South Carolina lawmakers meet Tuesday, but for how long?
Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 8 months AGO
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina General Assembly is returning Tuesday — for a day or as many as three weeks, depending on who you ask.
Lawmakers have two priorities. They need to pass a resolution allowing the state to continue to spend money at current levels when this budget year ends June 30 so they can have more time to pass a spending plan for fiscal year 2020-21.
And they need to finalize the proposal allowing them to meet in special session later this year to take up coronavirus spending, the fate of state-owned utility Santee Cooper and whatever else they think needs to be discussed.
All of this was supposed to be finalized the last time lawmakers met at the Statehouse on April 8. But after the House adjourned, senators changed their Santee Cooper proposal.
Democratic Sen. Gerald Malloy of Hartsville said the issues should only take a day or two at the most. But Republican House Speaker Pro Tem Tommy Pope of York said House members are being told to set aside three weeks.
If Malloy is correct, Tuesday would be essentially the last day of a two-year session that ended abruptly because of the coronavirus pandemic. Any bills not passed or roped into the special session die.
So there may be a rush of proposals made, from dealing with hate crime and citizen arrest laws based on the shooting of a black man by two armed white men who chased him in a Georgia subdivision, to conservative Republicans who want checks on the governor's emergency powers and were unhappy with how long it took Gov. Henry McMaster to reopen the state. They have almost no chance of passing.
There will be some COVID-19 talk, including likely discussion on whether employees in low paying jobs that kept working in the public during the pandemic deserve more money.
The key to Tuesday will be Santee Cooper. It gummed up April 8, leaving leaders in the House fuming, If a compromise has been reached on dealing with the utility until lawmakers can decide if it should be sold or reformed, it could be a quick Tuesday in Columbia.
House Democrats hope Santee Cooper doesn't grind things to a halt again.
“I would be less concerned about Santee Cooper entering a contract for a year than front line workers,” said Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter from Orangeburg.
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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at http//twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.
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