SC Legislature sends Gov. Sanford $488M in cuts
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.
Sanford’s biggest worries so far involve the state Department of Health and Human Services, Commerce Department and Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department.
At the human services agency, legislators mostly spared the state’s poorest children from losing coverage in an expanding Medicaid program. Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said lawmakers left the agency with too little freedom to decide where it should cut spending by not allowing it to reduce rates paid to health care providers.
“That limits Medicaid’s options to two: cutting people or cutting services,” Sawyer said.
When legislators wrote the budget this spring, they raided more than $100 million from the agency’s reserves, spreading that cash to other health agencies to shield them from budget cuts. That’s left the department little room to deal with expense of converting to a Medicaid system run more like a private health insurance plan, Sawyer said.
At the other two agencies, Sawyer said legislators should have cut marketing spending for regional economic development and tourism projects.
It’s more important to focus money on statewide efforts run by both agencies, Sawyer said.
Sanford’s vetoes would return cash to agencies. That could bring pressure for him to veto items like the $21.5 million cut from the state’s Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, including $3.3 million for care of children with autism and $2.3 million to help families cope with spinal cord injuries.
Sawyer said it’s too early to tell if Sanford will consider singling out programs like those.
A veto of cuts to lower-profile, but eyebrow raising programs like autism therapy assistance that seldom see funds slashed could be difficult for legislators to override. Democrats, a 51-73 minority in the House, could play a pivotal role because their votes are needed to override a veto.
“If he picks and choses some of these particular issues for vetoes, it’s definitely going to be very difficult to override some of these,” said House Democrat Leader Harry Ott. “If he vetoes autism, that would be a very difficult veto for me to vote to override.”
By JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press Writer
Charlotte Observer
Oct. 24, 2008
