2020 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 51 - Parks, Recreation and Tourism
Chapter 17 - Heritage Trust Program
Section 51-17-115. Establishment and administration of Heritage Land Trust Fund.

There is created the Heritage Land Trust Fund, which must be kept separate from other funds of the State. The fund must be administered by the board of the department for the purpose of acquiring fee simple or lesser interest in priority areas, legal fees, appraisals, surveys, or other costs involved in the acquisition of interest in priority areas, and for the development of minimal facilities and management necessary for the protection of the essential character of priority areas.

Unexpended balances, including interest derived from the fund, must be carried forward each year and used only for the purposes provided in this chapter.

No fund money may be expended to acquire interest in property by eminent domain nor may the funds be expended to acquire interest in property without a recommendation of the Heritage Trust Advisory Board and the approval of the State Fiscal Accountability Authority or Department of Administration, as applicable.

The board of the department shall report by letter to the presiding officers of the General Assembly not later than January fifteenth each year all funds expended pursuant to this chapter for the previous year, including the amount of funds expended and the uses to which the expenditures were applied.

The fund is eligible to receive appropriations of state general funds, federal funds, donations, gifts, bond issue receipts, securities, and other monetary instruments of value. Reimbursement for monies expended from this fund must be deposited in this fund. Funds received through sale, exchange, or otherwise of any Heritage Preserve acquired under this section, or products of the Preserve such as timber, utility easement rights, and the like, accrue to the fund.

HISTORY: 1985 Act No. 36, Section 2; 1993 Act No. 164, Part II, Section 44, eff June 21, 1993; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1282, eff July 1, 1994; 1999 Act No. 100, Part II, Section 16, eff July 1, 1999.

Code Commissioner's Note

At the direction of the Code Commissioner, references in this section to the offices of the former State Budget and Control Board, Office of the Governor, or other agencies, were changed to reflect the transfer of them to the Department of Administration or other entities, pursuant to the directive of the South Carolina Restructuring Act, 2014 Act No. 121, Section 5(D)(1), effective July 1, 2015.

Editor's Note

1992 Act No. 501, Part II, Section 56, eff June 16, 1992, provides as follows:

"Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 12-21-380, for fiscal year 1987-88, fiscal year 1988-89, fiscal year 1989-90, and fiscal year 1990-91, 10/55 of the amount collected by the commission pursuant to that section must be paid to the Heritage Land Trust Fund."

This section was amended by 1993 Act No. 164 and Act No. 181.

1993 Act No. 181, Section 1614, provides as follows:

"SECTION 1614. Notwithstanding any permanent or temporary provision of law, any enactment, or portion thereof, of the General Assembly in 1993 in conflict with any provision of this act shall be suspended as to its force and effect until March 1, 1994. Where there is no conflict the provisions of any other enactments shall supersede the provisions of this act. For the purposes of this section, 'conflict' shall not include:

"(1) where provisions of the Code of Laws of 1976, as amended, are repeated herein so as to incorporate only changes in the names of agencies, divisions or departments, except so far as such change in name conflicts with another enactment or a portion of another enactment, or

"(2) where provisions of the Code of Laws of 1976, as amended, are repeated herein so as to incorporate only changes in the governance or structure of an agency, division or department except so far as such governance or structure is in conflict with another enactment or some portion of another enactment."

Effect of Amendment

The first 1993 amendment, in the first paragraph, added "and management" following "minimal facilities" and added the last sentence providing that expenditures for management may not exceed ten percent of revenues for any year; and made grammatical changes throughout.

The second 1993 amendment substituted "board of the department" for "Wildlife and Marine Resources Commission".

The 1999 amendment deleted the last sentence of the first undesignated paragraph relating to limitations on the amount of management expenditures from the fund in any fiscal year.