Legislators Agree to Study Moving Confederate Relic Room

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Legislators aren’t spending any money next fiscal year to display the Confederate flag sent to a museum last summer as they await an analysis on moving the entire museum to Charleston.

A legislative panel negotiating a final spending plan for 2016-17 approved a budget clause that requires an analysis of available museum space in Charleston and a cost estimate for moving the state’s military history museum there. A report is due Jan. 10.

The law that removed the rebel flag from the Statehouse’s front lawn sent it to the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum in Columbia.

A separate measure directed the museum to recommend plans for a permanent display.

But legislators balked at the $3.6 million cost of the museum board’s proposal for the display and additional exhibit space.