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Date Published: March 17, 2004
USC Sumter vetoed
4-year status hinges on Legislature vote
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Item file photo
Gov. Mark Sanford tours the University of South Carolina Sumter campus in February. Sanford vetoed on Tuesday the South Carolina Life Sciences Act, which includes a provision making USC Sumter a four-year university.
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By BRADEN BUNCH
Item Staff Writer
bradenb@theitem.com
Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed the bill including four-year status for USC Sumter late Tuesday, forcing supporters of the South Carolina Life Sciences Act to get two-thirds of the Legislature to overturn his executive decision.
Sanford had said he would veto the bill specifically because of the University of South Carolina Sumter proposal. He said he supports many aspects of the bill, including the life sciences and venture capital portions.
The governor’s decision was announced about 100 minutes before midnight, when the bill would have become law had he not vetoed it.
“This veto is all about protecting the taxpayers of South Carolina from politically-driven, pork barrel spending,” Sanford said in a released statement. “More importantly, it’s about changing the way things have always been done in state government. That’s what the people elected me to do and that’s exactly what I’m doing by vetoing this bill.”
In his five-page explanation for his veto to the state Senate, Sanford referenced seven issues, including the General Assembly’s perceived circumvention of the Commission of Higher Education.
“We should not shut out the only entities empowered to review these proposals in a coordinated, comprehensive manner in relation to our overall higher education system,” the governor wrote.
State Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, said he was disappointed but not surprised by the decision.
“I understand the governor’s position in this, and I respect the fact that he has remained consistent,” Smith said. “I disagree with his veto, and I am hopeful that we will be able to override his veto this week.”
Smith said the Legislature could override the veto as early as today, but he did not want to venture a guess at what the result might be.
State Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, said he was confident the veto would be overturned.
“It’s not going to be a partisan issue, it’s going to be a South Carolina issue,” Leventis said.
The state Senate passed the proposal by a 35-5 margin earlier this month, four days after the state House of Representatives approved the bill 96-15.
“It makes the issue quite clear,” Leventis said.
Leventis said he was glad the governor did not attempt a line item veto.
There had been talk earlier in the week that the governor was considering vetoing just the USC Sumter proposal, which made for a tense Tuesday night for local legislators.
Earlier in the week, Leventis said the Legislature might be forced to overturn the veto and sue the governor for abusing his powers if a line item veto was used.
Smith also said he was glad a line item veto was not attempted because he did not feel the Life Sciences Act qualified as an appropriations bill.
One of the reasons legislators sent the bill to a conference committee last month was to remove language from the bill that would make it appear to be an appropriations bill, and therefore eligible for a line item veto.
Contact Staff Writer Braden Bunch at bradenb@theitem.com or 803-774-1222.
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April 13, 2004
