AHEAD: Gubernatorial vetoes target 42 lines of state budget

 By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent |  State lawmakers will return to Columbia in September to consider 42 line-item budget vetoes issued last week by Gov. Henry McMaster.

While a veto of state funds for reimbursing Planned Parenthood for non-abortion health services for Medicaid beneficiaries made most of the headlines, the governor’s vetoes as a whole targeted $35.8 million in state spending and several provisos. (Full list and explanation here.)

McMaster vetoed the following provisions because they have already been “codified or otherwise addressed by the legislature”:

• Proviso 32.7: Licensing requirements for disability examiners at Department of Vocational Rehabilitation;
• Proviso 53.1: Conservation Bank trust fund suspension;
• Proviso 81.13: Revocation of enforcing regulations on go-karts at amusement parks at Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation;
• Proviso 102.6: 911 Advisory Committee at Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office;
• Proviso 108.13: Non-revocation of beneficiary designations at Public Employee Benefit Authority;
• Proviso 108.14: Removal of notarization requirement for retirement systems at Public Employee Benefit Authority;
• Proviso 108.15: Suspension of fiduciary audit at Public Employee Benefit Authority;
• Proviso 109.10: Tax credit for exceptional needs children at Department of Revenue (More information on the codification of this tax credit here.);
• Proviso 117.117: First Steps reauthorization (It was ratified in April.);
• Proviso 117.125: Pittman-Robertson funds state match of $2 million; and
• Proviso 117.126: North American Wetlands Conservation Act state match of $1 million.

McMaster vetoed the following provisions and labeled them as earmarks and pork:

• $100,000 in part of the Education Improvement Act to Quaver Music, a music contract for K-8;
• $250,000 in nonrecurring revenue to the Charleston Library Society’s Beaux Arts building;
• $500,000 in nonrecurring revenue to the S.C. Children’s Theatre;
• $700,000 for Strengthening Families Program as part of Department of Social Services;
• $500,000 for matching FEMA funds for Hurricane Irma and 2014 ice storm; and
• $30,000 for Department of Administration Head Start Program to match a grant to purchase a 36-passenger bus.

He called the following earmarks “zombie earmarks that simply will not die:”

• Department of Health and Environmental Control projects: Greenwood sewer extension ($990,000) line and Alida Street project ($100,000); and
• Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism’s Horry County Museum ($250,000).

McMaster cited “transparency in budgeting” for these items:

• $170,000 for Child Advocacy Centers with the Department of Juvenile Justice;
• $200,000 and $500,000 for historic buildings preservation with the Department of Archives & History;
• $210,000 for statewide agribusiness infrastructure with the Department of Agriculture;
• $1,300,000 for economic development hubs and community development infrastructure with the Department of Commerce; and
• $4,500,000 for sports marketing grant program through the Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism.

He labeled “responsible use of taxpayer dollars” for these vetoes:

• $4 million for Locate SC with Department of Commerce;
• Lee County bus shop;
• $70,000 for a new full-time attorney at the Conservation Bank;
• $65,000 for a new program manager at the Conservation Bank;
• $85,335 for administrative costs at the Conservation Bank; and
• $300,000 for clearing Murrells Inlet Channel through Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

Here are the vetoes under higher education:

• $5 million for Francis Marion University’s medical and health education classroom complex, and $2.1 million  for its honors college; and
• Proviso 117.8(n): state public institutions must give  revenues and income to State Treasurer.

McMaster put the following vetoes under the heading “good government:”

• Proviso 38.30: Foster care child placements with Department of Social Services;
• Proviso 65.29: a Cannabinoids pilot program within the Department of Corrections;
• Proviso 117.156: Statewide data warehouse for workforce development;
• Proviso 1A.87: Putting $418,000 originally slated for John de la Howe School to McCormick schools;
• Proviso 93.24: Emerging Leaders Program; and
• Proviso 34.56: Hazardous Waste Fund County Account through Department of Health and Environmental Control

And finally:

• $15,779,259 set aside for medical assistance payments for Medicaid family planning that goes to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood