COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – The Senate has approved its plan to fix South Carolina’s crumbling roadways, setting up the possibility that the Legislature’s top priority for the year could become law.
The Senate voted 30-9 Thursday to send its plan to the House, which passed its own version earlier this year. The compromise received the supermajority vote needed to override Gov. Henry McMaster’s promised veto.
It marks the first time over several years of debate that the Senate has passed a bill with a gas tax increase to help fund roads. The Senate’s version includes raising the gas tax by 12 cents over six years.
The bill still has a long way to go. House leaders have blasted the Senate’s version as a complicated, nonsensical mess. It includes an array of tax cuts.
