Senate Time Interview with Wesley Donehue

Posted on May 7, 2009 • 3 Comments

In case you missed it, I chatted with Wesley Donehue this morning on Senate Time. Some of the topics we discussed:

- My involvement with the executive branch and now as a state senator
- State budget, alternatives
- Stimulus
- Cigarette tax hike
- Education issues
- Conservation and natural resources
- School choice and tax credits
- Government transparency

Check out the interview below… (more…)

Surface Water Withdrawal Bill

Posted on April 20, 2009 • No Comments

Here is an interview I gave last week to the Coastal Conservation League on the surface water withdrawal bill pending in the legislature:

Budget Negotiations in Columbia

Posted on April 16, 2009 • 1 Comment

Here is a brief update on budget negotiations now ongoing in Columbia that could break the current impasse between senior legislative leaders and Gov. Sanford over $350 million of federal stimulus money.South Carolina Budget

To briefly recap, the total amount in dispute is $700 million, and half that amount is available for this fiscal year. The governor wants to use that half, or $350 million, to pay down debt; legislative leaders want to use this one-time federal money to pay for recurring state programs.

Yesterday, for over four hours, I presented an alternative budget to the Senate Finance Committee that funded core areas of government (education, public safety and healthcare/Medicaid), and also carved out $200 million dollars that could be used to either pay down debt or reduce tens of billions dollars worth of unfunded state liabilities.

A story in the Greenville News today (printed below) reported that I believe “using the $200 million that way would cause Sanford to consider a compromise and apply for the stimulus.”

I do believe that. If the legislature passes an honest budget that funds core services and cuts waste and makes an honest attempt to reduce our state’s massive debt and unfunded liabilites, then prospects of the governor applying for the remaining portion of the federal stimulus are improved. (more…)

A Responsible Budget

Posted on April 13, 2009 • 15 Comments

For weeks now, you’ve been barraged by news stories about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,

Tom at a press Conference re: South Carolina state budget, Feb. 2009 with Governor Mark Sanford and Ashley Landess, Executive Director, South Carolina Policy Council

Tom at a press Conference re: South Carolina state budget, Feb. 2009 with Gov. Mark Sanford and Ashley Landess, Executive Director, SC Policy Council

a/k/a the federal “stimulus.” And many of you have contacted me, angry and confused about the status of the stimulus money targeted for South Carolina.

The overwhelming majority of the $8 billion in federal stimulus allocated for our state is already on the way. Steps have been taken by Gov. Sanford to ensure that all but $700 million of the $8 billion will come to South Carolina. The debate is over that remaining $700 million.

The governor says he will apply for the $700 million only if the legislature passes a budget that pays down a corresponding amount of our state’s debt. Senior legislators want to use that one-time federal money to pay for recurring programs. (more…)

South Carolina’s Federal Stimulus Money

Posted on April 3, 2009 • No Comments

Last Wednesday, the Senate Finance Chairman and each of his finance committee chairmen told State Senators what the budget would look like if it didn’t include the $700 million dollars of stimulus money ($350 million for this fiscal year) that Gov. Mark Sanford has said he will not accept if he can’t use it to pay down state debt.

My position in regard to this $700 million – a portion of the $8 billion in overall federal stimulus money allocated to South Carolina – is different than Gov. Sanford’s. I want him to apply for this $700 million, even if he can’t use it all for debt reduction. If it can’t be use for debt reduction, then it should be used in other fiscally-conservative ways that are permitted by the federal stimulus act, such as for capital expenditures on education infrastructure.

The primary objective, I think, is to avoid using the federal stimulus money to pay for things that will need continued funding after the federal stimulus spigot is turned off in two years. And along with other conservative legislators, I will work in the weeks ahead to broker a compromise between the governor and the House and Senate budget writers on the use of this money.

But the specific point I want to make now is this: the Senate’s budget writers showed us a budget last Wednesday that had thousands of teachers being laid off, prisons being closed, poor people being kicked out of Medicaid, and so on. It was a scary budget that we were told was inevitable if it did not include the $350 million of stimulus money for this fiscal year that Gov. Sanford has control over.

I discovered later that evening, however, that budget presented to us did not include $578 million dollars in federal stimulus money that the governor had already said he would accept. The House, in passing its budget, properly proposed the appropriation of this $578 million. But the budget presented to State Senators by the Senate budget writers did not.

The obvious question is: why didn’t they? I think that that money was intentionally excluded in order to come up with an “End of Days” budget to be used for a blatant political purpose – that is, to ratchet up pressure on the governor to apply for the federal stimulus money that he has discretion over. Again, I think applying for that money is in our state’s best interests, if we use it to pay for non-recurring items, but that does not justify the presentation of a sham budget that ignores over half a billion dollars of available revenue.

And I said exactly that at a press conference yesterday with Gov. Sanford (see video clip below, starting at the five minute mark). Please take a look and let me know what you think about this.

My remarks start at the five minute mark.
The rest of this clip can be found here.