South Carolina update – Progress on the state budget

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The legislative session ended May 9 without the General Assembly having passed a state budget, but they’ve made progress.

The Senate and House have approved their own versions of the budget. Now a conference committee will be formed with three senators and three representatives. The very good news is that SCICU’s budget priorities are included in both versions – it’s highly unlikely they’ll be subject to negotiation.

Both houses allocated $20 million of lottery funding for the Tuition Grants Program, and $285.7 million for state Merit Scholarships (Hope, Life, and Palmetto Fellows). The interlibrary resource sharing system, PASCAL, was allocated the $1.5 million in lottery funding it requested.

The General Assembly will likely return after the primaries on June 11 to address the budget and other matters.