South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus

Gov. Mark Sanford took his pitch for an immediate special legislative budget session on the road Thursday, and it drew a quick rebuff from legislative leaders.

Saying that 3 percent across-the-board budget cuts unfairly play havoc with core services and small agencies, Sanford used law enforcement offices in Greenville, Florence and Charleston as a backdrop for building public pressure for a session that would impose targeted cuts in the face of a projected $140 million downturn in revenue.

“Ask your legislators to come back in the fall and deal with the budget cuts,” Sanford said at County Square, outside the office of the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. “All the dollars spent within state government are not equal.” Read the rest of this entry »

Gov. Mark Sanford visited parts of the Palmetto State, including Florence, on Thursday to discuss the impact of across-the-board state agency budget cuts.

According to a release from the governor’s office, the state Budget and Control Board voted last week to cut every state government agency’s budget equally by 3 percent amid budget shortfalls.

Sanford disagreed with the vote, however, and said such budget cuts are bad policy because they do not distinguish between different programs. Read the rest of this entry »

S.C. legislative leaders said Thursday that Gov. Mark Sanford should be spending more time coming up with suggested budget cuts instead of flying around the state calling for them.

Sanford flew to stops at Highway Patrol offices in Florence and Greenville and a Probation and Parole Department office in Greenville to get the public involved in what promises to be a long battle over how to deal with a budget shortfall.

Last week, the state Budget and Control Board, which Sanford chairs, voted 3-2 for an across-the-board cut of 3 percent, or $188 million, to head off budget problems as state tax collections sag. Read the rest of this entry »

Columbia, SC- Senator Hugh Leatherman (R-Florence) delivered the following comments during a press conference today in Florence. The press conference was a response to Governor Mark Sanford¹s continued call for the legislature to return to Columbia in order to make what he calls tough choices about what programs to cut and which agencies not to cut, rather than taking the easy way out by cutting across the board.

Senator Leatherman said:

I find it very interesting that the Governor¹s budget, bottom line in state dollars, was $61 million more than the final budget passed by the General Assembly. Read the rest of this entry »