Columbia, SC – The invitation of the governor of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, said he brought together journalists on Wednesday to talk about their vetoes in the state budget.
But instead, it was a return of the victory for both the Republican governor and for the General Assembly dominated by the Republicans when McMaster spent his time talking about all his priorities that the Legislature maintained in the expenses Plan, not the 11 things worth $ 10,000 that obtained from the Fiscal Year 2025-26.
It was a marked reminder after nine years in the position of the different amount of McMaster than their previous Republican predecessors, governors who enjoyed the fight against the General Assembly, then often dragged or ignored their ideas on how to spend the billions of dollars of the state.
“In the old days, nobody was talking to anyone,” McMaster said, repeating his favorite motto of “Communication, Collaboration and Cooperation.”
McMaster issued 11 vetoes of the expenditure plan of $ 14.5 billion of the state that begins on July 1. Only one hit money from the budget: $ 10,000 so McMaster said was a duplicative effort to review a state agency.
Ten years ago, Governor Nikki Haley He hit 87 articles of the $ 7 billion budget for a total of more than $ 18 million. And in 2005, Governor Mark Sanford vetoed 163 articles worth $ 96 million of the $ 5.8 billion spending plan. A year later, an exasperated Sanford vetoed the entire budget and the legislators quickly canceled it by broad margins.
Instead of spending, McMaster’s handful of vetoes was in rules such as getting rid of a requirement that visitors to the new Pine Island state park make reservations or leave the budget a provision that allows some school districts to use private security companies.
There are so few vetoes that legislators do not expect to return to the state house to try to cancel them.
McMaster maintained what a Increase of $ 18,000 per year For the General Assembly in the Budget.
Legislators will see their “compensation in the district”, money reserved for legislative tariffs that have few limits on how it can be spent, increases from $ 1,000 per month to $ 2,500 per month for the 46 senators and 124 members of the Chamber.
The monthly stipend for legislators has not increased by approximately 30 years. Its compensation in the district would increase from $ 12,000 a year to $ 30,000.
Legislators also obtain an annual salary of $ 10,400 that has not changed since 1990. In addition, they get money for meals, mileage to drive Columbia and hotel rooms while they are in session.
The rest of the Expenditure plan It was much less controversial. There are salary increases for teachers, and the highest income tax tax rate will be reduced from 6.2% to 6%.
There are $ 200 million to fix bridges, $ 35 million to pay the cleaning of Hurricane Helene last year and $ 50 million for a program to allow parents to use tax money to pay the registration of the private school that will undergo judicial scrutiny.
About 80% of the more than $ 14 billion that the State will spend next year is what the governor requested in January when he suggested an expenses plan for legislators, a relationship that has grown carefully since 2017.
“Many of us are like a family. We return a long way,” McMaster said. “You try to understand the point of view of the other partner. Sometimes he is right and I am wrong. Sometimes it is the other side. Sometimes we are talking about the same things but using different words.”
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This story has been corrected to show that McMaster issued 11 vetoes instead of 10.
