Robin Pogrebin says the elegy over the death of the anti-deaccessioning bill in the New York Times. It was killed by opposition from major cultural institutions like the Met in New York:
The bill’s Senate sponsor, José M. Serrano, said he withdrew support after hearing feedback from cultural institutions. “We all saw that a one-size-fits-all approach was not going to work,” he said. “I didn’t think that we would be able to make wholesale changes to the bill that would make it palatable for everyone.”
In particular, Mr. Serrano said he was troubled that the legislation would affect zoos, botanical gardens, aquariums and libraries. The Wildlife Conservation Society, which oversees the aquarium and most of the zoos in New York City, said the legislation would unfairly apply to its deaccessioning, which involves transferring animals to maintain valuable genetic populations and yields no revenue.
Bill to Halt Certain Sales of Artwork May Be Dead (New York Times)
