Norton Bill Would Bar Admission Fees, to the Smithsonian Financed by U.S. Taxpayers (2/13/08)

Norton Bill Would Bar Admission Fees, to the Smithsonian Financed by U.S. Taxpayers February 13, 2008

Washington, DC - As the Butterfly Pavilion opens at the National Museum of Natural History on Thursday, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the Smithsonian Free Admissions Act of 2008 to prohibit the Smithsonian from charging an admission fee to any permanent exhibit in any of its public museums or facilities. The bill responds to the first permanent Smithsonian exhibition in the Institution's history to charge an entrance fee.

In her opening statement, Norton cited the first bill that established the Smithsonian as a public institution, introduced by Senator William Preston in 1841, which stated that the Smithsonian would "preserve and exhibit with no fee." Norton said that her pending Smithsonian Modernization Act is the appropriate way to raise funds to respond to the large Smithsonian infrastructure back log and that admission fees would have almost no effect while disappointing 24 million visitors, most of whom, have paid taxes and expect free admission to publicly financed institutions to continue.

"The Smithsonian has long prided itself on ‘free access,' according to a recent CRS report," Norton said, "Admission fees can bring only a token amount. Fees are not the answer for American taxpayers, who already have paid through the 70% that the federal government contributes to this public institution. Federal taxpayers don't expect to pay again through government entities."

The Congresswoman's opening statement introducing the bill is below.

Ms. Norton. Madam Speaker,

Today, I introduce the Smithsonian Free Admission Act to reinforce 160 years of consistent Smithsonian policy, admitting the public to all permanent exhibits without charge. That policy is embodied in the original intent of the founder's gift to the federal government that the Smithsonian be established to increase the knowledge of the public. The first bill establishing the Smithsonian, introduced by Senator William C. Preston on February 17, 1841, stated explicitly that the Smithsonian would "preserve and exhibit with no fee all" works of art and science. This intent and tradition was interrupted by the Board of Regents with the casual comment that this would be the first time admission fees would be charged and was done without notice to anyone when the Regents voted, on January 29, 2007, to institute the first fees in the history of the Smithsonian. The Congress and not the Regents should decide so basic a policy, especially when it departs from longstanding public policy. The admission fee sets a precedent for future permanent exhibits and makes it impossible to deny the other Smithsonian entities the same privilege and may encourage other Smithsonian entities to structure their exhibits to fit the Butterfly Pavilion model.

Legislation, therefore, has become necessary and urgent as the Butterfly Pavilion is set to open on February 14, 2008. Although the Smithsonian has previously charged fees for films and shows, such as IMAX films, the National Air and Space Museum's Planetarium, and the National Zoo's Christmas Light special, the Butterfly Pavilion marks the first time admission fees are charged for a permanent exhibit.

The Smithsonian Institution had an estimated 24.2 million visitors in 2007. The huge number of visitors who come to the Smithsonian's 17 museums and art galleries shows that there are untapped sources of revenue from appreciative Americans and others if the Smithsonian had a first-rate private fundraising effort similar to that of the great museums in this country and worldwide. Our previously introduced bill, HR 4098, The Smithsonian Modernization Act of 2007, addresses the Smithsonian's shallow fundraising capacity by restructuring and expanding the Smithsonian Board of Regents from a board almost half of whom are public officials to a board consisting solely of private sector citizens with greater fundraising capacity and experience.

Today the Smithsonian's traditional free access to exhibits is under attack, chiefly because of the $2 billion dollar infrastructure backlog. However, the fundraising capability of the Smithsonian infrastructure is clear in the recent opening of the National Portrait Gallery, according to Congressional Research Service (CRS) RL 33560, donors contributed funds for the new auditorium and roof over the courtyard.

The Smithsonian Modernization Act, not admission fees, provides the most realistic vehicle to raise funds for the Smithsonian without cost to the government or to the public. The Smithsonian has long prided itself on "free access" according to the CRS. Admission fees can bring only a token amount. Admission fees are not the answer for American taxpayers, who have already paid through the 70% that the federal government already contributes to this public institution. Federal taxpayers don't expect to pay again through a admission fee to a federally financed institution.