It was the final step in the legislative process aimed at reforming the way the Fairfield County School District does business.
“I’m glad this phase of the process is over with,” said Sen. Creighton Coleman, the only senator to vote on the issue. “We’re going to hand-deliver the necessary documents to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., and let the chips fall where they may.”
Approval from the U.S. Department of Justice, Coleman said, could take up to a month.
Any law that pertains to the election process must clear the Justice Department, as South Carolina is still covered under the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
After initially splitting on the bills, the House voted to override the governor’s veto late Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re breathing a sigh of relief,” Rep. Boyd Brown said Tuesday. Brown, along with Coleman, introduced the bills in January.
The State House of Representatives voted 39-25 earlier in the day Tuesday to sustain Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of House Bill 4431, a bill that would have created an independent finance committee to handle the budgeting process of the Fairfield County School District.
A motion to reconsider by the prevailing side led to the bill coming up again after the House broke for lunch. The second vote, 33-10, overturned the governor’s veto.
“This is exactly what the children and teachers in Fairfield County needed,” Brown said.
Meanwhile, the House voted 44-21 to override the governor’s veto of House Bill 4432, a companion piece to the Brown-Coleman bill, which expands the number of school board members from seven to nine by two appointed seats.
“I’m ready to get this behind us so we can concentrate on doing what’s best for the kids in the schools,” Coleman said.
Those in opposition to the bills have indicated a challenge in the courts, now that the vetoes have been overridden.
“This is a disgrace,” said Earnest Yarborough, president of S.C. Citizens For Justice, a social and political activist group. “I guess now it goes to the judiciary and let them decide.”
Yarborough said his group has retained the services of a Columbia attorney and will file a lawsuit.
Reigniting the Fires of the 1980s and the 1960's
NOW IS THE BEGINNING OF A TREACHEROUS TIME. CONGRATULATIONS AND GOOD LUCK. YOU'RE GONNA NEED IT.
IF I, AS A TAXPAYER, AM PAYING TO HAND DELIVER THAT CRAP TO WASHINTON, I AM GOING TO SUE FOR MISUSE OF TAXPAYER MONIES!SEFGC