SC lawmakers take up COVID-19 work again, after Santee Cooper stymied earlier deal
An impasse over the fate of the state’s debt-saddled power utility derailed lawmakers’ efforts last month to adopt emergency measures aimed at funding the state’s fight against the coronavirus and keep government operating.
Facing the threat of a repeat, South Carolina lawmakers return to Columbia on Tuesday, picking up where they left off and pledging, this time, to get their work done.
Planning to be in session at the state Capitol for at least two days this week, State House leaders appear more confident that, despite differences of opinion on whether to sell or reform state-owned Santee Cooper, they have reached an agreement that will keep state services funded past June 30 with plans to return in September to adopt the 2021 budget and possibly take up other proposals.
“We hope that (Santee Cooper) does not become an issue now, but only time will tell,” House budget chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, told The State on Monday. “Obviously, we didn’t anticipate last time it becoming an issue.”
The state-owned utility has inspired passionate critics and advocates in the debate over whether to sell it after it wracked up billions of dollars in debt before halting construction on two nuclear reactors in Fairfield County.
An opponent of selling Santee Cooper Republican state Sen. Larry Grooms led a mini-filibuster on the Senate floor last month in an effort to protect the utility in his district. The effort enraged House and Senate leaders who had hoped to spend one day only in the State House as the health officials reported an uptick in positive COVID-19 cases. On Monday, Grooms, R-Berkeley, told The State Santee Cooper still should have no part in discussions when lawmakers’ return to the state Capitol this week.
Some Democratic lawmakers also agree.
On a Zoom call Monday, a handful of black Democratic House representatives said that lawmakers’ return to the State House should focus on the state’s response to coronavirus rather than what to do with the state’s utility.
One contributing factor in lawmakers’ impasse last month was a disagreement over the level of restrictions that should be placed on Santee Cooper’s activity while lawmakers wait out the pandemic for a chance to return to Columbia and revisit their debate over whether to sell the utility.
On their desks Tuesday, lawmakers will adopt what is called a continuing resolution — passed every year in case budget negotiations hit a roadblock — that will keep the utility, in part, from entering into any long-term contracts, except in cases necessary to the utility’s regular course of business, and it creates a joint legislative oversight committee that’ll include the governor and House and Senate leaders.
Emails previously obtained by The State showed Santee Cooper wanted to negotiate coal and rail contracts, refinance existing debt and conduct a request for a proposal process for including solar projects.
Grooms said the previous legislation would have “crippled Santee Cooper and actually forced them to fail.”
Santee Cooper spokeswoman Mollie Gore declined to comment for this article.
Millions for COVID-19 response
On Tuesday, state lawmakers will vote on spending millions to respond to the state’s COVID-19 outbreak.
As part of the proposal, lawmakers will send $155 million of surplus dollars to a COVID-19 reserve account and $1.5 million to the Department of Administration to oversee state and federal spending for coronavirus.
The continuing resolution also includes up to $15 million to ensure poll workers and voters are safe in the upcoming elections.
And it sends another $25 million to the Medical University of South Carolina to assist with statewide testing.
Last week, the Department of Health and Environmental Control rolled out a plan to increase testing in the state by testing the equivalent of 2% of the population in both May and June.
Through early May, roughly 1.25% of the population had been tested, officials said.
Part of that effort includes testing every nursing home resident and staff member in the state. There also will be targeted testing in high-risk urban areas — Columbia, Charleston, Greenville and Myrtle Beach — and rural areas, including Barnwell and Clarendon counties, where the infection rates are high.
State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, said Monday while DHEC’s testing plan is commendable, it isn’t adequate.
“A goal of 2% is better than a goal of zero,” Cobb-Hunter said. “But 2%, while admirable, is not the kind of standard we need to be trying to achieve.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "SC lawmakers take up COVID-19 work again, after Santee Cooper stymied earlier deal."
