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Monday, Jun 2, 2003 |
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Posted on May 29, 2003 House approves compromise budget
The Associated Press The $5.3 billion state budget that came out of an 11-hour overnight conference committee was scuttled by Senate rules Thursday afternoon after the House adopted it 72-37. In the Senate, attention was called to words stricken from a tiny, technical budget provision dealing with the state's Palmetto scholarships. And because of that editing, senators had to send the bill back to the conference committee. The budget conference committee met until just before 7 a.m. Thursday as the Legislature tried to avoid returning to Columbia after mandatory adjournment on June 5. "That can't happen now because of the mess that's happening in the Senate," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston. Harrell called it a "meltdown." Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman disagreed with that assessment. "I don't think we're in a meltdown. We've had a very difficult four or five weeks here," he said. The House adopted the compromise plan after Democrats heaped criticism upon it. House Minority Leader James Smith, D-Columbia, said it fails to provide enough money for education and will force local school districts to raise taxes or fire teachers. Under the proposed budget, schools would receive a base student cost of $1,701 per student. Currently the state is spending $1,770 per student. The Board of Economic Advisors told budget writers earlier this year that $2,201 per student would be required under a state school funding formula. But doing so would require about $270 million more in state spending. "Instead of finding stable recurring revenue sources to fund our core priorities, we take federal deficit spending," Smith said. "That's just not fiscally responsible." The budget conference committee's budget relied on $265 million in federal money that President Bush signed into law Wednesday in an effort to help ease state fiscal problems. Harrell said he and Leatherman plan to meet with Gov. Mark Sanford to discuss a plan to put more money into public schools. Sanford said Thursday he wants to keep at least the base student cost at the current spending level of $1,770. "I still think there's a chance we can move that north and I think we ought to," he said. The Senate's fight over the budget plan compromise included objections by Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg, who wanted to keep a $25 surcharge on traffic and other tickets out of the budget. The fees add $24.5 million to criminal justice and judicial budgets, but amount to a tax increase, Hawkins said. "I can't be consistent in my position in voting against all the tax increases that I've voted against and vote for the $25 surcharge, even if you call it a user fee," Hawkins said. It's unclear how long Harrell, Leatherman and other conference committee members will meet on Monday. Leatherman hopes the discussion focus on the handful of procedural issues that sidelined the budget Thursday. But items that House members usually wouldn't agree to were part of the compromise in an effort to speed up the negotiations, Harrell said. With an extended session a certainty, there's less incentive to quickly finish budget deals, he said. "I hope that's not the case," Leatherman said. |
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All material ©2003 Spartanburg Herald-Journal | |
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