SC lawmakers’ plan to borrow money for colleges, state buildings could already be dead
A plan to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to repair crumbling state-owned buildings and colleges could be on life support less than a week before the General Assembly returns to Columbia for a new two-year session.
But some leaders in the Republican-controlled Legislature say it is premature to say a potential borrowing proposal is dead.
New S.C. House budget committee chairman Murrell Smith told reporters Thursday he predicts a bond bill will not pass the Legislature in 2019. Such a proposal would come through Smith’s powerful Ways and Means Committee.
“If I had to predict, I would say no,” the Sumter Republican said. “When the governor ( Republican Henry McMaster) is opposed to a bond bill, ... I don’t know if there’s an opportunity to pass a bond bill and get a veto-proof majority to agree on that.”
Separately, a Republican senator said lawmakers shouldn’t borrow the money in a year when it has $1 billion in new money to spend. Half of that — nearly $549 million — is reserved in the state’s budget for one-time costs, such as building maintenance projects.
“Why not use one-time money now” on fixing crumbling buildings and colleges, state Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, asked Thursday.
The General Assembly has not passed a bond bill in nearly two decades. Lawmakers used to pass a bond bill every few years before the election of a series of anti-borrowing governors, starting with fiscal hawk Mark Sanford in 2002.
In the meantime, without bonding, the state’s buildings have “suffered,” said S.C. House Majority Leader Gary Simrill, R-York.
Simrill said Thursday it’s too early to dismiss the idea of passing a borrowing plan. This session, he will chair the House budget committee that decides higher education spending and hears colleges’ repeated requests for more money.
“We have not used a business model since 2002 to move South Carolina forward, and we’re paying for it,” Simrill said. “We handicap ourselves if we always say, ‘No.’ ”
South Carolinians are split on whether to support a bond bill.
A 2017 Winthrop poll said 47 percent of S.C. residents would oppose a bond bill to pay for maintenance. Another 46 percent said they would favor it. Six percent were unsure, and 2 percent refused to answer the poll question.
“There is no question we need a bond bill in this state to address the educational needs in this state,” said Senate Minority Leader Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington.
This story was originally published January 3, 2019 at 12:38 PM.
