Commerce seeks money for job incentives, small‑business programs and a marketing push

Patrick Jarvis, chief financial officer at the Department of Commerce, briefed the Senate Finance subcommittee on the department’s budget requests and proposed provisos.

Jarvis recapped two earlier requests: $25,000,000 nonrecurring for rural projects and the Locate SC request (the department sought $25,000,000 nonrecurring and $3,500,000 recurring; the House included $1,000,000 recurring). He said Commerce also requests $20,000,000 nonrecurring to accelerate repayment of an intra‑agency loan to Palmetto Railways; the loan carries an outstanding balance of about $41,500,000.

Other Commerce items Jarvis listed included $582,250 for small business and trade support (including a $175,000 expansion for the state match to the federal STEP export program and $300,000 to expand the Stimulate SC innovation grant), $2,000,000 nonrecurring for targeted marketing to continue a multi‑phase branding and awareness campaign, $225,960 recurring for federal/fund authority and an FTE for a permanent project management office, and a $3,700,000 recurring increase to the closing fund (to reach a recurring $25,000,000 closing fund) to support new and retained jobs.

Jarvis described three proposed provisos: (1) authority to access up to 25 percent of available excess debt service funds to pay down a specified loan more quickly (related to the M.B.I.F. loan), (2) transfer of a travel‑reimbursement proviso for the Nuclear Advisory Council from the Department of Administration into the Commerce budget, and (3) a rural development proviso that lays out guidelines for spending rural development monies if appropriated.

A senator asked whether the Palmetto Railways loan accrues interest; Jarvis said it is an intra‑agency balance, not carrying an external interest rate. Jarvis closed by noting the department had proposed an additional proviso to govern rural development spending should funds be appropriated.