Saturday, May 4, 2019
    

Florida Legislature Passes
Proposed FY 2019-20 State Budget --
Next Stop is Governor's Office Before It is Finalized

THIS AFTERNOON, the Florida Legislature voted on its proposed FY 2019-20 state budget bill, SB 2500.  

BUDGET'S NEXT STOP:  The next stop for SB 2500, the appropriations bill, is the Governor's office.  The budget is NOT FINAL until Governor DeSantis reviews and signs off on it.  He also has veto power.  We'll update you as the budget makes its way through Governor DeSantis' office.

$21,250,028 in APPROPRIATIONS RECOMMENDED  under the Florida Department of State (DOS) Division of Cultural Affairs (DCA) in proposed FY 2019-20 State budget for three of the four DCA matching-grant categories:

●   $2,980,028 to fully fund all 132 Culture Builds Florida Matching Grants

●  
$12,300,000 for  Cultural and Museum Matching Grants (would provide approximately 29% of each of the 478 recommended grant amounts)

●  
$5,970,000 for Cultural Facilities Matching Grants (would fund first 18 on ranked list and partially fund #19)

NATIONAL RANKING UPDATE
  
The above recommended State-appropriation investments for these DOS DCA matching grants will take Florida to a ranking of 20 from 48.  This is not a final ranking, but thought you should know that all of your hard work and collaborative efforts are paying off to restore Florida's investments in its arts and culture industry.


Also recommended for funding in SB 2500 are the following  under the DOS DCA:

$150,000 African American History Museum and Library
$475,000 Florida African-American Heritage Preservation Network
$750,000 Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg
$357,000 Holocaust Documentation and Education Center
$500,000 Florida Holocaust Museum Security Enhancements
$500,000 Ruth Eckerd Hall Expanding the Experience Campaign
$750,000 Camp Blanding Museum Expansion Project
$500,000 Pulse Memorial and Museum
$250,000 Carter G. Woodson African American Museum

These nine total $3,757,000.  This was money added and not subtracted from any of the above appropriation recommendations for DCA matching grants.


Thank each of you for all of your advocacy efforts.

Details and review of the 2019 Florida Legislative Session will be the main topic of the FCA May 13 statewide call.

We'll start our thank you campaign to legislators soon.