SC senator blocks effort to shed light on how tax dollars are spent
A South Carolina Senate proposal that would shed light on how South Carolinians’ tax dollars are spent faces a potentially fatal ending — for now — after a state senator objected to its passage on Wednesday.
State Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, put a formal objection on the resolution — S. 890 — proposing a Senate rules change. The resolution would require the state budget to disclose a description of each earmark for projects in legislators’ districts, including costs and which legislator requested the earmark.
Hutto’s objection effectively hits the pause button on any progress the resolution may have been making toward being adopted.
Hutto declined to comment for the story.
“I think an objection on the bill now — trying to kill that resolution now — is very shortsighted because now it requires a two-thirds vote,” said Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, who proposed the resolution. “Now it requires us to work with you.”
Massey, the bill’s author, fast-tracked the proposal through his Senate Rules Committee in January after The State exclusively reported in December that the Legislature had directed at least $20 million in spending in the 2019 budget to projects in legislators’ districts through vague budget earmarks. Lawmakers would tack the money on to state agency budgets and direct agency staff on how to cut the checks. The money was spent many times without the knowledge of most lawmakers and taxpayers, too.
State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, the freshman Richland Democrat who initially raised questions about the secret budget negotiations said he has had conversations with Democrats in the Senate.
“This is the way they get money back to their local communities and that’s important to them,” Harpootlian said, explaining the opposition to the resolution.
Across the Legislature, House budget chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter — whose Ways and Means Committee gets to write the first draft of the state budget every year — told reporters in January he didn’t think there would be “much opposition” to making the budget process more transparent. The House will debate its version next week.
Sen. Massey told The State on Thursday that there are still opportunities for the rule change to come back up for debate.
“We still have plenty of time left in the session,” which by law wraps up in early May, Massey said. “And, hopefully, we can work something out.”
Massey said, however, that may not be the case in January.
All 170 seats in the General Assembly are up for reelection this November, including the 46 seats in the state Senate.
“The Senate adopts new rules in January with a majority vote, because there are elections this year, so the 46 senators who come back in January are going to adopt a new set of rules,” Massey said.
If the debate holds over until next year, Massey said, “It could be a whole lot more aggressive.”
