Staff reports | House and Senate conferees are expected to meet next week to hammer out differences in the state’s $11 billion budget for 2021-22.
“There are a lot of little details to work out, but we’re not worried about coming to a compromise,” one insider said today.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the budgets approved by the two chambers is in how state employees are paid. The Senate version of the budget calls for a 2 percent across-the-board pay raise for all state employees, while the House version calls for a 3 percent pay raise. Both budgets call for teachers to get $1,000 more in cash above their regular annual increases.
But a measure to give a bonus of $1,200 to all state employees earning less than $50,000 failed on the House floor this week by a 63-50 vote.
Other differences in the budget include three provisions by the House to stro[ some funding to schools and universities if they require masks, COVID testing or vaccines.
The Senate will be represented on the conference committee by Senate Finance Chair Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, Senate President Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, and Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington. House conferees include Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, and Reps. Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, and Jackie Hayes, D-Dillon.
If conferees finish their work next week, all members of the House and Senate are expected to meet the following week to approve the spending plan.
- Next week: A look at the hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent in the coming year on public infrastructure projects.
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