South Carolina Lawmakers Override Haley’s $40M Farm Aid Veto

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South Carolina lawmakers in both the House and Senate voted to override Gov. Nikki Haley’s veto of a bill offering $40 million in state aid to farmers who lost their crops in last year’s massive floods.

The 112-2 vote on May 17 in the Republican-dominated House was a sharp rebuke of a rare veto by their GOP colleague and well beyond the two-thirds needed to send the veto on to the Senate. The Senate followed suit on May 18 with a 39-3 vote in that chamber, making the proposal law.

The vote came after nearly two dozen lawmakers, many of them fellow Republicans, took the governor to task over her veto of the bill. Legislators said she broke a promise she made during previous, smaller disasters, to have the farmers’ backs.

Farmers lost nearly $400 million in last October’s floods, when 24 inches of rain fell in some areas in 12 hours. The water took months to recede, preventing the planting of additional crops, and came after a drought destroyed some other crops during the summer. The back-to-back disasters, combined with low prices for crops, had some farmers saying they were teetering on going under.

The farms and playground area for picking pumpkins are swamped in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. South Carolina is still struggling with floodwaters due to a slow moving storm system. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)

Haley vetoed the $40 million aid bill on May 16, saying it wasn’t fair for farmers to get help not available to all small businesses. She said farmers have crop insurance and federal aid to cover their losses. And she called the bill a bailout, which lawmakers said was a loaded word to make it seem like farmers were moochers.

“It’s not a bailout. It’s a lifeline. And it is sinful we have not done better by them,” said Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach.

Haley’s veto had stunned the farmers. Many voted for the governor twice. And they remember her saying more than once after earlier disasters that South Carolina would help its farmers.

Williamsburg County farmer Brian McClam said he lost $800,000 in 2015. The first blow came just before the October flood when drought withered his cotton, corn, soybeans, peanuts and peas. Then came 24 1/2 inches of rain in three days. It took months for the water to finally drain from much of his 3,000 acres.

“It broke my heart,” McClam said of Haley’s veto. He was just one of about 50 farmers and their families on hand for the House vote. “I cannot understand how a governor who runs a whole state doesn’t understand how agriculture drives this state.”

“The governor got poor advice,” said Republican state Agriculture Secretary Hugh Weathers, who said all of the aid isn’t near enough to help farmers who are on the hook for all the money lost from 2015 crops and for the money needed to get 2016 crops in the ground, all the while looking at lower market prices for what they do grow.

The $40 million proposal would allow farmers in disaster-declared counties to apply for grants of up to $100,000 each, covering no more than 20 percent of their total loss. Weathers expected a board to award the grants would be picked by the end of the May.

Haley took a more conciliatory tone after the House vote, saying in a statement, “There were no winners during last year’s 1,000-year flood, and we will continue doing our best to help all of our industries and property owners – fairly – through the recovery process.”

The farm bill was a rare second-term veto for Haley, who outside the budget has only rejected two other bills since her re-election in November 2014. Fellow Republicans weren’t shy about saying they were holding her accountable with their vote.

“The day after the flood, the governor stood on the steps with her Cabinet and said we’re going to help every citizen in South Carolina. She didn’t help you,” said Rep. David Hiott, R-Pickens. “We’re here today to honor that commitment.”