GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1991

S	1 

SENATE BILL 1144*

Short Title:  Grassroots Science Museum Funds.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senators Royall; Seymour, Hunt, Marvin, Forrester, Cooper, Allran, and Bryan.
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Referred to:  Appropriations.
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June 3, 1992

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR A GRASSROOTS SCIENCE PROGRAM BY THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCES TO IMPROVE STATE PROGRAMS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION.
Whereas, the North Carolina Museums Council has recommended active support for the resolution of the issue of State funding for museums, with the objective of an equitable process by which funding of operations and projects at creditable institutions may be solicited, apportioned, and accounted for; and
Whereas, the Grassroots Arts Program of the North Carolina Arts Council, established by the General Assembly in 1981, has provided consistent support to arts programs across the State; and
Whereas, the definition of "cultural purpose”in G.S. 105-278.3(d)(5) that the Arts Council uses to establish eligibility for its funds does not include sciences; and
Whereas, science museums' educational programs have never been funded by the Arts Council; and
Whereas, serious concerns are being expressed at the national and State levels by scientists and educators about the nation's mathematics and science programs; and
Whereas, the State's science museums, recognized as being at the forefront in interpreting science to our citizenry and serving as an important resource for the education of students and teachers, share these concerns; and
Whereas, the State's eight metropolitan science museums, located in Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Gastonia, Greensboro, Hickory, Rocky Mount, and Winston-Salem, in cooperation with the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, have developed a program that would enable the science museums of the State to resolve some of these concerns; and
Whereas, a Grassroots Science Program would provide consistent support to science museums that would allow the development of a State science outreach program that would, in time, be comparable to the State's program of support for the arts;  Now therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture the sum of one million nine hundred eighteen thousand dollars ($1,918,000) for the 1992-93 fiscal year for the development of a grassroots science program by the Museum of Natural Sciences to serve local museums and nature centers.
Sec. 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1992.