South Carolinians received a glimpse Thursday of a tentative General Assembly bond bill, the state's first in 16 years.
Detailed at a meeting of the S.C. House Ways and Means Committee, the draft would allocate approximately $500 million to state agencies, including $251 million to state colleges and technical schools. The State reported Thursday that state agency requests considered for the bill totaled more than $2 billion.
USC is slated to receive $25 million under the bill's current draft, but a $50 million appropriation requested in November was notably absent.
The November request submitted by the USC Budget Office outlined a pair of potential one-time appropriations totaling $71.5 million. The first, worth $50 million, was intended to fund relocation of the USC School of Medicine from its current location on Garners Ferry Road to the expanding Bull Street development. Hopes for that priority's approval were dashed Mar. 7 when state Rep. Brian White (R-Anderson) declared that the forthcoming bond bill would pay for due maintenance at state colleges and universities but no new construction.
The second appropriation, worth a total of $25 million, is intended to fund renovation of the USC School of Law building on Main Street. Opened in 1972, the building will become vacant when USC Law moves to its new Gervais Street location this fall. Thursday's draft approved of funding the project, which received an initial appropriation of $3.5 million in fiscal year 2015-16.
The November budget request put forth by USC mentioned that conversion of the old law building's vacant spaces to instructional science laboratory space is planned.
University spokesman Wes Hickman did not respond to a request for comment.
Thursday's draft of H. 3722 also allocates significant funding for maintenance at USC's satellite campuses: $8 million for USC Beaufort's Science and Technology building, $8 million for the Smith Science Building at USC Upstate and $3.5 million for the Penland Administration Building at USC Aiken. A further $7.94 million is allocated for distribution among USC's Palmetto College campuses in Lancaster, Sumter, Allendale and Union.
From the bill, the 16-school S.C. Technical College System stands to receive $87 million for what the proposal describes as "critical maintenance and capital needs." Other large appropriations for state schools include $25 million to Clemson University for renovations at a pair of 1960s-built academic buildings and $25 million for "critical capital maintenance" at the Medical University of South Carolina.