Budget compromise reached

e-mail this story

The plan also provides $3 million more for an elementary school reading program, orders a computer study of the state's Medicaid system and provides for abstinence education.

The $5.4 billion plan will be sent to the Republican-majority House and Senate today. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn Thursday.

"Frankly, I think what we've got is a pretty good compromise," said Rep. Robert Harrell, a Charleston Republican who chairs the House budget-writing committee.

Last Thursday, after the House passed a budget compromise plan worked out by the same committee, which met Monday, some Senators objected to some of the changes, saying that they violated Senate rules. The senators said lawmakers crafting the compromise had improperly struck some lines in the budget instead of accepting all of what the Senate or House proposed for each item.

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer ruled the changes out or order, placing the budget in gridlock and posing the possibility that the entire budget might be opened for new debate.

The delay has almost guaranteed that the Legislature will have an extended session — at $75,000 a day — to deal with any vetoes by Gov. Mark Sanford.

Facing what Harrell described as a "unique" situation, both bodies sent their negotiators back to work on Monday, hoping a compromise could be found on the items disputed by the Senate.

Three senators and three House members spent six hours in discussions Monday, most of which were held behind closed doors, before reaching an agreement.

The compromise announced Monday evening changes 11 budget provisos, in addition to re-allocating lottery proceeds for the reading program and added school buses.

House members had asked for the Medicaid study and a subsistence allowance for law enforcement officers, while Senate members wanted $200,000 for a learning center in Richland County and $100,000 for South Carolina World Trade Center.

The new plan does not add any expenses to the budget debated last week.

"I expect the Senate will accept it," Senate Majority Leader Hugh Leatherman said after the plan was announced. "By and large we got the same budget we had last week."

Leatherman said he hopes the Senate won't try to challenge Monday's compromise with rules questions, saying those questions should not have stopped last week's compromise.

"Those issues were so insignificant," Leatherman said. "When you look at them in the overall scheme of things, one of the members said to me, they didn't amount to a hill of beans."

Harrell said the method of striking passages in budget compromise has been used by House and Senate negotiators in each of the last eight years.

Some Democratic House members Monday morning urged members of the negotiating panel to re-allocate recent federal funds to further increase education spending.

The budget will raise per-pupil spending to about $1,700, an increase from initial budget proposals but about $500 short of the amount officials say is required under the Education Finance Act.

Revenue plans to raise education and healthcare funds through an increase in tobacco or sales taxes have failed in the House and Senate, including a proposal by Gov. Mark Sanford that would combine a 53-cent increase in cigarette taxes with a reduction in the state's income tax rate.