WASHINGTON, D.C.—Members of the Senate Finance Committee are working to loosen restrictions on "partial gifts" of artworks after complaints from museums that limitations imposed in 2006 have led to a decline in donations, reports the New York Times.

For partial donations, collectors donate a stake in an artwork to a museum and receive tax deductions for that amount, while museums receive the right to display the work that corresponding percentage of the year.

Republican Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa became upset when he learned of the practice, and of the fact that many of the works never in fact leave the owner's house, and inserted provisions into the Pension Protection Act of 2006 that made such gifts less advantageous to donors.

Museum officials and the Association of Art Museum Directors, however, say the new rules led to a sharp decline in donations, and have asked the Senate to reconsider.

Changes being weighed for the amendment include increasing the amount of time before a donor must turn over a work in its entirety to the museum from 10 to 20 years after the initial donation, as well as revoking a rule that capped a deduction at the value of the work when it was first donated. Often a work increases in value after it is first donated, particularly if it is exhibited.

The proposed update, being championed by New York Democrat Charles E. Schumer, would also increase accountability for both donors and museums, by requiring donors to get statements of appraisal from the Art Advisory Panel of the Internal Revenue Service, by requiring museums to increase reporting, and by requiring both parties to enter binding written contracts.

“There was a clear-cut case for the 2006 reforms,” Grassley said Wednesday. “Any changes being looked at right now — and that process is far from over — also must work to stop the rich and powerful from hanging on to their art at taxpayer expense.”

Schumer said the changes could be attached to tax-related legislation sometime next week or introduced as an independent bill.