PHOENIX - A portion of the state's commercial amusement tax could be used to support an Arizona arts endowment fund if Senate Bill 1325 completes its journey through the law-making process at the state Capitol.

The bill would provide 10 years of set-aside funding beginning in 1997, said Shelley Cohn, executive director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, which would oversee the account. The money would be used to support art education programs and help art organizations maintain financial stability.

Cohn said the state is looking ahead to establish arts funding for the next decade.

The bill would not create a new tax, it would simply allocate moving up to $2 million a year from state-generated taxes on the sale of movie and sporting event tickets.

The state received $20.4 million last year from amusement sales, according to the joint legislative budget committee.

Establishing the fund would have a few strings attached to it, however. If an amendment added by Rep. Donald Aldridge, R-Lake Havasu, is approved by the Senate, none of the money could be used to support projects "desecrating, mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, trampling or otherwise dishonoring" religious objects or the United States or Arizona flags.

Aldridge added the new language in response to a Phoenix Art Museum flag exhibit, "Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art," which, among other things, shows the flag in a toilet. The exhibit, which was also shown in Cleveland and Boulder, Colo., did not use any state or federal funds.

Aldridge said the state should not be using taxpayers' money, which includes the money of many veterans, to fund projects that support "wacko, so-called artists" who treat national symbols with disrespect. He said the bill would not have passed the House without the amendment. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill with the new amendment this week.

Cohn said having the amendment added to the bill was not the commission's first preference, but, as stated, the majority of the money would go to support the infrastructure of arts organizations, not particular exhibits or artists.

The Arizona Commission on the Arts will receive about $1.5 million from the state's general fund in 1996-97 and another $1.8 million from non-state appropriated sources such as federal and trust fund monies. Cohn said the commission received 600 grant proposals last year and it was able to partially fund about 550 of these programs.

The commission has 20 paid employees and a 15-member governor-appointed board.

Dian Magie, executive director of the Tucson-Pima Arts Council, said a recent study of Tucson arts organizations showed over 90 percent of their funding came from private sources ranging from ticket sales to soda sales. She said only about 8 percent of funding came from state or federal sources.

Magie said all donors have are permitted to set parameters on how the money can be spent. The amendment presents similar restrictions, she said, and compliance should not be too difficult.

She said the only problem with the amendment is in its interpretation. She said, for example, some Native Americans see the environment itself as a part of their religious experience and she would hate to see landscapes eliminated.

Aldridge said interpreting the amendment would have to be left up to one's "common sense" and he hoped the endowment fund would support projects such as the symphony and ballet.