Senate overrides governor's economic development bill veto

COLUMBIA, S.C. - College officials welcomed the passage of a bill designed to spur economic development by beefing up research at universities and giving incentives to businesses that invest in South Carolina.

By overwhelming margins, the General Assembly on Wednesday overrode Gov. Mark Sanford's veto of a bill that lets the state to borrow up to $500 million for college research and economic development projects.

The Senate voted 39-4 to override the bill. The House voted 81-24 with no discussion.

Sanford vetoed the bill Tuesday night after legislators added a long list of amendments including one that would have made the University of South Carolina-Sumter a four-year campus. Sanford said his veto was "about protecting the taxpayers of South Carolina from politically driven, pork barrel spending."

The bill started as a way to spur economic development in several ways, allowing universities and technical colleges to split $250 million in borrowed money, making venture capital available for startup businesses and offering more incentives for pharmaceutical companies.

Amendments tacked onto the bill as it moved through the Legislature included an international convention center in Myrtle Beach, new residency criteria for LIFE scholarships and a new four-year culinary arts program for Trident Technical College.

Medical University of South Carolina President Ray Greenberg said he can understand the governor's veto and his concerns about items being added to the legislation

"On the other hand, my feeling has been I don't want to see the baby thrown out with the bathwater," Greenberg said. "Even if there's parts some people don't like, there's too much important in the legislation to let it languish."

Greenberg said the legislation would help his university, the University of South Carolina and Clemson University increase their research portfolios and in turn spur the creation of jobs in South Carolina.

"This is an investment of resources that has a tremendous return to the state of South Carolina," Greenberg said. "It's a way of stimulating the so-called knowledge-based economy."

For every dollar MUSC gets from the state, it returns at least $2 in terms of research dollars, Greenberg said.

The vote to override the veto was welcome news for faculty at USC-Sumter.

"I think it's important that we be able to meet the needs of the community," said Cara-lin Getty, chair of the school's division of arts and letters. "A lot of people can't get to Columbia. They have financial obligations or other responsibilities."

The Sumter campus still has much to do before it can begin offering degrees, including gaining accreditation, said Charles Denny, who chairs the division of math, science and engineering.

Senators agreed that the legislation has problems, but also noted the state benefits from the bill's economic development elements. Because of the bill sparks investments in research universities and helps the state court an pharmaceutical company, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said he was "willing to take the whole bill" and urged senators to override the veto.

Sen. Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken, said he had no problems with the content of the bill, only the process that turned it into a Christmas tree. Some elements of the bill were never debated and were added only as a three senators and three House members negotiated a final, compromise version of the bill. That deprived legislators of the voice they usually have in handling spending and borrowing bills, Ryberg said. "Bobtailing on bills has got to stop," Ryberg said.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said that House members didn't need to spend a lot of time discussing overriding the veto.

"We passed almost everyone of those bills individually," Harrell said.

Sanford's spokesman Will Folks said it was not surprising that the governor's veto had been overridden.

"It's unfortunate more folks aren't willing to stand up to pork barrel spending that needs to be fixed," Folks said. "The governor will continue to veto bills that are not in the best interest of taxpayers," Folks said.