Gov. Mark Sanford's day in the General Assembly has finally arrived.
Today, lawmakers will vote on a censure resolution, expressing their disapproval of his actions surrounding his June disappearance and his admission to an extramarital affair.
A bid to impeach the governor failed in late December.
Legislative leaders want an orderly debate and quick decision on the Sanford censure resolution. It is likely to pass overwhelmingly in the House. But some Democrats say they will not support censure, viewing it as an insufficient answer to Sanford's misdeeds, which include visiting his lover during a state-funded 2008 trip to Argentina.
House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said Tuesday the House will spend all day today if necessary debating the censure resolution. But the issue must be resolved today, he said.
"We're not going home until we get it done because we don't need to spend more than a day on it. Really," Harrell told Republican House members at Tuesday's caucus meeting.
Lawmakers met Tuesday in regular session for the first time since last summer's Sanford scandal. The General Assembly met in October to pass incentives to land airplane maker Boeing. But the body rejected efforts to take up bids to remove Sanford then.
Harrell and other lawmakers have said it is time to turn attention away from Sanford and toward bills aiming to streamline government and restructure state agencies at a time when lawmakers must figure out how to plug a $500 million hole in the budget.
A censure carries no legal or legislative weight. It is simply a public admonition of Sanford's actions.
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