A conference committee meeting on Senate Bill 2010 debated whether to tap a cultural endowment and add staff to the state arts agency to advance a public-art program called Arts Across the Prairie.

The House amendments circulated to the committee would fund installation of four sculptures and restore a grants program officer position removed by the Senate; they also direct $15,000 from agency grant funds for a state troubadour and increase the poet laureate award from $10,000 to $30,000. Committee members agreed to keep the troubadour and poet laureate language and the accrued-leave payout language but did not finalize the full-time employee or the precise appropriation from the cultural endowment fund.

Why it matters: The bill would use money from a cultural endowment created previously to place public art across the state and to support agency grant work. Lawmakers said the effort is intended to put pieces into public spaces that could, they hope, stimulate private philanthropic support to complete eight planned sculptures statewide.

House conferees told the committee the amendments prioritize four sculpture sites to get installations into the public realm sooner and avoid immediate general-fund costs. Staff told lawmakers the endowment balance is approximately $1.2 million and that prior authorizations allowed $50,000 per year (about $100,000 per biennium) to be used; conferees cautioned that spending large portions of the endowment now could limit future maintenance and additional installations.

Committee discussion focused on three practical questions: which sites and site-preparation costs to authorize now, whether to restore a permanent grants program officer (one FTE) or allow a temporary position, and whether grant or federal funds (including a potential National Endowment for the Arts grant) could pay for a coordinator position. A staff member identified as Alex explained budget-line mechanics for the restored FTE, saying the $172,772 figure is the base salary and that an additional health insurance line (about $6,005) and other salary-related adjustments are separate budget entries. The transcript shows conferees discussing moving 90 percent of base salary into a new-and-vacant FTE pool and removing the rest from the salaries line; the 10 percent holdback was described as $17,277.

On site costs, committee members cited engineer estimates that differ by location: Balta site prep of about $64,627; Fordville about $139,533; Gackle roughly $182,398; and Dakota Prairie Grasslands about $607,580. A House conferee summarized those site-specific installation estimates and said the committee's $454,142 figure reflects combined site-preparation ceilings used to calculate the total installation authorization in the House amendment. Members said those prep costs can exceed the price of the artwork itself and asked that site-preparation costs be explicitly included with any authorization for sites.

Agency staff and conferees discussed using National Guard engineering support and state Department of Transportation assistance for some groundwork. The agency director was referenced during the meeting as having discussed those possibilities with the Guard.

Committee members voiced differing views on staffing. Supporters, including conferees from the House, said restoring the grants program officer is critical to grant acquisition and fundraising, which could leverage additional private donations; one House conferee said placing four pieces now would create momentum to raise funds for the remaining four. Other lawmakers said adding an ongoing FTE raises general-fund obligations and expressed openness to a temporary position or to using federal or grant funds if available.

On maintenance, Staff member Larry told the committee, "They're not using the maintenance funding right now because nothing's been built to date." Lawmakers noted recurring costs such as lighting, graveling of parking areas and annual upkeep that the endowment or other appropriations would need to cover going forward.

Outcome and next steps: The committee agreed to several House items (the troubadour and poet laureate grants and language on accrued leave) but did not reach agreement on the full-time grants officer or the exact appropriation level from the cultural endowment fund. Members scheduled another conference meeting to resolve those outstanding items.

Ending: The chair adjourned the conference committee without a final vote and said the group will reconvene to resolve staffing and endowment-appropriation differences.