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PA House Bill 561 is a tremendously dangerous piece of legislation that has passed the PA House 115-12. This Bill - if passed in its current form - will prohibit liquor licensees (hotels, bars, restaurants) from paying young musicians who are performing there. For more analysis, go to http://tuklaw.com/news You can make your voice heard in Harrisburg before the PA Senate votes. CALL TO ACTION: 1. Find your Senator: https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/ 2. Call your Senator and use this form as a basis to explain why this Bill is a terrible idea: Dear Senator __________, I am a constituent in your district and this letter is to bring your attention to PA House Bill 561, which passed the PA House recently by a vote of 115-12. I’ll explain why this bill is troubling for working musicians across the Commonwealth. As a professional musician myself, I can attest to the economic realities of getting paying gigs. The economics of the local music business aren’t pretty. The money that is offered most local musicians for your average gig at a bar or hotel would shock people if they knew. Most professional musicians in Pennsylvania and elsewhere financially depend on their ability to obtain paying work at hotels, bars, restaurants, all of whom are liquor licensees. With all of these pressures in mind, seemingly out of left field, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a Bill recently that will make the economic life of the professional musician much, much more difficult. WFMZ Channel 69 TV in the Lehigh Valley broadcast a story on this, which you can view here: http://www.wfmz.com/news/lehigh-valley/proposed-change-in-pa-liquor-laws-hitting-sour-note-with-some-musicians/1070666568 The Pittsburgh Current newspaper ran an editorial on this topic, which you can read here: https://www.pittsburghcurrent.com/pennsylvania-free-labor/ Let me state clearly that no one objects to minors performing as musicians in liquor licensee establishments but the law should not block payment to these performers for their labor. HB561 as written is bad policy for several reasons: 1. The performance fees that establishments are willing to pay professional musicians are going to decrease; 2. HB561 institutionalizes the fiction that young/beginning performers should perform (read: work) for free and give away their labor; 3. This is a boon for establishments that can now book minors for zero dollars rather than hire professionals; 4. This also impacts DJs who work clubs, because my reading of this Bill includes DJs also. What the community of professional musicians and DJs is asking is for you to strike the provision of the amendment which prohibits paying the performers.