H1030 - 2016 Appropriations Act. (SL 2016-94)

Overview: Sec. 16.5 of S.L. 2016-94 makes the following changes to the grassroots science museum grant program:

• Renames the program the "North Carolina Science Museums Grant Program."
• Provides that, for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, any museum receiving a grant in the prior fiscal year must be funded, assuming it continues to meet general eligibility criteria for the program.
• Allows any funds remaining at the end of the competitive grant funding process to be distributed equally to all museum applicants funded during that cycle without regard to the economic development tier-based funding caps.
• Grandfathers from the requirement that all applicants be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, certain museums owned by local government entities that received funding in the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
• Includes in the eligibility criteria a requirement that applicants provide a proposal for use of the funds and the measures that will be used to demonstrate that the use of the funds has had the projected results.
• Authorizes the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to create one new position to administer the grant program, provide assistance to grant applicants, and foster collaboration between the Museum of Natural Sciences and grant recipients.

This section became effective July 1, 2016.