CHARLESTON POST & COURIER 

COLUMBIA — A highly contentious borrowing plan that the governor has threatened to veto keeps coming back from the dead.

Starting as a $500 million bond bill in the House, that plan went nowhere, primarily because of Gov. Nikki Haley’s opposition to what she described as irresponsibly running up the state’s credit card. The Senate, though, resurrected it as a $236 million plan that would fund building projects at state campuses and renovating armories.

On Tuesday, that plan died on a technicality after several senators argued it had been improperly attached to the capital reserve fund, a rainy-day fund set aside for large construction projects.

Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, contended that if it passed, the borrowing plan would not survive a legal challenge.

“It’s important that we keep the Senate on track to passing something that can actually be implemented into law,” Martin said. “And if it’s got a bonds bill attached to it, it’s not going to get far across the street (in court).”

Senate President and Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster ruled in favor of those who opposed the borrowing plan’s attachment to the capital reserve bill, and a vote to overturn McMaster’s ruling failed.

But just when it seemed that Haley and other opponents had heard the last of the bonds bill, at least this legislative session, it was revived again.

The Senate Finance Committee amended a different bill and once again attached a $236.7 million borrowing plan to it. It then voted to send it to the floor, with an objection placed on it by Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson.

Sen. Joel Lourie, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the move was just another way to keep “all of our options open.” The Columbia Democrat acknowledged, however, that it would be “very difficult” to have it pass both the House and the Senate before session ends in three weeks.

“Right now, we’re facing steep odds,” Lourie said. “It wouldn’t be a miracle, but it would be close.”

Majority Leader Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, was baffled by the vote, and called it “strange even by Columbia standards.” A proposal by Peeler passed the Senate with the budget last week that calls for the creation of a committee to study the state’s capital needs.

“I still encourage us to slow down, address this in a reasonable way, and come back in January with a proposal,” said Peeler, after the committee adjourned.

The bonds bill has fractured the state’s Republicans this session, with Haley going after lawmakers in her own party who haven’t toed the line and defied her veto threat.

Haley slammed Republican lawmakers on social media and in her travels around the state addressing service organizations and local Republican clubs. At the state GOP convention earlier this month, Haley called on party activists to give Republican lawmakers the boot if they voted for the bonds bill and other tax measures.

Both of the Senate’s borrowing plans mirror each other, and call for $91 million for technical colleges and $131 million for public universities in addition to $15 million for state armories. The College of Charleston would receive $2 million for Simons Center for the Arts repairs and $5 million for Stern Center renovations.

Some of that cash was also destined for projects at the Medical University of South Carolina and Trident Technical College. But Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Charleston, said last week those allocations need to be shifted to the capital reserve bill, which received first approval Tuesday.

Otherwise, the money would not be available unless the bonds bill passes, Grooms said.