A look at action from the 20th week of the 115th session of the S.C. General Assembly, which ends June 3:

State budget

• The Legislature wrapped up work on the state’s $5.5 billion budget. Gov. Mark Sanford made a last minute appeal for changes, including the spending plans’ reliance on $90 million that would be raised through tougher tax collections. Sanford says they should expect, at best, $50 million.

• Legislators mostly ignored Sanford’s pitch as the House quickly passed the budget Tuesday. The Senate did the same after a procedural delay stalled it.

• Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, hailed it as a good budget that increases public school and Medicaid spending. House Ways and Means Committee chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, noted that the budget includes $39 million in tax cuts for married couples and $13 million in estate tax reductions.

• Sanford has until midnight Tuesday to decide what he will veto.

Attack ads

• The budget also contains $380,000 for the Palmetto Bowl, a football game pushed by Harrell that would be played at The Citadel. Americans for Tax Reform, known for its no-new-taxes pledge, launched television ads Wednesday that call it a $5 million boondoggle.

• Republicans and Democrats inside and outside the State House rallied to Harrell’s defense. Sanford said the ads “were in poor taste.” He questioned his political consultant, Red Sea’s Jon Lerner, about the company’s involvement with the ads.

Income taxes

• Sanford’s plans to reduce the state’s top income tax rate from 7 percent to 4.75 percent is getting a last-minute assist in the Legislature. The House tagged the plan onto a parking garage bond bill Wednesday.

• On Thursday, 24 of the Senate’s 27 Republicans said they would amend that bill to deal exclusively with the income tax break. Those moves put the income tax break ahead of all other issues on the Senate’s clogged calendar for Tuesday.

Telephone regulation

• A bill aimed at protecting consumers from unauthorized phone service switching now is at the heart of a fight about cutting price regulation for telephone companies. A filibuster over that measure could take up much of the last six meeting days of the Legislature.

Charter schools

• A bill making it easier to create charter schools was sent to the Senate floor Wednesday. It creates a statewide school district that would oversee the creation of the schools. The House previously approved a different version of the bill. Currently, only the local school district where a charter school wants to open can approve the special schools.

Environmental crimes

• Time is running out for a bill that would expand the State Grand Jury’s powers to include the investigation of environmental crimes. A Senate subcommittee did not vote Tuesday on the bill, and the Senate has just two weeks to approve the measure before the Legislature adjourns.

Thurmond statue

• The biracial daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond is close to being recognized in stone on a State House monument to the former governor. The House and Senate approved a bill that puts Essie Mae Washington Williams’ name on the Thurmond monument on the south side of the State House.

Tattoos

• People 21 and older will be able to legally get tattoos in South Carolina with a bill that is headed to Sanford’s desk. A conference committee agreed on a compromise bill Thursday lifting the state’s tattooing ban. It passed the House and Senate just hours later. Sanford has said he would sign the bill as long as it protects public safety.

Minibottles

• A Senate bill that would let voters decide if they want bars and restaurants to pour from minibottles or big bottles is headed to the House floor. The bill had been mired in the House Judiciary Committee. Now it needs a two-thirds vote in the House before voters can decide the fate of minibottles in a November referendum.

Wetlands

• The state Transportation Department would not have to comply with laws intended to protect bogs and other isolated wetlands under bills House and Senate committees approved. The Transportation Department would not need permits to fill isolated wetlands under such legislation that could speed road construction. Blan Holman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, says other states do not grant that type of blanket exemption.

The Associated Press