⏪Background: After the House passed their budget in March, the state’s Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) released new revenue projections for the state, adding $1.7 billion to the state’s budget, with $385 million of that in recurring revenue. The Senate was able to use these funds to craft their budget. The House then took another swing at their version to account for the increase in available revenue.
Senate Version: The full Senate adopted their version of the budget at the end of April. That budget included the following arts funding:
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$2 million (one-time funding) for COVID Relief grants.
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Increase of $1.5 million (recurring funding) for general operating support grants.
House Version 2: The House just yesterday adopted their second version of the budget (H2 as it is commonly referred) which includes:
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$2 million (one-time funding) for COVID Relief grants.
Matches Senate version. -
Increase of $2 million (recurring funding) for general operating support grants.
$500,000 more than the Senate version.
What’s Next: The budget now heads to Conference Committee – 3 Senators and 3 House Representatives – to work out the differences. The Senate and House will return June 21 to take up the Conference Committee report, and then send the final budget to the Governor for his signature and vetoes. The Legislature will return June 29 and 30 to vote on Governor vetoes.
The Conference Committee cannot rewrite the budget, but rather can only adopt either the House or Senate versions of various line items.
Bottom Line: The Conference Committee will have to choose between $3.5 million total arts funds (Senate version), or $4 million total arts funds (H2 version). Either way, the arts will see an increase in grant funding, and will see $2 million in COVID Relief grants – unless any of it is vetoed by the Governor which triggers another process.
🚨 Take Action: Contact members of the Conference Committee and encourage them to adopt the House version of arts funding – specifically Part 1A, Section 28 (grant funding) as that is the only difference in statewide arts funding between the House and Senate versions. You can email these members through the Statehouse website at the links below, regardless if you live in their district or not.
Senate Conferees: Sens. Hugh Leatherman (Florence), Harvey Peeler(Gaffney), Nikki Setzler (Lexington)
House Conferees: Reps. Murrell Smith (Sumter), Bruce Bannister(Greenville), Coach Hayes (Dillon)
🚀If the $2 million recurring increase for grants is adopted by the House and Conference Committee (and not vetoed by Governor), funding for grants in the arts in South Carolina will from $0.69 per capita currently to $1.06 per capita. (If the $1.5m version is adopted, per capita funding lands at $0.97)
