Gov. McMaster announces 14 vetoes to SC budget

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Gov. Henry McMaster announced his vetoes to parts of South Carolina’s newly passed state budget at a State House press conference on Monday.

McMaster vetoed 14 portions of the budget in total. Eight vetoes were directed towards the state’s education department, as several programs and acts are now obsolete or have already been established through permanent legislation. The governor said the cuts to individual income tax were substantial.

Significant vetoes to the state budget

McMaster vetoed a paragraph exempting the Office of Resilience’s Flood Planning and Warning Solution from standard AI review requirements.

“All state agencies procuring and implementing artificial intelligence (AI) solutions must be reviewed and coordinated through the AI Center of Excellence,” McMaster wrote in his veto letter. “I am vetoing this paragraph that creates an exemption for a significant AI-enabled project.”

The governor also vetoed a fund restriction involving Scout Motors. This restriction would have delayed $150 million for mitigation and roadwork with Scout Motors until a legislative audit and authorizing legislation are completed. He argued the state must pay completed contractor bill immediately.

State lawmakers wanted to use part of the budget to forgive a $350,000 loan to the Town of Pacolet for an incomplete renovation project in 2013. McMaster vetoed this effort, as he did not want to set a precedent of waiving state grant compliance terms.

McMaster’s biggest priorities

The governor listed multiple priorities for the budget including:

• income tax cuts
• additional homestead exemptions
• raising teacher pay
• adding school resource officers
• funding a four-year-old kindergarten program
• promoting school choice through an education scholarship trust fund
• freezing in-state college tuition
• providing $95 million for SC WINS scholarships
• conservation towards historical or significant properties
• adding money towards infrastructure projects
• increasing pay towards law enforcement

“This is the tenth budget that the General Assembly has passed while I have served as Governor, and it will be the last,” McMaster said in his veto letter.

South Carolina has been without a state budget since the beginning of July. Lawmakers passed a budget last week following weeks of negotiations.

State leaders say much of the delay centered on earmarks — funding lawmakers direct to projects in their districts. Under the new agreement, all earmarks have been removed from the state budget.

To read the governor’s veto letter, click or tap here.

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