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Date Published: March 10, 2004
USC Sumter on Sanford’s desk
By BRADEN BUNCH
Item Staff Writer
bradenb@theitem.com
The University of South Carolina Sumter is one signature away from beginning the process of becoming a four-year campus.
That distance might be farther than school officials like.
With 35 votes supporting the proposal, the state Senate on Tuesday approved the South Carolina Life Sciences Act, which includes permission for the Sumter campus to expand to four-year status.
“This has been a delegation priority for the last 15 to 20 years,” said Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, who has championed the Sumter campus amendment. “I’m just delighted that I’m here when it happened, because I think it will make a difference for as long as USC is in Sumter, and that will be for as long as we can imagine.”
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Leventis said a four-year campus will help attract industry to the area and protect Shaw Air Force Base in the upcoming round of Base Realignment and Closure.
“It’s just a real, real positive thing,” Leventis said.
Art Bahnmuller, a member of the USC Board of Trustees and a staunch supporter of four-year status for the Sumter campus, praised the Senate upon hearing the news Tuesday.
“There’s a lot of students that just can’t afford time-wise, as well as money-wise to go to Columbia,” Bahnmuller said. “There’s no question that this is going to help Sumter County, as well as Lee and Clarendon counties.”
Since the bill has already been approved by the state House of Representatives, the Senate vote sends the bill to Gov. Mark Sanford, who has said he would veto the bill specifically because of the USC Sumter proposal.
On Tuesday, Will Folks, spokesman for the governor’s office, all but said that the governor still plans to veto the bill.
“On numerous occasions, both publicly and privately, the governor has made his concerns regarding this legislation perfectly clear,” Folks said on Tuesday. “His position hasn’t changed.”
Folks said the governor would not mind discussing USC Sumter on its own merits, but, “The bottom line, though, is that this is a process problem that started with the USC Sumter amendment getting tacked on and, quite frankly, the bill’s weight got heavier and heavier as it continued to move forward in that process.”
Folks also pointed out that the governor still strongly supports the original life sciences and venture capital portions of the bill.
“The governor has said all along ‘send me stand-alone versions of the life sciences and venture capital bills and I’ll sign them tomorrow,’” Folks said.
South Carolina law says the governor has five days, excluding Sundays, to veto the bill or it becomes law without his signature.
If the bill is vetoed, state Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, said it might take awhile before the veto can be overridden because of the current budget debate in the House.
Debate on the state’s 2004-05 fiscal year budget began on the House floor Tuesday and is expected to last at least a couple weeks, Smith said.
Still, Smith said he was encouraged by the margins by which the bill passed.
The number of senators supporting the bill Tuesday was four more than the two-thirds needed to overturn a veto.
The House of Representatives approved the bill by an overwhelming 96-15 vote on Thursday.
“We’re prepared to try to override his veto if he decides to veto this bill,” Smith said.
Contact Staff Writer Braden Bunch at bradenbtheitem.com or 803-774-1222.
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April 8, 2004
