The Arizona Legislature could consider a bill to fund the reopening of the Pioneer Museum in Flagstaff.
Flagstaff Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers introduced Senate Bill 1017 in December ahead of the start of this year's legislature. If approved, the museum would receive about $360,000 from the state budget and four full-time staff positions.
The Pioneer Museum has largely been closed to the public since 2020. Officials with the Arizona Historical Society say they've been unable to reopen due to staffing and budget limitations.
It's located in the former Coconino County Hospital, built in the early 20th century and later re-tooled as the museum in the early 1960s to house artifacts of northern Arizona's history.
The grounds include one of the area's first homesteader cabins built in the 1880s and a nearly 100-year-old Baldwin locomotive once used for logging.
SB 1017 was introduced and read in the Senate Tuesday and assigned to the Appropriations Committee.