SC lawmakers plan return to address Gov. McMaster’s budget vetoes, tax conformity

S.C. lawmakers will return to Columbia early next month to decide whether to sustain or override $35.8 million in budget vetoes by Gov. Henry McMaster, including almost $16 million for health care services.

The overwhelmingly Republican S.C. House is likely to sustain McMaster’s veto of the health care money — part of the Columbia Republican’s effort to defund Planned Parenthood, said House Majority Leader Gary Simrill, R-York.

That Medicaid money — only $2.2 million of which is state dollars, the rest federal money — included about $82,000 last year for Planned Parenthood, a health care provider that also performs abortions. The money does not go to pay for abortions. But some Republicans object to it, saying it helps support the provider.

Efforts to sustain the governor’s veto by GOP lawmakers could be challenged by House Democrats, who took the floor in May and blasted the GOP majority for paying more attention to defunding abortion than to underfunded state agencies.

Still, Simrill said Tuesday, “I don’t think the House is inclined to override. My prediction is the House will sustain it.”

On Tuesday, Republican leaders declined to say which budget vetoes they hoped to override.

However, they could restore $7.1 million in state money for Francis Marion University in Florence, home to arguably the state’s most powerful lawmaker, Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence.

Lawmakers need to take action because at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 12 — after the Nov. 6 general election — the state Constitution says the vetoes automatically are sustained with the seating of newly elected S.C. House members.

Vetoes are not the only reason that lawmakers will return to Columbia next month.

They also plan to pick a new member of the state agency that regulates utilities, the Public Service Commission, and address making the state’s tax code conform with recently changed federal tax law.

A state Senate subcommittee Tuesday adopted a tax conformity proposal, moving it to the full Senate Finance Committee, scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday. If adopted there, the bill will go to the Senate floor at 2 p.m. Oct. 2, with a special session called for Oct. 3-4.

S.C. House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, said Tuesday he was “very pleased” a tax-conformity bill appeared to be moving forward.

“I am willing to call our chamber into session to address tax conformity, vetoes and other pending items but only after the Senate takes meaningful floor action on an issue that affects every single South Carolina taxpayer.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2018 at 4:31 PM.