COLUMBIA, S.C. - A bill that would have let the state collect money for a Sons of Confederate Veterans license tag and give profits to that group was sent back to a Senate committee Thursday.

Lawmakers raised questions about the legislation after the Transportation Committee approved it with no discussion Wednesday and sent to the Senate floor, Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, said.

"After the meeting some people said 'You know, I didn't know this one said this and that one said that,' " Richardson said. On Thursday, he asked the Senate to send the bills back to the committee.

Don Gordon, chairman of the South Carolina Division of the Sons of Confederate Veteran's Heritage Defense Committee, doesn't see that as a setback.

"I still have full confidence that they are going to treat us equally with other similar groups," Gordon said.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, a Charleston Republican and SCV member, said all groups with specialty license tags should be treated the same. But he said he is unsure the state should play a fund-raising role for private groups.

Some specialty tags raise money for groups because people pay extra for them. The costs for a specialty tag ranges from as little as $2 for an amateur radio tag to $100 for the Morris Island Lighthouse tag.

During the fiscal year that ended in July, the state sold $38,078 worth of the SCV tags, Department of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Beth Parks said. She could not immediately say how many of the tags - which cost $30 more than the regular, $24 registration fee - were involved.

Far more money went the specialty tags for the state's public and private colleges with total sales of $819,800, including $207,000 for University of South Carolina plates and $189,000 for Clemson's, Parks said.

McConnell is chairman of the Hunley Commission, which looks after the Civil War submarine's restoration. That state commission also has a fund-raising license tag, which cost an extra $100.

"The state really shouldn't get into the business of sending it to private organizations," McConnell said. "I think it's a bad precedent for us to be collecting that money, frankly, and sending it to these organizations."

But Gordon says the money should not be cut off. All the colleges, groups and causes getting money from tag sales "have some redeeming social value," Gordon said.

That practice of mixing public and private funds could force the groups to comply with state disclosure laws. "I think when you mix public and private funds together, for accountability purposes, it becomes all public money," McConnell said.

They may be opening themselves up to "accountabilities that they may not be comfortable with." Donors may lose privacy that they expected, McConnell said.

Gordon said only members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans are allowed to buy the group's special tags. That means it's the group members' money, not public dollars going into the state's coffers, he said.

Those members already are aware of the SCV's finances. Apart from members, "I don't see that anybody has a need to know" financial information, Gordon said.

Gordon said the money likely will be used to maintain historical markers, monuments and graves.

Because the state is reimbursed for its expenses, groups getting money from specialty tags may not have to disclose financial details, said Jay Bender, a Columbia lawyer and expert on the state's Freedom of Information law.

"I think it might be a close question," Bender said.