News
Court rules Sanford must apply for stimulus funds
JUNE 4, 2009
By Ashley Fletcher Frampton
Gov. Mark Sanford must seek the $700 million in stimulus money he has tried to refuse, the S.C. Supreme Court said today.
In a ruling issued this afternoon, the Supreme Court wrote that Sanford is not the sole arbiter of whether South Carolina can accept money allocated in the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as his lawyer argued in court hearings on Wednesday.
The court also said that the S.C. General Assembly can force Sanford to apply for the money, as they directed him to do in the budget act passed last month. Their directive came because the federal stimulus act designates governors as the state officials to request the money.
"Under the constitution and laws of this state, the General Assembly is the sole entity with the power to appropriate funds, including federal funds," the order said. "Therefore, the General Assembly has the authority to mandate that the governor apply for federal funds which it has appropriated."
The court issued a writ of mandamus - a court order for a public official to perform a ministerial duty - telling Sanford to apply for the money.
"While we recognize and respect Gov. Sanford's sincerely held beliefs concerning the ARRA, those convictions do not alter the ministerial nature of the legal duty now before him," the court said.
Sanford has been an opponent of the stimulus act since before it became law. He later said he wanted to use the money to pay down state debt, but the White House rejected that plan.
Sanford then asked state lawmakers to write a budget that directed an equivalent amount of money toward debt. When they did not do that, Sanford said he wouldn't seek the money.
His refusal led to two lawsuits, one filed by two S.C. students and one filed by the S.C. Association of School Administrators.
The parties involved gave oral arguments before the S.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Sanford, who has scheduled a news conference for this afternoon, said earlier this week that he would comply with the court ruling.
Contact Ashley by email at aframpton@scbiznews.com.
Charleston Regional Business Journal
