SC House, Senate to convene this week to approve $45M for coronavirus response
State lawmakers are making plans to approve $45 million for the state’s coronavirus response and to fund the government beyond July 1 if they fail to adopt a new budget by the end of the session.
The South Carolina House will cut its furlough week short to speed up adoption of legislation that will trigger surplus dollars for the state’s response to the coronavirus.
House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, has called all 124 House members back to Columbia at 1 p.m. Thursday rather than have members return when they were scheduled to come back to the State House next Tuesday, the Speaker’s Office told The State.
The Senate also is expected to return to the State House on Tuesday to take up that same piece of legislation. After it passes, senators are expected to go home for at least the remainder of the week.
In a memo to senators last week, Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said his committee will meet Tuesday to strike-and-insert the $45 million spending plan on a House bill that currently addresses a totally unrelated issue. The bill would immediately offer the state’s health agency $45 million, the amount Gov. Henry McMaster requested last week be drawn from the state’s rainy day fund to use for the state’s coronavirus response.
If adopted by the House on Thursday, the legislation would give the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control access to the money even earlier than the previously mentioned date of March 24. Of the $45 million, health officials said they would spend:
▪ $14.8 million, on personal protective equipment for health care workers;
▪ $14.5 million, to cover additional staffing to help with disease surveillance and investigation, lab testing and information phone lines;
▪ $5.2 million, to cover technology, lab supplies, travel and cleaning costs;
▪ $5 million, on unanticipated costs based on the spread of COVID-19;
▪ $2.5 million, on an education campaign through television and radio ads and printed materials;
▪ $1.7 million, to cover the costs to quarantine and support indigent patients; and
▪ $1.3 million, to cover costs for lab samples and distribution of items from the Strategic National Stockpile.
That money would add to more than $8.9 million awarded to the state for COVID-19 response by the Centers and Disease Control and Prevention, part of a $8.3 billion dollar emergency spending package approved by Congress.
The Senate also plans Tuesday to adopt a continuing resolution, meaning state government would continue operating at the same spending levels as the 2019 budget if the Legislature is unable to get a new spending plan adopted and sent to the governor’s desk for his signature by July 1. Similar to the funding legislation, the Senate budget writers will do a strike-and-insert on another unrelated House bill to move quickly, avoiding the committee process.
In an email sent to senators Sunday night obtained by The State, clerk Jeffrey Gossett wrote that after conversations with Senate leadership, the chamber’s goal for the week is to consider the House proposal, then essentially adjourn for the rest of the week. The plan would require unanimous consent by the chamber to agree to those schedule changes and to take up the bill first thing.
Senators would not need to be present Wednesday or Thursday for the bill’s final reading sending it to the House.
The House, having just passed its version of the state budget, had already scheduled the week off with plans to return next Tuesday. Now, the long-term plans of each legislative chamber are up in the air.
The Senate Finance Committee will meet at 11 a.m. Tuesday to take up the DHEC funding proposal. At 2 p.m., the Senate will gavel in for session to consider the bill. A live video broadcast can be found for both on the State House’s website.
In his email, Gossett writes that only members and essential staff will be allowed inside the chamber during session and the room outside. No lobbyists, visitors and guests “should be invited into these areas Tuesday,” Gossett wrote.
The decision comes the day after McMaster ordered all 1,250 public schools — including state colleges and technical colleges — to remain closed through the end of March to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
On Monday, South Carolina reported its first coronavirus-related death. The state health agency said that a Lexington man recently diagnosed has died after testing positive for COVID-19.
“We regret to report that South Carolina has suffered its first death in an elderly person recently reported to have been diagnosed with COVID-19 who was a resident of Lexington Medical Center Extended Care Skilled Nursing Facility,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, in a statement. “Our state health officials continue to work with national and local partners to respond to this ongoing public health matter.”
And as of Monday afternoon, health officials said South Carolina now has 33 cases of coronavirus after five new cases of COVID-19 were identified in the state. Officials said one new case was located in Lexington County. The other four were located in Kershaw.
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 7:33 AM with the headline "SC House, Senate to convene this week to approve $45M for coronavirus response."
