News, Palmetto Politics, Politics

BRIEF: Roads bill not finished in Senate … still

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Staff reports | You know the old political cliche, “kicking the can down the road?”

Well, that is what the state legislature has been doing for years with South Carolina’s poor roads system. And if this week’s debate on a House infrastructure  bill in the Senate was any indication, then the road that can is headed down will have a lot of potholes and needed repairs.

On Wednesday, the second of the three days of debate, Sen. Sean Bennett, R-Summerville, took to the floor to defend his amendment to the roads bill that would make whatever extra money the state spent on infrastructure would be offset by an equal state income tax reduction.

That would make the roads bill “revenue neutral,” and it if the amendment is accepted, passed and implemented, the money for roads would take money from other potentially needed sources, such as schools or health care.

But there are rules in the Senate that block amendments that don’t directly relate to the bill being debated. State Sen Vincent Sheheen, D-Camden, tried to shut down Bennett’s amendment, saying it wasn’t germane to the bill, and locked up the Senate for the better part of an hour.

All the while, the final days if this year’s shortened legislative session are ticking.

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2 Comments

  1. This is unexceptable. People do your jobs. Fix our roads. Quit wasting our money and adding unnecessary things to the bills. Our auto insurance is to high because of bad roads. Any other job and you would be fired! Don’t take away from our schools . We already are at the bottom for education! DO YOUR JOBS !!! Sick of you people.

  2. FIX OUR ROADS! South Carolina roads are dangerous! What is the new Governor thinking? What are out elected representatives in the statehouse state thinking? Do your job or be voted out!

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