Delay may extend legislative session

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"We're aware that that may happen," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston.

It's possible to finish work on the $5.2 billion budget before the June 5 adjournment, said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston. But that would leave no time to deal with possible vetoes.

"If the General Assembly wants to handle vetoes, we'll have to have some extended veto session in June," he said.

Spending about $25,000 a day on an extended session would come as other agencies are trying to find ways to cut their budgets to deal with current-year budget cuts of 8.7 percent since December.

Last year was the first time in seven years the House and Senate left Columbia on the first Thursday of June without having to come back for budget work.

When senators return to their desks Tuesday, they'll be far behind the pace set in recent years and still locked in a debate on funding education programs with a sales tax increase.

Since 1996, the budget has cleared the Senate after May 11 only once. In 2001, the Senate didn't finish its version of the bill until May 18. A final House-Senate conference bill wasn't completed until June 21 in an extended session.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman expects substantial progress on the $5.2 billion spending plan this week. Last week, he was frustrated by Senate Democrats' maneuvering to force commitments on education spending.

Deliberations also were delayed a week as senators took time to pass a Senate redistricting plan.

House leaders have been on the sidelines watching. "We will move as quickly as humanly possible to deal with the bill," said House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville.

Usually the House simply amends the Senate's version of the bill back to the version it passed. Then the Senate and House appoint conference committees to work out a final spending plan, usually in a week or two.

But this year promises to be different.

House Majority Leader Rick Quinn, R-Columbia, said he is trying to gain support for a sales tax plan tied to some type of tax relief. That plan would have to be debated when the Senate's version of the budget hits the House to become part of the conference committee's negotiations.

If the proposal surfaces in the conference committee, it would require a two-thirds vote to become part of the budget — and that's a tall order for any kind of tax measure.

Harrell thinks the conference committee may not take that long to meet.

"Republicans are majority party in both the House and Senate and I think we will work together to get the conference committee done quickly," he said. "The partisan difficulties made it hard to get compromises reached" in previous years.

But a conference committee, even with Republicans in control, takes time. For instance, last year's budget conference committee was appointed on June 9 and didn't deliver a bill until June 23.

McConnell said he's avoided bringing up an extended session resolution, fearing it would prolong the budget debate.

To extend the session, McConnell and Wilkins have to get two-thirds votes. Two years ago, that didn't happen and then-Gov. Jim Hodges had to call the Legislature back into session.

Also different this year is a new governor, who for now has to just watch the process. "There's not much the majority party can do if one or two senators want to conspire to slow down the process," Sanford spokesman Will Folks said.