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Article published Mar 16, 2005
House blazes through budget
COLUMBIA -- Some
longtime members of the state House of Representatives thought they'd seen it
all when members blazed through the budget in record time.Then came the
unanimous vote to approve the $5.8 billion spending plan. For those keeping
score, that's 107-0."This is truly a historic day in the South Carolina House,"
said Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville. "In my 25 years, we've never had a
unanimous vote on the budget."There's a simple reason that the budget enjoyed
such bipartisan support: It has a little something for everyone.Education
spending increased by about $315 million, allowing the House to fully fund the
Education Finance Act at a base student cost of $2,290 per student. Because of
lean budget years, it's the first time the EFA has been fully funded since
2001.House Speaker Pro Tem Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg, pushed through an
amendment that could allow districts to use their share of the $315 million in
new spending to provide salary increases for teachers."This will allow districts
to focus on teacher pay," Smith said. "That's been my goal, to direct this money
to the teachers."Rep. Mike Anthony, D-Union, said Smith's amendment should
silence some critics who have said he is trying to dismantle public education.
Smith is the primary sponsor of "Put Parents in Charge," Gov. Mark Sanford's
plan to give tax credits to families to send their children to private
schools."His children are in public school, and this shows his support for
public education," Anthony said. "He's focused on getting money into the hands
of teachers."The budget increased total funding for the S.C. School for the Deaf
and the Blind to $24.06 million, while state funding for the school declined by
about $39,000 to $11.7 million.It also provides $18 million in new money for
school buses and increases supply money from $200 to $250 per teacher.House
members restored $11.6 million for higher education that Sanford cut in his
executive budget and adds an additional $11.9 million in funding.The University
of South Carolina Union, which Sanford has proposed eliminating in each of his
executive budgets, received $916,406 – the same amount it got this year."I'm
really excited to have this," Anthony said. "This is a credit to the friends
that we have down here."Spartanburg Technical College received $500,000 to go
toward building its Cherokee County branch."This will help us out," said Rep.
DeWitt McCraw, D-Gaffney. "This will be used as seed money for starting
classrooms."The budget also provides funding to promote breast cancer awareness
and prevention, and Rep. Brenda Lee, D-Spartanburg, picked up $100,000 for the
ReGenesis Community Health Center.Lee said the money would be used to educate
underprivileged women in Spartanburg and Greenville counties about the benefits
of breast cancer screenings and early detection."This will direct them to the
agencies and services that provide that next level of care," Lee said. "It can
be used by homeless women, senior citizens living on a fixed income or other
women who find themselves in need."Rep. Thad Viers, R-Myrtle Beach, introduced
an amendment to increase taxes by eliminating the sales tax exemption for
newspapers. The money would have been divided among the state's schools on a per
pupil basis.Viers said he offered the amendment because he wanted to give
newspapers that said the Legislature had not done enough for education a "chance
to put their money where their mouths are."The amendment was tabled after
Harrell pointed it out it also would eliminate the exemption for other printed
materials, including the Bible.In addition, the budget:(bullet) Fully funds
Medicaid, increasing spending by about $70 million to $790 million.(bullet)
Gives law enforcement officers a 10-percent pay increase.(bullet) Provides
funding for 100 new state troopers, 124 corrections officers, 20 State Law
Enforcement Division agents, 118 Department of Juvenile Justice officers, 10
Department of Natural Resources agents and four new prosecutors.(bullet) Fully
restores 40 trust funds raided during lean budget times and partially restores
two others.(bullet) Protects the state's AAA credit rating by making technical
changes to address concerns of credit rating agencies Standard & Poor's and
Moody's Investors Service.Harrell said the process went so smoothly because
everyone agreed early on about what the top priorities would be. When asked if
the unanimous vote was an attempt to Sanford-proof the budget – the governor
issued 109 budget vetoes a year ago – Harrell declined to comment."As far as
what it does or doesn't say to the governor, it says we all want to work
together," Harrell said. "We hope he'll agree."Sanford spokesman Will Folks said
it was premature to begin talking about potential vetoes. But he said the
governor would continue to push for more money to go to trust and reserve funds
as the budget debate shifts to the Senate."At the end of the day, if you're
spreading a lot of new dollars around it's easy to make a lot of folks happy,"
Folks said."But the governor took an oath to protect the taxpayers of the state
and the fiscal integrity of the spending process, and that is always going to
drive his decision-making process."Robert W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7274
or bob.dalton@shj.com.