South Carolina agencies have received more than $1 billion in federal stimulus money, according to the latest figures released by Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom.

Almost half of the money, $470.7 million, has gone to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees health care for the poor and disabled. The money has allowed the agency to maintain services while lawmakers have used diminishing state revenues in other areas of state government.

The Employment Security Commission, $183.5 million, Department of Social Services, $109.6 million, and Department of Transportation, $71.3 million, were the next largest recipients.

The stimulus continues through the budget year that begins July 1, but lawmakers are already warning about further cuts to state agencies if revenues do not begin to improve. But budget analysts, including the Rockefeller Institute, believe state revenues will not regain their previous levels — a $7.2 billion budget in 2008 is now a $5.1 billion budget — for several more years as recession-related employment remains high.