South Carolina Representatives Vote to Override Governor’s Veto and Use Excess Lottery Money For School Buses
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)- The legislative session officially kicked off Tuesday. Governor McMaster and lawmakers both said they want to make school buses safer around our state but they have two different ideas as to how the state should get this done.
State representatives voted overwhelmingly to override the governor’s bus vetoes. The vetoes come after Governor McMaster issued 41 vetoes to the state budget at the end of the first half of the session.
He maintains lottery funds should be used solely for scholarships, adding a separate funding plan for the buses in his budget proposal released Monday.
“What I am calling for is five million dollars of recurring money, permanent money to be put in to go into a lease program. It’s too complicated to buy them and maintain them. We need to lease them and prioritize the whole system,” said McMaster.
Bus safety became a focal point in our state after multiple bus fires, an occurrence state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman hopes will decrease if the Senate overrides the vetoes as well.
“This is a huge step forward for us to buy new buses. We’ll be able to buy about 250 buses with the money they just gave us. It’s not over in the Senate but we feel very hopeful there as well,” said Spearman. She said the Department of Education also plans to lease buses using the funds.
