'Manna' saves S.C.

President Bush's $350 billion tax cut and spending package, which included $20 billion to help bail states out of their fiscal crises, came just in time to save South Carolina from having to make some extremely painful education and Medicaid cuts - or to raise taxes, which many in the GOP-controlled legislature considered even worse.

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The $250 million "manna from Washington," as state Rep. Roland Smith, R-Warrenville, calls it, was key in ensuring that public schools and health-care spending for the needy will continue to be funded in the fiscal year starting July 1 at about the same levels as this year.

There were concerns that the state's per-pupil spending would be less than this year's $1,770, which was near the lowest rate in a decade. But when all was said and done, the figure came out a little higher, at $1,777.

But if that's the good news, the bad news is that by spending Washington's "manna" - a one-time shot in the arm that's not likely to be repeated - on recurring programs, lawmakers will start out $200 million in the hole for both Medicaid and education when they begin writing the budget for fiscal 2004-05.

Smith, a House budget-writer and chairman of Aiken County's legislative delegation, doesn't deny that next year's budget woes could be even worse than this year's - which he called the worst in his 15 years in the legislature - but he's hoping a pickup in the economy will ease the crisis. Democrats call this thinking "Russian roulette."

The budget crisis, plus adjusting to a new gubernatorial administration, overwhelmed other issues, including reforming the Public Service Commission. That bill is still stuck in conference.

It's dismaying to realize the same PSC which has rightly drawn such harsh criticism from the Legislative Audit Council and other study groups will continue to make crucial utility rate decisions until next year. If the legislature is called back into special session by Gov. Mark Sanford, which seems highly unlikely (and uncalled for after five months in session), then passing the Senate's version of PSC reform should be a top priority.

Yet there was some important legislation passed despite the budget woes. The revamp of the Department of Motor Vehicles is one. The public should find the agency a lot more user-friendly.

Improvements in the campaign-finance law will require more disclosure by political parties and their donors. The driving-under-the-influence law was toughened by lowering the blood alcohol level necessary for a DUI conviction from .10 to .08. The lower rate also means the state won't lose its federal highway funds.

Basically, the success or failure of this legislative session will be determined by the economy. A stronger economy will ease the state's revenue crisis while a continued weak economy will keep it in crisis. That may not be Russian roulette, but it's a gamble - a gamble majority lawmakers felt they had to take.

--From the Monday, June 9, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle