Georgia House axes arts agency

Two months ago, the Virginia House of Delegates voted to phase out the Virginia Commission for the Arts, which would have made this the first state to shut down its arts agency. The commission survived, with reduced funding, in the budget bill ultimately passed by the House and Senate.

Georgia appears to be headed down the same road. Gov. Sonny Perdue proposed cutting the budget of Georgia's Council for the Arts from the current $2.32 million to $890,735 in the coming fiscal year. Now, the state House of Representatives has voted to do away with the council, Howard Pousner reports in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/state-arts-council-facing-462782.html

UPDATE: The AJ-C's Pousner reports that the Georgia Senate's Appropriations Committee has voted to restore the $890,375 appropriation for the arts panel, which would qualify the state for $878,300 in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts:

http://www.ajc.com/news/senate-panel-offers-hope-476938.html