SC Senate agrees to spend $45 million in response to coronavirus outbreak
South Carolina senators returned to Columbia on Tuesday to fast-track legislation that offers the state’s health agency $45 million to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The House will return from its furlough week early on Thursday to adopt the same proposal, sending the bill to the governor to sign into law. The bill will trigger surplus dollars for the state’s response to the coronavirus which has so far infected at least 47 people and has contributed to the death of one Lexington County man.
Whether either chamber will return to the State House beyond this week is uncertain.
But the concern of the virus’ spread was clearly on the mind of senators, including state Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, D-Colleton, who entered the chamber on Tuesday covering her hands with blue medical gloves.
Last week, Gov. Henry McMaster asked State House leaders to spend $45 million from the state’s rainy day fund for the state’s response to the coronavirus as the number of cases continued to climb.
After less than an hour of debate, the Senate adopted the funding bill in a 42-0 vote. Absent Tuesday were Sens. Richard Cash, R-Anderson; Mike Gambrell, R-Anderson; John Matthews, D-Orangeburg; and Mia McLeod, D-Richland.
The $45 million — out of the state’s $349 million contingency reserve fund — would be available to the Department of Health and Environmental Control, which in a letter to State House leaders broke down how the agency would spend the state dollars:
▪ $14.8 million, on personal protective equipment for health care workers;
▪ $14.5 million, to cover additional staffing to help with disease surveillance and investigation, lab testing and information phone lines;
▪ $5.2 million, to cover technology, lab supplies, travel and cleaning costs;
▪ $5 million, on unanticipated costs based on the spread of COVID-19;
▪ $2.5 million, on an education campaign through television and radio ads and printed materials;
▪ $1.7 million, to cover the costs to quarantine and support indigent patients; and
▪ $1.3 million, to cover costs for lab samples and distribution of items from the Strategic National Stockpile.
As part of the legislation, DHEC would have to provide monthly spending reports to the governor, the General Assembly and post the information on its website for the public’s view.
That funding would come on top of the more than $8.9 million awarded to the for COVID-19 response by the Centers and Disease Control and Prevention, part of a $8.3 billion dollar package approved by Congress this month.
Added to the funding bill by the Senate, senators included provisions loosening the state’s current restrictions on how much retired DHEC employees can earn should they return to the agency to work and allowing the health agency to move supplies and employees from one hospital or medical provider to another depending on the demand in areas where the virus is most concentrated.
The state’s DHEC director, Rick Toomey, told senators Tuesday that funding would stretch about six months.
But, Toomey added, “I cannot commit that’s going to solve the problem.”
Meanwhile, hoping to ensure state government continues to operate, the Senate debated and pushed down the road legislation that would continue funding services at the same spending levels as the 2019 budget should the Legislature fail to adopt a new budget by July 1.
Continuing resolutions are not rare in the Legislature, particularly during times when budget negotiations have come to a standstill.
But not every senator was on board with the idea, considering the three months left on the calendar until the new fiscal year starts.
“It sends to the state a message that we don’t think we’re going to be able to get our work done,” said state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, whose district has so far had the highest number of positive COVID-19 cases. “It doesn’t mean that’s not an option in the future. I do not want the state for a minute to believe that we are not going to be able to get back here, because we are.”
But without knowing the potential of the virus’ spread and the Senate’s schedule moving forward, Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said he would rather the state have a safety net.
“If there’s a possibility, this is happening in other countries, that (we) have a lock down in the country, we don’t know what’s coming,” Leatherman said. “What do we do if we can’t get back here? That’s my concern.”
Instead, senators compromised before leaving town for the rest of the week.
“We pass one (a continuing resolution) every year,” said Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield. “It’s typically later in the session. This one’s not going to be passed until later in the session either. We just got it in a position that we can pass it later.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 4:22 PM.
