HB 1480 - Mississippi Arts Commission Appropriation

• Appropriates $1,379,629.00 from the State General Fund and $1,435,030.00 from special funds for the Mississippi Arts Commission for fiscal year 2015 (July 1, 2014 - June 30, 2015).

• Authorizes 11 permanent full-time positions and 2 time-limited full-time positions for the commission.

• Allocates $450,000.00 from the Education Enhancement Fund for training educators, promoting arts programs in public schools ($100,000), and miscellaneous grants and programs ($350,000).

• Establishes the Arts Commission Challenge Initiative Fund to receive Challenge Program dollars with no fiscal year lapse; grantees must provide matching funds of at least 2 times the grant amount.

• Authorizes the commission to escalate its budget and expend up to $1,000,000.00 from available sources and reallocate Deputy Director positions by $6,823.00 plus fringe; provides $1,000 salary increases for eligible full-time employees earning less than $30,000 annually who have not received raises since July 1, 2010.