South Carolina Legislature Overrides Veto, Endowed Chairs to Receive $30M Annually

Coming together for a special one-day session last week, the South Carolina Legislature voted to override a line-item veto issued by Gov. Mark Sanford concerning the funding of the state’s Endowed Chairs program, now called the S.C. Centers for Economic Excellence. The override raises the budget allocation for the program from $20 million to $30 million, which surpasses the original multi-year cap of $200 million set for the Endowed Chairs/Centers of Economic Excellence program, when enacted in 2002. The program uses lottery proceeds to fund strategic faculty positions at the state’s three public research universities: Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina, and the University of South Carolina.
 
In a message to the General Assembly dated June 11, Gov. Sanford outlined the following reasons for his office’s concern with the legislation:

• While the program initially began as a dollar-for-dollar match between state and non-state funds, the program has drifted to be “overwhelmingly driven” by public funds, as non-state funds have not been collected;
• The requirements for spending the money have been changing, such that money now goes to fund equipment in addition to the endowed chairs themselves, excessive time extensions are given to universities to come up with the required matching funds, and in-kind contributions such as lab equipment are being used for matching funds;
• The bill ignores the original $200 million cap, mandating $30 million in annual expenditures at a time that education funds from the lottery are decreasing; and,
• There is a lack of information on the return of investment the state receives for funding this program.

While the governor’s message does not call for the end of the Endowed Chairs program, it does call for a review of the program’s policies and accomplishments. In the South Carolina Senate, the veto was overridden by a 34 to 4 vote. It then moved to the House of Representatives and was unanimously overridden by a 103 to 0 vote.
 
More information on the S.C. Centers for Economic Excellence is available at http://www.sccoee.org/.
 
Further details on Gov. Sanford’s concerns with the legislation can be found by searching for R363 or S1252 within the Legislature’s Journal for June 25 at: http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess117_2007-2008/sj08/20080625.htm