South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus

Gov. Mark Sanford has until Thursday to decide whether to veto any of the $488 million in budget cuts the Legislature sent him Friday.

The cuts in the state’s $7 billion budget carve deeply into health care and college spending, with health-related programs giving up $160 million and universities and technical colleges losing $123 million. State sales tax collections have fallen short of expectations and legislators returned to Columbia on Monday to put spending back in line.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell and Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell sent the bill Friday to the Republican governor, who already has misgivings about parts of the plans the Republican-dominated Legislature approved. Read the rest of this entry »

$2 million slashed from agency that monitors habitual criminals free on probation, parole

South Carolina is gambling with the public’s safety by cutting $2 million from the agency that monitors thousands of habitual criminals free on probation and parole, top law enforcement officials warned Thursday.

Just last month, legislative leaders talked of boosting money for the state Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, saying the agency is seriously understaffed and needs more resources to effectively perform its mission. But that was before the current economic crisis sent South Carolina’s budget into a tailspin.

Now the struggling agency is facing a deep cut that will leave less money to keep tabs on criminals in the community, monitor sex offenders and perform other duties. The agency has an annual budget of about $50 million and oversees some 48,000 criminals across the state. Read the rest of this entry »

Almost $500 million of spending cuts are on the desk of the South Carolina governor. Lawmakers say it’s a necessary evil but, it’s an evil parents with special needs kids do not want to see.

Margie Williamson waited three and a half years for her son Wesley, who has autism, to speak his first word. Now he’s in a normal first grade classroom.

“He still has a long way to go,” Margie said.

That progress could be stalled for her and other parents. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone seems to have an opinion on state’s money woes, and what can be done to resolve them

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell talks about approving the state budget bill to meet deadlines Thursday as the Senate worked to pass budget cuts of $488 million.

As lawmakers found themselves in the position of cutting services for autistic children, draining funds for land conservation and eliminating an advocacy program for disabled residents, they started asking the half-a-billion-dollar question:

What’s happening to the state’s money?

The latest revenue collections forced the Legislature this week to cut $488 million from the budget after a session in which they approved a sales tax holiday for guns and an income tax break worth about $66 a year for the average worker. Read the rest of this entry »