On the next-to-last day of the legislative session, state senators Wednesday talked about issues such as cutting grass and whether two-year colleges should become four-year schools.

But they made little progress on key bills, setting up a mad dash today for the House and Senate. The remaining issues include reforming the Public Service Commission, lowering the drunken-driving level to .08, reforming the campaign finance system and raising the level of education funding.

Some senators may even take another shot at raising the cigarette tax to pay for Medicaid.

"Every minute becomes precious," said Sen. Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston.

The Senate expected to consider more legislation Wednesday but hit a snag on a bill that would let the state borrow more money for colleges and universities to make $250 million in improvements. The bill also would allow schools more flexibility in how they are administered.

The Finance Committee OK'd the legislation Tuesday. But many senators were upset about how the money was divvied up.

Most of it -- $220 million -- went to the University of South Carolina, the Medical University of South Carolina and Clemson. But the rest, $30 million, was originally to be divvied equally to 30 technical and smaller colleges.

That changed Tuesday when the Finance Committee approved a formula that would split the money according to a school's need and its enrollment.

But Sen. John Kuhn, R-Charleston, vowed to filibuster, essentially talking the bill to death. He said he was angry the Senate had spent five months dealing with minor issues, from decorative license tags to naming commemorative days, but now was trying to ram through major changes no one understood.

"How are we supposed to ask the right questions when we're clueless?" Kuhn said.

Because of the late hour, the filibuster -- which will continue today -- also could halt other bills.

Kuhn's colleagues encouraged him to sit down. McConnell asked Kuhn to compromise, holding his right to protest that bill but letting the Senate deal with other legislation.

Kuhn refused.

"I see when I'm being ambushed," Kuhn said. "I'm not really in the mood for it."

Ultimately, Kuhn agreed to let some legislation through but will have the floor today.

Senators milled around throughout the day, trying to get bills up for discussion. At one point, Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, asked everyone to settle down. "Let's have some order!" Peeler said. "It's nuts in here."

The General Assembly is likely to come back for a wrap-up session on June 17. But Democrats balked at that, and they voted it down.

Democratic leader John Land of Clarendon said the objection was a matter of principle.

It takes a two-thirds vote of the Senate to adopt the resolution, meaning the 25 Republicans in the majority need at least six Democrats to vote with them. The Democrats withheld that support to prove their importance.

But Land said Democrats most likely will allow the resolution to pass today.