NEW COOGAN RULES

California:

Starting January 1st 2004 the rules governing California’s mandatory Coogan Accounts will change. On March 29th 2004 the State of New York will, for the first time, also mandate a Coogan set-aside. Parents and Financial Advisors must be prepared to deal with these changes. We will deal with New York farther down in this article, but first, California.

Parents whose children are already established and members of the theatrical unions will be little affected by these new rules, and need only attach their Coogan Account information to the Department of Labor Work Permit within Ten Days of issuance, much as they already do when informing Employers of the Coogan Account information. New Department of Labor rules in California have changed the “Over The Counter,” or “Walk-In” transactions with Work Permits, and several DoL offices are now “Mail Only” when it comes to Work Permits. Parents should start the “mail-in” process early.

A Work Permit will be issued without this Coogan Information, but will expire in Ten Days unless the Coogan Account information is attached to the Work Permit.

California Coogan Law, 2004: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0201-0250/sb_210_bill_20031003_chaptered.html

If you believe you have Unclaimed Coogan Money coming to your child, please go to this site: http://www.unclaimedcoogan.org/ The Actors Fund of America will become in de facto Trustee of all Unclaimed Coogan monies no later than July 1st 2004.

We all need to be patient, and guard against allowing our darker natures to cloud our thoughts. The theatrical unions, the studios, the payroll companies and the major alliances of Industry employers all want this new System to work, and have pledged to cooperate to make it so. There is no incentive to withhold Coogan Trust money. Current money market rates of .085% mean that a company holding One Hundred Dollars for a full year stands to make 86 cents on “the float,” and common sense will tell you that 86 cents is not worth the trouble.

For those of you new to the process of opening Coogan Accounts, here are some helpful websites, beginning with The Actors Fund of America which will administer all of the Unclaimed Coogan monies early in the year 2004: coogan_websites.doc

Two Wells Fargo branches are able to open Coogan accounts quickly, in compliance with SB 210's requirement that Coogan account information must be attached to the work permit 10 days after issuance. These branches are:

137 N Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, California Ca. 90036
Branch Manager Ayda Manamshian, (310) 550-2925

and

12251 Ventura Boulevard
Studio City, CA. 91604
Branch Manager Patrick Parhami (818) 980-6105

New York:

For the latest information on the new work standards in New York, go to: http://www.labor.state.ny.us/child/index.htm

The old process of pulling a Work Permit for every job in Show Business will be no more after March 28th 2004. New York State should, at that time, start to issue Work Permits for Minors covering a six-month period with automatic renewals (assuming that a child’s health and scholastic record remain in good standing). The savings in time and money for both the State and the Show Business families will be dramatic indeed.

Education will now be supplied on nearly every job in Entertainment that takes a child away from their home school on school days. Details on Employer-Supplied set teachers are still being worked out as of this writing, but are expected to be published well in advance of the new Law’s implementation. Some work (One day commercial shoots, voice over work, etc.) may not require a Teacher to be present. Always check.

Coogan Accounts for all working kids in the Entertainment Industry in the State of New York will become mandatory on March 29th 2004.

Several financial institutions are even now preparing for Coogan in New York. Please return to this site in the coming 90 Days to see how their plans develop.

For those of you interested in why Coogan has changed, please link to this site: Why_Has_Coogan_Changed.html

A completed Coogan Account "TRUSTEE FORM" whould look like this: statementoftrustee.pdf