Moran. You are welcome, Senator Sinema.
        Senator Young.

                     STATEMENT OF HON. TODD YOUNG,
                       U.S. SENATOR FROM INDIANA

        Senator Young. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        And thank you to our witnesses.
        Every person, business, and industry has been impacted by
    this pandemic, but there is no question the live entertainment
    industry has been hit especially hard.
        Mr. Strickland, in your testimony you touch on the fact
    that $877 billion is the size of the live entertainment
    industry hole right now. It has earned zero income since mid-
    March.
        Yesterday we saw the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine
    delivered to hundreds of disbursement centers across the
    country. That, of course, is very encouraging. It is going to
    provide light at the end of the tunnel to help the American
    people and businesses of all kinds. However, the live
    entertainment industry inherently relies on large crowds to
    operate, leaving the industry in a particularly vulnerable
    place far beyond the first wave of vaccinations. So it is going
    to be a while before the industry can really recover.
        And it is not just sports and entertainment venues and
    field houses and so forth. We have a lot of those throughout
    the State of Indiana, many iconic ones. But there are small,
    medium, and large businesses across the country that make up
    the massive supply chain that keep this industry chugging
    along.
        I think you and I have discussed Tyler Truss Systems. It is
    a company based in Pendleton, Indiana that I visited. In March
    2020, they had 72 employees and were actively looking to hire
    more Hoosiers. Today, their picture looks a lot different, just
    months later. They are down to, after two rounds of layoffs,
    less than 20 people.
        Melrose Pyrotechnics. It is a fireworks company based in
    Kingsbury, Indiana. I have spoken to their owner, and they have
    been forced to lay off 75 percent of their employees.
        So it is vital we take necessary steps to support the live
    entertainment industry and small Hoosier businesses like
    Melrose and Tyler Truss during this unprecedented public health
    crisis, and there are additional measures, of course, needed to
    do that.
        I want to thank Chairman Moran, who is chairing this
    subcommittee hearing, for becoming the 60th cosponsor of my
    RESTART Act which I do believe would provide the requisite
    solution to the challenges your industry is facing and other
    very hard hit industries in the midst of this global pandemic
    and subsequent government measures that disrupted industries
    like your own. I feel like there is a moral imperative for us
    to act in response.
        My RESTART proposal would target our limited resources to
    help those hard hit businesses and provide flexible loans to
    help employers with a broad set of operating expenses instead
    of the heavy focus on payroll costs. This is especially
    important for those who cannot maintain full payrolls due to
    significant and sustained loss in revenues.
        Mr. Strickland, can you discuss why it is so important to
    restructure the PPP program to focus more on revenue rather
    than payroll retention like my RESTART proposal would do and
    its benefit to your industry?
        Mr. Strickland. Thank you, Senator Young. A great question.
        Senator Young and I did not know each other 9 months ago,
    and we know each other fairly well now.
        I wish it were like Baskin-Robbins and I wish we had before
    us 32 options of what small business in general but the live
    event industry in particular could do to survive. But we do
    not.
        I only really see one option and that is RESTART, which
    Senator Young and Senator Bennet authored. It is important
    because it will give you, as written, 45 percent of your 2019
    income. You can use it all for operations and overheads and
    basically keeping the lights on or you can use some of it for
    payroll and payroll-related expenses which will be forgiven,
    and then the rest will convert to a loan.
        As I said earlier, it is very, very important that we be
    able to use a vehicle like this because no one--and I mean no
    one--in the live event space today has the ability to secure
    the Main Street Lending Loan or a commercial loan. The banks
    have turned their backs on us, and we understand that. As I
    said earlier, we do not have a balance sheet. We do not have a
    P&L. We do not have an income stream. We have nothing that is
    bankable. We cannot get a loan. We are literally here with our
    hat in our hand begging.
        Senator Young. And Congress should help you out. Frankly I
    am very frustrated that we have not helped you out. Again, a
    government mandate for understandable and I think appropriate
    public health reasons is one of the main reasons that your rank
    and file workers are hurting, and they deserve some help.
        You know, if we believe in institutions--conservatives are
    supposed to believe in institutions. Government is one of those
    institutions, and government should be there during a time of
    emergency to help people, to help ordinary Americans or they
    are going to lose faith in government and government leaders.
        With your indulgence, Mr. Chairman, I just have one other
    line of inquiry. It will not take long.
        Last month during a House Financial Services subcommittee
    hearing on pandemic insurance, several committee members
    indicated that Congress should wait until the current crisis is
    over before contemplating a program to address any future
    occurrences.
        This is for either you, Mr. Strickland, Mr. Laffitte, or
    each of you. What are your thoughts on the development of a
    Federal pandemic insurance program that might provide coverage
    for your industry in the event of a future government-mandated
    shutdown due to another pandemic or another national crisis?
    Because, you know, word on the street is because of a number of
    different factors, our increased globalization and the change
    in the atmosphere, many other factors, trade patterns, this is
    not going to be the last pandemic that this or future
    generations, living generations, will face. So what are your
    thoughts about that insurance model?
        Mr. Strickland. As I stated earlier, we cannot purchase
    insurance. We cannot purchase liability protection. We cannot
    purchase pandemic insurance. It simply is not offered, and we
    understand that. Insurance companies are not interested in it.
    So the only feasible solution that I see is what I mentioned
    earlier, a program not unlike the Federal flood insurance
    program where the Federal Government stands in between disaster
    and the affected businesses. As to what that would look like, I
    would model it after the flood insurance program.
        Senator Young. Thank you very much.
        Mr. Laffitte, anything else to add, sir?
        [No response.]
        Senator Young. OK. I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
        Senator Moran. You have nothing to yield back, but thank
    you, Senator Young.
        Senator Rosen? Senator Rosen, are you with us? Senator
    Rosen?
        [No response.]
        Senator Moran. Senator Cantwell.

                   STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL,
                      U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON

        Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks for
    holding this important hearing.
        And to the witnesses and for people participating, I want
    to thank thousands of the independent artists and venues who
    have worked so hard to try to communicate this issue.
    Obviously, in the State of Washington, when you are talking
    about organizations like the Foo Fighters and the Dave Matthews
    Band, Macklemore, Pearl Jam, and many others, you can see that
    music is a pretty big and important issue to the State of
    Washington.
        I want to thank our colleagues, Senator Klobuchar and
    Cornyn, for their work on legislation. And I was pleased to see
    there is bipartisan support in a stimulus package, but we have
    a long way to go to making sure that all becomes a reality.
        A survey by the Washington Nightlife Music Association
    found that without relief, 63 percent of our state's
    independently owned clubs would have no choice but to
    permanently close. You guys have been talking about many of
    those issues and what happens. Even in Spokane, the Pin, a
    staple of the music scene there, closed its doors, and
    independent venues like Spokane Arena, the Knitting Factory,
    Martin Woldson Theater, the Fox, and many others are impacted
    by these closures and looking for relief.
        So when I hear these comments this morning and our
    colleagues, you would think this would just be a slam dunk, if
    nothing else, just go ahead and pass legislation for us, those
    38,000 Washingtonians, about a $2.4 billion music industry
    overall. So we do not want to see permanent closure because it
    is very hard to start these again.
        We have been talking a lot about the problem, but you could
    give us, any of the witnesses, some real life examples of what
    people are struggling with right now? I mean, so much of our
    state--they have been trying to hold on. They have been trying
    to hold on and trying to hold on because they know closure
    means probably permanent closure. But could you give us some
    examples of what people are trying to do just to hold on?
        Mr. Strickland. Yes. Thank you. A great question.
        And to bring up about the great State of Washington, I was
    involved in an endeavor September 1st called Red Alert Restart,
    where we lit all the buildings red across the Nation. The band,
    Pearl Jam, from Seattle made magic--thank you very much--in
    Seattle. I cannot give them enough kudos. They reached out to
    me and then they went to work and turned Seattle red beginning
    with the Space Needle and flowing from there.
        I have a 1.2 million person e-mail chain. I receive calls
    and letters and texts. To answer your question, 30 percent of
    the businesses have closed. We are not having a conversation at
    this moment about what might happen. We are having a
    conversation about what has happened and what is happening and
    what will continue to happen.
        The smaller companies and what we now call the gig
    workers--those people have already shifted out of this space,
    and they are now working at Amazon or somewhere else. They have
    left the industry that they love, some never to return. We
    anticipate 20 to 30 percent will never return to this space.
    Some of the smaller companies have shuttered and folded and
    lost all of their assets through auction, and of course, that
    money does not go to them.
        So I wish I could give you a story of happiness and how
    people have been able to survive, but the simple truth is no
    one is surviving. They are failing daily. And we are not at the
    edge of the cliff. We have gone over the cliff. And like the
    cat in the cartoon, most of our industry is hanging on by a
    thread.
        Senator Cantwell. That is exactly what I wanted you to
    illuminate. So thank you for doing that.
        We have got to get our colleagues to understand we need to
    act now on this legislation. Thank you.
        Senator Moran. Senator Cantwell, thank you for joining us.
        Let us see if Senator Rosen is now available.

                    STATEMENT OF HON. JACKY ROSEN,
                        U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA

        Senator Rosen. Here I am. Can you hear me this time?
        Senator Moran. Yes, ma'am. Senator Rosen.
        Senator Rosen. There you go. Technology is great when it
    works. Sometimes that microphone gets you. But thank you.
        And I want to thank all the witnesses for being here and
    for what you are doing across the country and in your
    communities.
        So most industries are continuing to experience challenges
    due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the live events industry has
    been amongst the hardest hit. Live events are a major draw to
    my home State of Nevada, and they help drive our State's
    tourism economy. Nearly half a million jobs are part of our
    live event and tourism ecosystem.
        Unfortunately, Nevada's once vibrant live events community
    is now struggling. Performers, support staff--they have seen
    their work come to a complete halt as venues are not able to
    open during the pandemic.
        There is no doubt that Congress needs to provide targeted
    financial assistance to the live events industry, as you have
    all been speaking to today, and I will continue to be
    supportive of those efforts.
        But to revive the live events economy, aid cannot merely be
    a one-time cash infusion. As we look to the future of safely
    operating and increasing capacity at live event venues, we will
    also need to implement creative and innovative solutions to
    help those venues and other businesses reopen and give the
    public just more confidence to go back into these indoor
    spaces.
        So given that live event venues depend on large in-person
    gatherings, I am going to ask three of you to talk about this.
    But can you first talk about the importance for both safety and
    consumer confidence that we provide businesses with all
    funding, lots of funding for PPE and the technologies that make
    indoor activities safer for workers and the public?
        And could you speak more specifically to--if your
    businesses or businesses that you work at have upgraded their
    HVAC or their air purification, any of those technologies that
    improve the air that we breathe? As we know that we do that, we
    can mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through the air.
        So let us begin with Mr. Hartke and then Mr. Strickland and
    then Mr. Fay, please.
        Mr. Hartke. Thank you for the question, Senator.
        We are definitely in a whole new world now, and we are
    rapidly learning what that means to our industry.
        And the answer is yes. Safety is the number one protocol in
    our industry. I mean, we are an industry that gathers a large
    group of people together, and so inherently there are numerous
    things pre-COVID that we had to plan for and now this is just
    another layer of that. So safety first is always a big priority
    for live events.
        With that, some have invested in their air purification
    systems. Some simply do not have the funds to do it. But it is
    part of everybody's plan to take the steps necessary to ensure
    that the public is safe when they return to live events.
        Senator Rosen. Thank you.
        Mr. Strickland?
        Mr. Strickland. Yes. Thank you, Senator Rosen.
        Las Vegas, not unlike New York, California, and Nashville--
    you mentioned to begin with the economic impact. It is broader
    than the economic impact purely on the live event industry
    because when you bring a live event, as you know, certainly to
    Las Vegas, you generate hotels and restaurants and taxis and
    airlines and all the ancillary businesses. So the effect is
    far-reaching in all 50 states. When you do not have events,
    everyone suffers, and we are seeing that now.
        But moving to the safety side, you have got two conditions
    to look at. You got the medical condition, which is vaccine-
    related and exactly how the vaccine does or does not work and
    what the outcome from the vaccine is. We will plan for the
    worst and hope for the best.
        So let us assume that the vaccine works and is safe. We
    then move to the social or the human condition. How safe will
    people feel? How much will you want to go and see a show? That
    is an answer that 340 million people will answer one at a time.
        Now, we do have a lot of information telling us that there
    is a high degree of confidence. As I shared earlier, we have
    three sold-out Garth Brooks stadiums, and we have had literally
    no requests for refunds. The same thing can be said for a
    number of other large events next year. The refund rate at this
    moment is very low. So that indicates to us a high degree of
    consumer confidence. Having said that, let us discuss that
    question after the first event is held.
        Senator Rosen. Thank you. I see my time is just about up,
    and I would like to submit some questions for the record and
    talk more about our air purification systems, how we support
    that so people can feel confident to go back indoors to our
    wonderful venues. Thank you.
        Senator Moran. Senator Tester, I believe you are cleaning
    up.

                     STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER,
                       U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA

        Senator Tester. I do not know about cleaning up, but
    anytime I can get on a committee that is chaired by Senator
    Moran, I am there. So thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Look, I came to this late because we have a bunch of
    conflicts in the Senate, but I have heard talk about a number
    of bills that I am on, Save Our Stages, the RESTART Act,
    ENCORES Act. And I hear everybody saying the right thing. And
    by the way, while I am on this, if you are listening, Senator
    Young, I would be more than happy to work with you in a
    bipartisan way on liability insurance for these entities
    because I think Mr. Strickland is correct. These venues have
    unusual circumstances.
        But getting back to what I was going to say, I have heard
    people talk and I do not think anybody has said that you guys
    are full of BS. I think everybody that I have heard anyway has
    said we feel your pain. And I do not know if you guys are
    frustrated because we continue not to do anything, but it
    frustrates the hell out of me. You guys are sitting out there.
    You have been impacted by something that you do not have any
    control over. You can be the best business people in the world.
    You can do everything right, but yet you are getting submarined
    by this damn coronavirus.
        You know, I work with a number of folks in my state, Nick
    Shikota. I have had Shawn Lynch that put on their small venues.
    And by the way, Mr. Strickland, you are right. For every dollar
    spent in those small venues, it results in $12 of economic
    activity within those regions. So you are absolutely right.
    What you do impacts a hell of a lot more than just going to a
    concert.
        So from the five folks we have--or at least I see four.
    There is five on my agenda. Could you tell me what happens 6,
    8, 10 months from now to your business? Let us assume that the
    vaccine is good. Let us assume people go back to the concerts
    again. But we all know it is going to be 6, 8, 10 months. Your
    projections may be that or may be longer. I do not know, but
    that is the way I see it. Are you guys still going to be
    around?
        Mr. Hartke. Thanks for that question, Senator.
        Without help, no, we will not be around. We are at a cliff
    right now. We have been 9 months closed with no revenue and
    still all of our expenses. So without help, the independent
    venues will not last.
        If we do get help, then yes, by all means we will be around
    and we will put all of our effort into a recovery. And, you
    know, recovery is important. Our venues' involvement in
    recovery is super important for our local region because we are
    going to drive tourism. We are going to bring people back out
    to do things. But it is going to be a slow recovery. You know,
    we are going to have open to a reduced capacity just to see how
    everything works, and that is probably a 6 to 12, maybe 18-
    month period where we are at severely decreased revenue.
        So not only does Save Our Stages Act help us survive now,
    which is our sole focus, but it also helps us with our
    recovery. And we all fully anticipate once we get through this
    and consumer confidence is back and the virus has been
    best[inaudible], then we are going to see a boom. The live
    music industry--I do not know about you, but I am real excited
    to go out and see a show right now, and I think a lot of people
    feel that way. But that is going to be down the road. That is
    not going to be immediate. So this not only helps us survive,
    but it helps us be a part of the recovery period.
        Senator Tester. Anybody else like to respond to that?
        Mr. Strickland. Yes, I would like to jump in if I might,
    Senator.
        That is the value in the RESTART Act. The value in the
    RESTART Act is very simply that it is a 7-year loan with no
    payments in year 1. That is critical. We will have no money in
    year 1 because if we got RESTART money late February, if we
    began in June or July, we are going to be broke. So in year 1,
    there are no payments. Year 2, interest only. Year 3 to 7, we
    amortize the note. We can live with that. That is a path to
    survival. If you gave us all $10 million tomorrow but payments
    began next month, it just would not work.
        Senator Tester. But if we do nothing, which it does not
    feel like we are going to do much right now from this Senator's
    perspective--and I hope we do. But if we do nothing, will you
    be in business?
        Mr. Strickland. No, sir. We disappear as an industry.
        Senator Tester. Anybody else want to talk about this?
        Senator Moran. Mr. Pantuso.
        Mr. Pantuso. Thank you, Senator.
        In the motorcoach industry, we want to be part of the
    solution. We want to be part of the recovery.
        In terms of how it relates to this hearing, a lot of our
    companies are already over the cliff. I saw a report from the
    Department of Transportation not long ago that showed that as
    many as 400 to 500 companies have lost operating authority,
    which essentially means they are closed.
        As business comes back, we want to be in a position to take
    people to those venues, to those stages, but we also know in
    the travel and tourism industry that we represent, that
    planning process takes a long, long time. We are going to
    continue to lose companies over the next 6 months until
    business starts to open up again. And that planning process in
    many cases to get people back on the buses and back on tours
    again or back to work in commuter scheduled service may take
    another year beyond that. So we need help now. We cannot wait
    another 6 months.
        Senator Tester. Right on.
        Well, look, I just want to say you guys have got to be
    going crazy. I mean, your livelihoods are on the line here and
    you look to have a Federal Government that has got your back
    and you look back and it is not there.
        I am going to continue--I will give you my personal word. I
    am going to continue to make sure that we try to get all three
    of these bills across the finish line. And I think the
    liability issue is a good one.
        But in the end, we have got to come together and we have
    got to help the economy. I talked to a good economist this
    morning. You guys are hurting. This economist says if we do
    nothing, we are going to go back into a recession and
    potentially a depression because we are not done with the worst
    part of this pandemic yet. And so I just think that the folks
    here in Washington, D.C.--and I am concerned about the debt
    too, but when you have challenges like this, you acquire the
    debt, keep the economy going, pay the debt off down the line.
    And I think it is really, really important.
        I want to thank you guys for being here, and I want to
    thank you for what you do because I think it is important for
    our society. So thank you.
        Senator Moran. Senator Tester, thank you.
        I would highlight for you in particular that I would be
    happy to be the Chairman of any committee that you are a member
    of, and we will see if that is the case come January.
        Senator Tester. Amen.
        Senator Moran. And, Senator Tester, thank you for sharing
    your frustration. I gave remarks on the Senate floor maybe 3
    weeks ago saying just because we cannot do everything, let us
    do what we can do. Let us do something. And then maybe a week
    or 10 days ago, additional remarks saying, well, we seem to be
    doing something but it seems to be so slow. Can we speed up the
    process? So let us figure out among our colleagues what we can
    do. There are some things that seem incapable at the moment,
    but that does not mean we should not do what we can agree on.
    And I think that is a wide array of options and particularly
    the legislation we talked about today. They seem to be things
    that we could do with broad bipartisan support, and we need to
    speed up the timeframe. As indicated today, these businesses
    are in jeopardy of no longer existing.
        We are going to conclude this hearing in just a moment, but
    I want to ask a couple of questions of Mr. Laffitte. Mr.
    Laffitte, earlier I mentioned the Paycheck Protection Program.
    It was the main relief program created by Congress to retain
    employees. In your experience did music artists utilize PPP and
    why or why not?
        Mr. Laffitte. Thank you for the question, Senator.
        The PPP program was a great program for as long as it
    lasted which, as you know and has been stated time and again
    today, it did not last long enough.
        I did have several clients who qualified and as a result of
    that qualification, we were able to take care of some of our
    road crew and essential workers who spent their entire lives
    literally doing nothing except going from tour to tour. Again,
    as you know, the issue here is the money has run out and there
    is no next tour.
        Senator Moran. Mr. Laffitte, tell me a little bit about the
    industry that you are involved in. How much of an artist's
    income comes from touring or performing on the road?
    Particularly for smaller artists, what form of Federal
    assistance would be most effective in helping those people?
        Mr. Laffitte. Again, thank you for that question.
        I would say anywhere from 70 to 90 percent of the income
    comes from live performance, particularly for the smaller acts.
    A big artist or a great songwriter could generate income
    writing songs through radio airplay and public performance of
    that music on the radio or television. That being said, most of
    the income today is earned on the road.
        And so what I would hope for as an artist manager would be
    to get help from Congress to help keep our workers alive. ERTC,
    PPP program being expanded, Save Our Stages being expanded. We
    need help everywhere. We are talking about an entire workforce
    that has nowhere else to go.
        Some of the people here are personalizing stories. One of
    my tour managers, who has been with us for 15 years, is selling
    a new beverage. He is going from convenience store to
    convenience store to just try to make ends meet.
        So, again bringing it back to solutions, please expand PPP,
    please expand ERTC, please expand Save Our Stages. There is a
    giant workforce from top to bottom that needs help. You know,
    the ticket taker at the small club has their needs. They need
    to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head. So
    does the usher at the big arena. We need to help everybody
    here.
        Senator Moran. Mr. Laffitte, you indicated that you
    support--please pass the SOS, Save Our Stages Act. Is there any
    points that you would highlight where that legislation falls
    short?
        Mr. Laffitte. My understanding is that Save Our Stages only
    covers about 30 percent of the venues that qualify. So
    obviously, the vast majority, 70 percent, of those are not
    covered. Again, I think we need to expand the scope. I think we
    need to get more venues qualified.
        Senator Moran. Thank you very much.
        I thank all of our witnesses for being here. It is my usual
    practice in hearings that Senator Blumenthal and I conduct to
    give any witness the opportunity to add anything to what they
    said or to correct anything they said, something that they
    misspoke. Is there any witness who would like to add anything
    to the record before we conclude this morning's hearing? Mr.
    Pantuso?
        Mr. Pantuso. Yes. Thank you, Senator.
        I would like to follow up on a question that Senator Lee
    had a little earlier about what can the Federal Government do.
    And I can give you one example. Right now, we are hearing from
    some of the national parks that they will only allow a bus with
    10 individuals to come into those parks. Grand Canyon is a
    perfect example. They are also not allowing companies to come
    in that do not already have passes in 2020 or what is called a
    CUA, commercial use authorization, permit. It means that as we
    get to the recovery and companies want to bring more people to
    our national park system or to the Grand Canyon, they will not
    be allowed to because you cannot run a bus with 10 individuals,
    one being the driver and one being the guide, only eight paying
    customers. And if you have not already been to the park and
    have a CUA in 2020, it means you cannot get one in 2021. So it
    is one example where the Federal Government needs to get out of
    the way and open the doors up to allow the recovery to
    continue.
        Senator Moran. Thank you.
        Senator Blumenthal. Mr. Chairman, if I might respond.
        Senator Moran. Senator Blumenthal.
        Senator Blumenthal. I think that point is very well made in
    general about the Federal Government getting out of the way,
    but more particularly about our national parks and the example
    of that being a destination for our motorcoach industry and our
    travel industry in general. Travel agents suffer from the
    potential closure of many of these venues, and our
    transportation industry.
        I also want to mention or emphasize a point made by Mr. Fay
    about The Bushnell being a source of education and resources
    for our children in school. It is part of our educational
    system. If we lose The Bushnell, we lose a vital source of
    culture and education for students. The Ridgefield Playhouse in
    Ridgefield, Connecticut has been serving as a free source of
    education for Bridgeport, Danbury, and Stamford school
    children. So making these venues available is absolutely
    critical for our educational system.
        Thanks, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank all of the
    witnesses who are here today and who have participated
    virtually because you have added a tremendous amount to the
    understanding we have of this issue. Thank you.
        Senator Moran. Thank you, Senator Blumenthal.
        Any of our witnesses have anything they would like to say
    before we conclude?
        Mr. Strickland. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say thank you
    first and foremost to this committee and to you folks for doing
    this.
        I would like to go back to what Senator Tester said. We are
    not upset. We understand that Congress has a huge challenge in
    front of itself. You have to deal with a huge number of bills,
    thousands of bills. So your knowledge and your time is very
    valuable, and thank you for taking it. We understand the
    process. We just hope and pray that today we have made the live
    event industry's plight known.
        And I will close by saying that we are very vertically
    integrated. It is like that game--is it Jenga where you pull
    the blocks out? If one block goes, the whole tower falls. And
    what you see at the top is the big star, and what you see at
    the bottom are the manufacturers like Senator Young referenced.
    And when this thread begins to unravel, the venues, the sound
    people, the bus people, the labor people, the radio people, the
    rodeo people, and the manufacturers and the birthday party
    people and the party rental houses--it all falls apart because
    there is no chain. There is no ecosystem. And then it becomes
    the knock-on economic effect of the rest of the community.
        Again, thank you for your time.
        Senator Moran. An analogy well stated.
        Mr. Hartke, I think you wanted to say something.
        Mr. Hartke. Yes. Thank you, Chairman Moran.
        Again, I just wanted to state the urgency of this. We have
    employees whose PUA has ran out, and we have venues that have
    closed. Lots of them. And lots of them are facing closures. And
    I wanted to remind everybody that these are locally owned
    businesses. We live in the communities in which we own the
    business. It is mom and pop venues of all sizes across the
    country that this act, Save Our Stages Act, will help. So we do
    not have a month to wait. We do not have a week. We do not have
    2 months. The time is now. After 9 months, people are going
    under quick and it is just going to be over the edge if we wait
    any longer.
        So that is all I have to say. Thank you.
        Senator Moran. Thank you.
        Hopefully this hearing and its timing corresponds with the
    moment in time in which the U.S. Senate is prepared to act--the
    U.S. Congress. And thank you all for highlighting the
    importance of these bills and this issue to the American people
    and to the employees and to our economy.
        The hearing record will remain open for two weeks. During
    this time, Senators are asked to submit any questions for the
    record. Upon receipt, the witnesses are requested to submit
    their written answers to the Committee as soon as possible.
    What that is saying is that there may be questions submitted to
    our witnesses, and we would ask you to respond as quickly as
    you can.
        This concludes the hearing, and I thank again the witnesses
    for appearing today. This hearing is adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 11:55 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

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