12-3-713. Administration of fund; matching contributions; eligible costs; grants.

(a) There is established the Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund Program to be administered by the department. In administering the program, the department shall, each fiscal year, make available money from the Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund for matching grants to any organization or state agency having a project proposal which has been reviewed and approved by the department. (b) The department shall make available money from the fund solely for the purpose of awarding grants to organizations or state agencies for the fee simple purchase of, or purchase of permanent protective interests in, any Georgia battlefield listed in the following reports: (1) The Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (Civil War Sites Advisory Commis-sion/National Parks Service, 1993, as amended); or (2) The Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revo-lutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States by the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service (United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 2007, as amended). (c) Organizations seeking grant funding shall be required to provide at least $1.00 in matching contributions for each $1.00 received from the fund for the project proposal. Unless the applicant is a state agency, no state funds shall be included in determining the amount of such matching contributions. (d) Eligible costs for which money from the fund may be allocated include acquisition of land and any improvements thereon or permanent protective interests, such as perpetual conservation easements, and costs associated with such acquisitions, including the cost of any appraisals, environmental reports, surveys, title searches and title insurance, and other closing costs. (e) Grants from the fund shall not exceed 50 percent of the appraised value of the land or permanent protective interest therein. (f) Grants from the fund may be awarded for prospective purchases or for acquisitions on which the applicant has closed. In the latter case, the applicant shall demonstrate that: (1) The closing occurred no more than 12 months prior to the date of application for the grant; and (2) An identifiable threat to the resource or compelling need for preservation existed at the time of the purchase. (g) Money from the fund, in an amount not to exceed 5 percent of total moneys held by the fund, shall be made available to the department for costs incurred in administering the program each fiscal year.