Today, the South Carolina General Assembly returned to Columbia pursuant to the provisions of The Sine Die Resolution (H.4285).
THE STATE BUDGET PROCESS
The budget conference report was adopted by the House and Senate today, June 21. Once ratified, the budget will be sent to the Governor who has 5 days, excluding Sunday, to issue vetoes. For appropriations bills, the Governor has line-item veto power.
The House and Senate are scheduled to return to Columbia to take up vetoes at noon on June 29.
Below is a summary of the items impacting Clemson University:
Clemson E&G
– $47.6 million in nonrecurring funding for maintenance, renovation, and replacement ($25M in the Capital Reserve Fund and $22.6M in nonrecurring funding)
– $6.5 million in recurring funding for in state tuition mitigation
– Up to $1million in nonrecurring funding for rural health programming through the Department of Health and Human Services (by proviso)
– An additional $2.8M in recurring funding for 20 additional slots through SREB for Vet School. Clemson University supported this request by the South Carolina Association of Veterinarians
Clemson PSA
– $990,000 in nonrecurring funding for Sandhill REC Research and Extension Building Repair
– $1.1 million in recurring funding for Statewide Comprehensive Extension Program Support
– $1.4 million in recurring funding for Critical Fruit and Vegetable Research
– $2 million in nonrecurring funding for Pee Dee Research and Extension Center greenhouse construction
The budget includes a proviso that provides colleges and universities with regulatory relief by increasing the state’s fixed permanent improvement project dollar threshold that currently triggers the state’s multi-phased, eight-step approval process for permanent improvement projects from $1 million to $5 million for research universities, allowing smaller, more routine capital projects to be undertaken in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
The budget includes an increase in the cost of health insurance and an increase in retirement contributions for state employees and employers. The employee portion of both will be paid by the state. The employer portion of both will have to be covered partially by the university.
The budget also includes a 2.5% across the board pay increase for state employees.
Finally, the budget includes several items from Governor McMaster’s Executive Budget of impact to the University:
– $60M in recurring lottery dollars for need based grants at the Commission on Higher Education
– $20M in recurring tuition grants at the Higher Education Tuition Grants Commission
– $750,000 in recurring lottery dollars for students with intellectual disabilities attending college transition programs (Such as ClemsonLIFE)
NEWS AND FYI
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