By a vote of 23-21 Wednesday, the S.C. Senate blocked this year's most contentious piece of legislation. After a morning meeting in which the final votes were obtained, senators carried over the proposed primary seat belt bill, effectively killing the measure that would have given police the power to stop motorists solely on the suspicion that they were not wearing seat belts.

The move ended a six-week loggerhead that had legislation backing up in the Senate.

"We became really aware that we were in danger of not passing any legislation since February," said Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, a seat belt bill supporter. "Finally we had enough people decide that it was time to move on."

The Senate is scheduled to take up the state's $5.3 billion budget Monday, a deadline that loomed large in Wednesday's decision. The budget typically consumes at least two weeks of the session, leaving little time afterward to deal with new bills.

This means several pieces of legislation, including tort reform, property taxes and the governor's income-tax reduction proposal, are in danger of not being addressed this session.

Martin was one of about 30 senators who six weeks ago was in favor of a stronger seat belt law.

South Carolina now has a secondary seat belt law, which allows police to ticket motorists for seat belt violations when they are pulled over for another offense.

Motorists cited for not wearing a seat belt under the primary seat belt law would have faced fines of $25 per violation. The fine would have gone up to $40 if a child under age 18 was unrestrained.

A group of senators led by Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, spent the better part of the past two months fighting off the measure with a series of filibusters.

It requires a two-thirds vote of the Senate, or 28 senators, to stop a filibuster. Many senators, however, are philosophically opposed to "sitting" someone during a filibuster. And almost no one would attempt to sit McConnell, the most powerful man in the Senate, for fear of reprisal.Several moves were made to end the deadlock Tuesday, but nothing worked.

The inability of either side to gain ground, combined with the knowledge that Gov. Mark Sanford might veto the legislation, ultimately forced a number of seat belt supporters to give in. In the end, the shift in votes killed the bill.

"Neither side could knock the other out," McConnell said. "But I think after the supporters realized they couldn't stop the filibuster, it was a dead issue."

Moments after the vote was taken, however, the bill's chief sponsor vowed to fight on.

"Those of us committed to the concept are still committed to it," said Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg. "I have plenty amendments with that language on it. There will be other traffic-related bills that we can tack it onto."

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