Lawmakers continue to bobtail after Supreme Court strikes down practice

The state Supreme Court decision that struck down bobtailing could put a North Charleston company out of business, and the Legislature continued using the practice Wednesday over the objections of two of the state's leading politicians.

The start-up renewable energy company, Carolina-Pacific LLC, became a victim of lawmakers' appetite for adding unrelated items to legislation when the court's decision came down Monday. The $200,000 grant for the company came from a renewable energy fund that was tagged onto a 2007 bill about nursing.

On Wednesday, lawmakers overrode Gov. Mark Sanford's veto on a 2008 bill which was originally designed to create tax breaks for the purchase of energy efficient appliances. Tagged onto that bill, which is now law, is a tax-free weekend to buy guns and allow local gasoline suppliers to mix fuel with ethanol.

"(The law) clearly violates this mandate and would undoubtedly be held to be unconstitutional by our Supreme Court," Sanford said.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, echoed Sanford's remarks before both the Senate and House overwhelmingly overrode the governor's veto.

"We're going to be sued, and we're going to lose," McConnell said.

Read more in Friday's editions of The Post and Courier.