Governor Mark Sanford vetoed 107 line-items totaling $314 million from the state budget for FY 2011 on Wednesday. None of the vetoes had an adverse effect on the more than $107 million in general fund appropriations for Tuition Grants ($21.7 million) and for other scholarships such as the Palmetto Fellows, LIFE, and HOPE. The Governor’s veto pen also skipped more than $187 million in lottery proceeds allocated to all the scholarship programs. Tuition Grants will receive directly $7.7 million in lottery funds.
PASCAL is still on track to receive $169,674 in state funds and up to $1.5 million in lottery funds if there is sufficient unclaimed lottery prize money at the end of the year. In an “average” year, the amount of unclaimed prizes is sufficient to fund all the programs ahead of PASCAL with around $1 million to spare, but there are no guarantees.
The General Assembly returns to Columbia on June 15 to take up the Governor’s vetoes. The single largest veto is one that cuts more $200 million in enhanced Medicaid match money which Congress has not appropriated. The face of the budget could change significantly if many of the vetoes are sustained.
