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reprint or license thisLawmakers likely to override Sanford’s vetoes
By JOHN O’CONNOR
johnoconnor@thestate.com
State lawmakers return to Columbia today to address — and probably override — Gov. Mark Sanford’s vetoes on the budget and several other bills.
The primary issues of the scheduled three-day session are vetoes of portions of the state spending plan. Sanford was required to announce his decision by a midnight deadline Tuesday. The vetoes were released after press time.
Sanford has vetoed a handful of other bills since the General Assembly ended its regular session June 1. The measures would increase minimum car insurance coverage, loosen penalties for state ethics violations, as well as give the attorney general broader authority to prosecute gas stations that unfairly increase prices.
Sanford has said lawmakers should limit any spending increase to 5.65 percent, a function of population growth and inflation. He has said the cap prevents government from growing faster than taxpayers’ ability to pay.
House Ways and Means chairman Dan Cooper, R-Anderson, said he was not sure how the governor could cut enough to limit budget growth to his spending cap. About $100 million in higher education and special projects could be trimmed, Cooper said, but “after that, it’s big-ticket items.”
While the budget will take up most of the three-day session, lawmakers will take time to deal with the other vetoes, including one allowing more prosecution for gas price gouging.
“The price-gouging bill surprises me a lot,” said Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Richland. “Giving the attorney general more authority to go after people is the right thing to do.”
The Senate also will quickly vote on a veto of a bill that prevents protests at S.C. funerals. The House has overturned the veto on the bill, which was inspired by a Kansas group protesting military funerals.
A House-Senate conference committee also could finish work on a bill limiting governments’ ability to take private property. The two sides ended the regular session without resolving the issue. The House voted to require compensation for landowners whose property loses value over a rezoning. The Senate opposes the change.
Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8358.
