After making other cuts, SC lawmakers vote to keep $10M loan to PGA tournament in state budget
By Seanna Adcox

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina legislators voted Wednesday to keep a $10 million loan to the state’s only PGA tournament in the state budget.

The House voted 69-43 to loan the money if the Heritage golf tournament on Hilton Head Island can’t find a sponsor to replace Verizon, which says this is its final year as sponsor. If needed, the loan would come from the state’s insurance reserve fund.

Opponents said it didn’t make sense in a year of deep cuts to services, including layoffs of teachers, state law enforcement, public defenders and Juvenile Justice workers, as well as possible cuts to services for the disabled.

Rep. Nikki Haley led an effort to remove the loan from the state’s $5 billion spending plan — which is down from $7 billion two years ago.

“In a budget year like this, they raided the insurance trust fund — a fund that’s meant to protect consumers after hurricanes and natural disasters — to lend money to a golf tournament. That is so far removed from what our taxpayers want,” said the Lexington Republican.

She criticized federal bailouts of banks and car companies, adding, “Now, we’re going to bail out golf courses. When’s it going to stop?” She asked whether South Carolina would next lend money to steeplechase races. …

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