A House panel voted Tuesday in an illegal meeting to adopt a bill to cap tuitions at state-assisted universities.

The higher education subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee met late Tuesday without the required notification to the public. The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Chip Limehouse of Charleston.

Upon hearing that the subcommittee had acted in an illegal meeting, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Cooper ordered Limehouse to reconvene the meeting with proper notification, to receive public comments on the legislation, and to revisit the vote in open session.

Under the terms of the bill passed in the illegal meeting, the University of South Carolina�s $6,914 annual tuition for in-state students could be increased to a maximum of $7,331.

The House subcommittee on Higher Education scheduled a meeting for 9 a.m. today in Room 321 of the Blatt Building.

� Aaron Gould Sheinin and James Hammond