FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2016
COLUMBIA, SC – S.C. lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow farmers in disaster-declared counties to apply for grants up to $100,000 each to help them recover from last year’s floods. This $40 million of funding would help farmers recover up to 20 percent of their losses. Gov. Nikki Haley has said that she plans to veto the bill saying that it is unfair to aid farmers when similar aid is not available for other small businesses impacted by the floods.
“The Governor should not use small businesses as an excuse not to help our farmers recover from last year’s floods,” said Frank Knapp Jr., president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce. “Our small businesses want our farmers, who contribute to the economic health of our state, to recover. They don’t begrudge farmers from receiving funds available to them just because other small businesses don’t have the opportunity.”
“Our position on this issue was clearly laid out back in March in an opinion editorial that ran in the Charleston Post and Courier,” continued Knapp. “If the Governor knows of any small businesses who are complaining about helping the farmers with these funds, she should tell us who they are or ask them to come forward. Otherwise I would respectfully ask her to refrain from referencing small businesses as the basis of her veto threat.”