LAWMAKERS REDUCED THE STATE BUDGET BY A TINY FRACTION OF A TINY FRACTION

Lawmakers began public meetings on the state’s 2012-13 budget January 10 of this year – the first day of the legislative session. Yet the state didn’t have an operational budget until yesterday, July 18th. Indeed, they took so long to pass the budget – the fiscal year ended on June 30th – that the state has been operating off the previous year’s budget for more than two weeks.

Perhaps as a result of all the time they spent on the budget, lawmakers seemed on the whole reluctant to give the vetoes serious consideration – this despite the fact that Gov. Haley only vetoed a tiny fraction of the budget: $57.1 million, or about a quarter of one percent of the $23.6 billion budget.

While 33 of the governor’s 81 budget vetoes were sustained, lawmakers sustained only small-dollar items, and got through the entire process in a mere two days. Altogether, the General Assembly sustained only about $4 million of the governor’s $57.1 million in vetoes. That’s 7 percent of all vetoed funds.

In the end, then, lawmakers saw fit to reduce their budget – by far the largest budget in state history and a full $1 billion larger than last year’s – by a miniscule .019 percent.

So that’s what this was about? A headline-making brawl over a tiny fraction of the state budget, and the result is a tiny fraction of that tiny fraction? Unfortunately, the answer is yes: that’s what this was about.

 

By South Carolina Policy Council

Since 1986 the South Carolina Policy Council Education Foundation has advocated innovative policy ideas that advance the principles of limited government and free enterprise. The Policy Council is the state’s meeting place for business leaders, policymakers, and academics – as well as engaged citizens – who want to see South Carolina become the most free state in the nation. For questions or comments on the articles on this website, please email Research Director Jamie Murguia.

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