WHEN WILL THEY RETURN?

House and Senate lawmakers have set a date, but when the General Assembly will return to Columbia to deal with expected budget vetoes remains unclear.

Both the House and Senate voted Wednesday to return June 14 — one day after state primary elections — through June 16. But Gov. Mark Sanford has said he will use executive powers to force the Legislature back next week.

Sanford, spokesman Joel Sawyer said, believes voters should know how their legislators voted on vetoes.

In the House, the debate was raucous, with House members shouting to “call his (Sanford’s) bluff!”

Still, House leaders worried about the political fallout of waiting until after the primary.

“It’s good to stick our finger in the governor’s eye,” House Majority Leader Jim Merrill, R-Berkeley, said rhetorically. “I’m not sure the political consequences are worth going through that.”

Some top senators say if members of the General Assembly agree on their own to extend their session, as they have, the governor cannot then order them to come at a different time. But Sanford is relying on a 1984 attorney general’s opinion that says differently.

What happens if Sanford orders them back next week and lawmakers refuse is unclear. The governor could seek a ruling from the state Supreme Court ordering lawmakers to session.

Sanford’s office, Sawyer said, will “begin drafting the executive order very shortly.”

Each extra day would cost about $50,000 if legislators voluntarily return.

The cost would rise to about $80,000 a day if the governor orders them back because it would be a formal special session.

— Aaron Gould Sheinin and John O’Connor