BY DIETTE COURRÉGÉ

Charter school supporters are celebrating the General Assembly’s passage of legislation that they say will strengthen the state’s public charter schools.

Lawmakers adopted late Tuesday the conference report for the bill, and it now heads to Gov. Nikki Haley for approval.

“The General Assembly has renewed its commitment to providing parents a choice in the school their children attend,” said state Superintendent of Education Mick Zais in a statement. “A one-size-fits-all model of education simply doesn’t work for many students. Public charter schools are laboratories of innovation where the interests of students come first. I thank the General Assembly for passing this legislation with strong bipartisan support. I urge Governor Haley, an ardent public charter school supporter, to sign the bill at the earliest convenience.”

Some of the bill’s highlights include:

- permits the creation of single-gender public charter schools (all boys or all girls schools);

- permits institutions of higher education to sponsor public charter schools;

- permits public charter school board members to serve more than a one-year term and may serve multiple terms.

- permits public charter school students to participate in extracurricular activities, including athletics, at their neighborhood public school if that activity or athletic team is not offered by the public charter school they attend. Students will be required to pay any fees that other students pay to participate and are eligible for fee waivers available to other students.

- changes the composition of the state Charter School Advisory Committee to include a public charter school principal and a public charter school board member. This committee determines whether public charter school applications are in compliance with state public charter school law.

- requires the state Charter School Advisory Committee to notify the county legislative delegation in which a proposed public charter school is to be located upon receipt of a public charter school application.

- prohibits a governing board or a school district employee who has control over personnel actions from taking unlawful reprisal against another employee of the school district because the employee is directly or indirectly involved in an application to establish a public charter school.

- requires school districts to release funds for public charter schools in a timely manner. Failure to do so within 10 business days may result in fines in an amount equivalent to the withheld funds.

****Compare: House DOA chart here & Senate 10 government agency chart here****

(Columbia, SC) – Today, in a bill back from a year-long debate in the Senate, the House advanced the most comprehensive reform plan yet by amending its Department of Administration bill (H. 3066).  Since 2008, this is the 4^th restructuring measure to pass the House and follows the Senate’s 1^st time ever acting on DOA Reform earlier this year.  In the most comprehensive restructuring proposal ever put forward, the House protects taxpayers by focusing on good government solutions that:

• Totally eliminates the Budget & Control Board (B&CB)
• Protects SC’s AAA Credit Rating
• Streamlines operations & increases efficiencies by cutting government waste

• Cuts 10% of old B&CB workforce by eliminating 147 vacant Full Time Equivalent positions (FTEs)
• Governor given full Executive Authority & responsible governance maintained:
• 90% of Funds & 82% of FTEs into Governor’s “Dept. of Administration”
• 3% of Funds & 7% of FTEs into “Contracts & Accountability Authority”
• 3% of Funds & 5% of FTEs into “Revenue & Fiscal Affairs Office”
• 4% of Funds & 6% of FTEs into existing agencies to strengthen services

House Speaker Bobby Harrell commented on the House’s DOA Reform Plan:

“Totally eliminating the B&CB and placing the bulk of its funded authority – 90% of the old Board – directly under the Governor, the House’s plan represents the conservative restructuring reforms and taxpayer protections South Carolina needs to operate more efficiently.

“For over 5 years now, the House has not only talked about good government restructuring reforms, we’ve consistently passed legislation to enact conservative change – this latest, and most comprehensive, plan being the fourth DOA reform measure to pass the House.

“Under the House’s restructuring plan, taxpayers are protected with strong new accountability measures – the Governor will fully control administrative Executive authority, waste will be eliminated, agencies streamlined and strong conservative fiscal policies will ensure that South Carolina remains one of only 15 AAA rated states. 

“Totally and truly eliminating the B&CB while cutting 10% in government waste, this plan is more streamlined and gives the Governor much more direct authority than the Senate’s proposal to create 10 government agencies.  The House’s conservative approach to reform will make state government more accountable, transparent and much smaller than the Senate’s plan which creates 3-times as many new agencies.”

****Compare: House DOA chart here & Senate 10 government agency chart here****

# # #

Process Notes: The House’s DOA Plan was amended to the Senate’s version of H. 3066 adopted earlier this session – the initial bill first passed the House over a year ago.  The House-amended bill now goes back to the Senate for a concurrence or non-concurrence vote.  If the Senate concurs, the bill will be sent to the Governor’s desk.  If the Senate non-concurs, a joint House/Senate Conference Committee will meet to work out differences in the two plans. 

Even as Boeing South Carolina made history by rolling out its first 787 Dreamliner on Friday, the talk was as much about the future as it was about the accomplishments to date.

The distinctions of the plane, the plant and the workforce were highlighted repeatedly, but so were the work that remained to be done on the inaugural jet and the production possibilities down the line.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh recounted the history of the plane before willing the narrative forward.

“We got some more work to do here,” Albaugh told the crowd behind the final assembly building in North Charleston. “Three weeks from now we’re going to fly that thing, and then sometime in June we’re going to deliver it.”

Boeing plans to ramp up and make three 787 airplanes a month in North Charleston, but Albaugh urged the local workers to go beyond that number.

“If we can build more, we can sell them,” Albaugh said. “Please do that.”

After the closely watched plane emerged through a staged smoky haze into the bright Lowcountry sun, Gov. Nikki Haley took the stage to the tune of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” and uttered the same catchy phrase as last June when the final assembly building opened.

“We build cars, we build tires and now we build dreams ­— big mack-daddy 787 dreams,” Haley said.

“The dream is just starting,” the governor added, and she pledged to make a return visit to the Boeing campus when the first Dreamliner, which will then be fully painted and tested, is delivered to Air India in a couple of months.

Albaugh and Haley spoke to an audience of thousands, mostly local Boeing employees, invited to bear witness as the much-anticipated plane made its high-profile public debut. Composed of parts from Japan, Kansas and places in between, the jet is now one unified flying machine.

Countdown

The crowd counted down as the plane was tugged out, and as it came into view, the onlookers surged forward, cell phones and cameras held high to capture the moment.

“Ladies and gentlemen, here it comes,” said Jack Jones, vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina. “Your 787!”

Greg Carroll, who’s been an assembly mechanic in the aft-body unit for three years, and co-worker James Lewis verbalized their pride as the jet exited the building, turned to the left and came to rest.

“Number 47 and 48,” said Carroll, referring to the fuselage sections his unit manufactures and delivers to the final assembly plant for integration.

“That’s us,” Lewis chimed in a second later.

Others reveled in the glory of the moment as well, people with a different kind of fingerprints on the plane.

Former state Secretary of Commerce Bob Faith and Alenia North America executive Vicenzo Caiazzo remember back to the mid-2000s.

Faith had tried to land the 787 final assembly line back then, but Everett, Wash., won that battle. Instead, it was Caiazzo’s Dreamliner fuselage supply operation that posted up in North Charleston. Boeing bought out the Alenia-Vought Aircraft joint venture known as Global Aeronautica and a neighboring Vought plant over the course of 2008 and 2009 to achieve better control of its far-flung supply chain.

“We are proud that we started the dream here,” Caiazzo said as he and Faith stood feet away from the first Dreamliner on the tarmac.

A time-lapse video projected on a big screen near the stage helped tell the tale of how a large tract of wetlands at Charleston International Airport became a plane-making campus and how the first jet came together inside the massive building beginning last summer.

“I wish building an airplane was as easy as that video,” Albaugh quipped.

Talking politics

U.S. Lindsey Graham joked liberally during his remarks, which started with a series of one-liners that smacked of a stand-up comedy routine.

“The NLRB couldn’t be with us today,” he said at one point, poking fun at the federal labor agency that sued Boeing over its decision to place an assembly line in South Carolina last year. “Which was a good decision on their part — the only one I can remember actually.”

Graham also made light of the enormous incentives package Boeing negotiated to set up shop in the Palmetto State, a collection of tax breaks and workforce training worth more than $900 million, according to a Post and Courier analysis. He said the state legislature was asked to convene a special session without knowing why and then to vote “yes” without knowing what they were voting on.

“They all did,” he said. “That’s good government.”

S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell took issue with that characterization of his peers’ actions in 2009, but he agreed with Graham that Boeing made the right choice and that the aerospace giant has a bright future here.

Harrell said the Charleston area will be known for building the most advanced aircraft in the world, just as Silicon Valley is known for computers and New York is known for stock trading.

“The future of flight takes off right here in South Carolina,” he said.

But it will need more government help, Albaugh cautioned toward the end of his remarks.

He urged the U.S. Congress, the only present member of which was Graham, to reauthorize and expand the U.S. Export-Import Bank, which facilitates lending to many of Boeing’s international airline customers and whose authorization expires at the end of May.

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, who opposes the reauthorization of the government lender, had a pre-existing commitment, according to his spokesman, and couldn’t attend Friday’s rollout. The state’s U.S. representatives did not attend because of an expected voting session in the House.

Jones had said representatives from Air India would attend the rollout, but they were also absent, according to Dr. Dinesh Keskar, Boeing’s senior vice president of sales for Asia Pacific and India. Keskar said Air India will fly the first Dreamliner it picks up next month through North Charleston on the way back to the Subcontinent.

Fine-tuning

In the meantime, Boeing South Carolina will make the final adjustments and do the final testing to get the plane ready for its airline customer. Now that the plane has officially exited the final assembly facility, it will not go back in, Jones said.

But there are 96 jobs that remain to be done on the plane, known as “travelers” in Boeing factory lingo. But that’s an impressively small percentage of the original 12,000 tasks, according to Jones.

“A couple hundred travelers is not unusual,” he said.

That work, and plenty of testing, will be done by the delivery center teams before the plane takes its first flight in three weeks, then goes to Texas to get painted.

“They are like a racehorse at the gate,” Jones said of the delivery center workforce.

James Dewees is one of those eager steeds.

“I’m ready to go,” said Dewees, a flight line operations manager who worked for Boeing in the Puget Sound before joining the South Carolina operation two years ago. “Our team is ready to go.”

Asked for his final thought as he bid farewells among the dissipating celebration, Boeing vice president Marco Cavazzoni alluded to the wonder of what’s happened so far while also hinting at what’s to come.

“I just think this is magical,” Cavazzoni said, “and it really is just the beginning.”

(Columbia, SC) – Today, the SC House of Representatives passed another tax reform bill (H. 4995) – the third to pass this week and key component of the House’s comprehensive tax reform package.  The bill eliminates 21 sales tax exemptions and uses that formerly exempted revenue to lower the overall sales tax rate.

As an added tax accountability measure, and to identify more exemptions that could be eliminated, the bill re-enacts the Joint Committee on Taxation – a joint House/Senate tax review panel.  The Committee will continuously review the feasibility of exemptions and submit their public findings and recommendations to the General Assembly.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell commented on the passage of another tax reform bill:

“The road to comprehensive tax reform is a long one and the House is making progress by passing these tax reform bills.  This bill is a good start and gets South Carolina further down that road.

“To further cut and broaden the overall sales tax rate we will continue to address the elimination of other exemptions based on recommendations from the Joint Committee on Taxation.  As we said, this bill is a good start.

“In this tax reform bill, the House targeted and eliminated exemptions that had outlived their intended purpose while maintaining exemptions on key items that are core necessities of life.  By maintaining these exemptions, South Carolinians will continue to pay no sales taxes on their grocery bill, electricity bill, water bill, prescription drug bill and more.

“In a lawsuit brought last year by the SC Democratic Party Chairman and others, the group sued to strike all sales tax exemptions and use the resulting $3 billion annual tax increase to grow government spending.  This effort to bypass our conservative Legislature by asking the court to force a massive tax increase on all South Carolinians simply because this group believes that taxes should be higher and government should control more of our lives is misguided and is not real reform.”

# # #

(Columbia, SC) – Today, the SC House of Representatives passed two key tax reform bills – H. 4997 to collapse the current six individual income tax brackets (0,3,4,5,6, & 7) to just three brackets (0,3.75, & 7) and H. 4996 to cut the small business active income tax rate from 5% to 3%.  Earlier this session, the House introduced several bills that set the course for real comprehensive tax reform in our state.  This is a multi-part, multi-year undertaking aimed at delivering meaningful and permanent tax reform for South Carolina families.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell said, “Today, we took a significant step down the path that will lead to permanent comprehensive tax reform in our state.  We believe that working families in South Carolina deserve a tax code that is flatter, fairer and more competitive.  This will allow businesses to invest more of their resources into growing their business and creating jobs for our state.  Making individual income tax rates flatter and fair will not only simplify our tax code but will also give 4 out of 5 South Carolinians filing returns a tax cut.”

# # #

****Note: See the Senate’s 10 government agency chart in link here****

(Columbia, SC) – After a year of debate, the S.C. Senate adopted its version of the House’s Department of Administration (DOA) Reform bill (H. 3066) – the 3^rd such government restructuring reform measure to pass the House but 1^st time ever taken up by the Senate.   In the Senate’s 100-page strike-and-insert amendment they:

• Created 10 government agencies
• Created a new Budget & Control Board
• Kept the existing Budget & Control Board intact

“As Governor Haley pointed out to House Members in a meeting last month, the Senate’s 10 government agency version of DOA reform has some major flaws and gaps,” House Speaker Bobby Harrell said.  “Not only did the Senate leave unassigned authority decisions up to the old Budget & Control Board, they made a brand new Budget & Control Board in one of the 10 agencies they created.  We believe that the House can truly eliminate the Budget & Control Board, and do so in a way that provides real accountability and doesn’t create 10 government agencies.”

Recently, national credit rating agencies – which oversee ratings for South Carolina and the other 14 states with AAA credit ratings – expressed concerns about the Senate’s plan to create 10 government agencies.

House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham said, “The Senate’s recent attempt to attack the House in defending their plan to create 10 government agencies is misguided.  It wasn’t the House, but national credit rating agencies, that raised a red flag because of concerns with the Senate’s loose handling of fiscal issues that could threaten South Carolina’s AAA credit rating.”

In addition to the fiscal integrity issues that have been raised, the Senate’s 10 agency plan contains other accountability oversights and gaps.  For example, the Senate created one agency – the Procurement Oversight Board – assigned it board members and departments to oversee but failed to give the agency any authority to run itself or execute actions.  This failure, and others like it, leaves decision making authority back with the old Budget & Control Board.

Speaker Harrell added, “We appreciate the support the Governor’s Office expressed last week by stating that Governor Haley ‘would never allow anything to move forward that would endanger our credit rating.’  So for the DOA bill to move forward, it is clear that these issues must be fixed.  We look forward to working with the Governor, State Treasurer and others as the House continues its pursuit of conservative reforms and addresses the concerns raised by the Senate’s plan to create 10 government agencies.”

****Note: See the Senate’s 10 government agency chart in link here****

***Note: See the House’s DOA Plan chart in link here****

# # #

SC’s fiscal integrity must be a Top DOA reform priority

****Note: Analysis of Credit Rating issues by the Treasurer’s Office in link here

(Columbia, SC) – The major structural reforms included in the House’s Department of Administration (DOA) bill (H. 3066), will greatly change the way our state government operates.  This reform bill affects not only the regular day-to-day operations of how our government carries out its business, but also addresses issues that have a major impact on our state’s credit worthiness and how credit rating agencies view South Carolina. 

South Carolina is regarded by the credit market as one of only 15 AAA rated states in the nation.  Maintaining our state’s fiscal integrity must be a top priority in the ongoing DOA debate.  State Treasurer Curtis Loftis has been working closely with lawmakers throughout this debate to help ensure our state’s future financial stability and national reputation are maintained. 

House Speaker Bobby Harrell and State Treasurer Curtis Loftis issued this joint statement about the ongoing DOA reform debate, now back before the House, and the pressing need to protect our state’s AAA credit rating: 

“As amended, the Senate’s version of the DOA bill made changes that creates concern for the credit rating agencies.  Those issues need to be addressed to ensure our state’s stellar credit rating and long-term fiscal stability are maintained. 

“South Carolina is one of only 15 states with a top-level market AAA credit rating.  Because of our state’s commitment to conservative fiscal policies and a strong structure of governance, South Carolina has been able to maintain a stellar financial reputation at a time where many other states have fallen. 

“The advantage this rating gives South Carolina is tremendous.  A good credit rating saves taxpayers millions of dollars – lowering the cost when borrowing for projects like schools, roads and bridges.  We must do everything we can to preserve this highly competitive advantage.  We are a fiscally sound and responsible state and we need to make sure that after this restructuring reform is accomplished that is still the case. 

“The General Assembly and the State Treasurer’s Office are responsible for the financial health of South Carolina’s state government.  That is why our offices are working hand in hand to make sure these reform efforts protect taxpayers and move our state forward.”

# # #

****Note: Analysis of Credit Rating issues by the Treasurer’s Office in link here

****Note: See the Senate’s 10 government agency chart in link here****

by brendan kearney

Just months in the making but perhaps offering a glimpse decades into the future, South Carolina’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner will roll out April 27.

A major milestone for the local plane-making operation, the rollout announced Wednesday represents the inaugural jet’s official debut, as well as a definitive step toward proving North Charleston’s ability to do what only two other places in the world do — finish putting together a wide-body commercial airplane.

Photo provided by Boeing. On Feb. 26, the first South Carolina Boeing 787 Dreamliner made the turn down the backstretch of the U-shaped assembly line in North Charleston. Two months later, on April 27, the historic jet will leave the massive facility again — this time for good.

• On Feb. 26, the first South Carolina Boeing 787 Dreamliner made the turn down the backstretch of the U-shaped assembly line in North Charleston. Two months later, on April 27, the historic jet will leave the massive facility again — this time for good.

It will be historic for everyone involved.

“This is a huge deal for all of our teammates here at Boeing South Carolina,” said Candy Eslinger, a company spokeswoman.

The rollout tells “the world that we did it,” according to Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell.

“When I think back to the days when we were huddled around that conference table, Boeing was just a hope,” McConnell said last week, referring to the summer 2009 meetings in the downtown law offices of Nexsen Pruet that brought Boeing to the Palmetto State. “This is the fulfilment of the reality … that South Carolina could compete internationally in the aerospace industry.”

Line Number 46

Boeing announced its decision to build a final assembly line here in October 2009 as part of its plan to fill hundreds of orders for the much- anticipated composite plane.

The final assembly building opened in June, and workers began putting the pieces together at the massive facility near Charleston International Airport in late summer. Around the same time, in late September, the first 787 was delivered out of Boeing’s main Dreamliner factory in Everett, Wash. — more than three years behind schedule — to much fanfare.

Seven more planes have since been delivered to All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines and more than 800 remain on order.

In December, the National Labor Relations Board litigation that cast a cloud over the North Charleston plant for much of the year was finally dropped.

Meanwhile the first S.C.- assembled plane, also known as Line Number 46, made its way along the U-shaped assembly line over the fall and winter, moving into its final pair of assembly positions in February. Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh previewed Wednesday’s announcement on March 14 when he told a New York investor conference that the inaugural Dreamliner would roll out in mid-April.

‘Big extravaganza’

Boeing executives and employees, who now number more than 6,000 at the local plant, will be joined at the invitation-only rollout April 27 by South Carolina dignitaries and media hailing from far outside the Lowcountry.

The ceremony will include community partner performances, commemorative videos and executive presentations, according to a news release. The main event will be when the jet is pulled out of the northwest-facing back of the final assembly building and comes to rest before the gathered crowd, Eslinger said.

She wouldn’t reveal any more specifics, such as whether Boeing CEO Jim McNerney or a representative from the customer carrier Air India would be attending, saying that planning, as well as final work on the plane, is ongoing.

“We have to save a few secrets for the event,” Eslinger said.

Scott Hamilton, a longtime aerospace analyst based near Boeing’s nerve center in the Puget Sound area, has attended similar celebrations and predicted that the rollout in three weeks will rise to the occasion. This is the first time Boeing has assembled an airplane outside Washington state since World War II, he said.

Hamilton noted that the summer 2007 rollout of the first 787 was a “worldwide event” emceed by then-NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw.

“Given the historic nature of that plant and of that decision by Boeing to put an assembly line down there, I would anticipate that Boeing would make a real big extravaganza for Charleston and South Carolina,” he said.

Hamilton expects live music and “festive accoutrements.” When Boeing opened its interiors factory near Ladson in December, there were inflatable “thunder sticks” and students from a neighboring school danced to African drums.

“You should expect a really big show,” Hamilton said.

(Columbia, SC) – Today, the S.C. House of Representatives introduced a measure (H. 5081) aimed at securing our state’s First-in-the-South Presidential Primary.  A majorly influential position for both political parties, this early primary brings more than just status recognition – it translates into high-profile national exposure and millions of dollars in economic impact.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell said, “As South Carolinians, we take our duty of selecting the next President of the United States very seriously.  Since the election of President Ronald Reagan, South Carolina’s First-in-the-South Primary has swayed huge national influence.  With more and more state’s trying to jump ahead of South Carolina each election, we need to take steps to protect our state’s historic primary position.”

“Modeled after New Hampshire’s Presidential Primary state law, the House has introduced a bill that will cement South Carolina’s spot as the First-in-the-South Primary state,” Speaker Harrell added.  “Along with the national exposure and one-on-one interaction our citizens have with the future President, this early primary translates into millions of dollars in added economic benefit for our state.”

With an incumbent President seeking reelection, our state hosted a single-party primary this year.  Even though only one political party conducted a Presidential Primary this cycle, the impact on our state was immense.  Facts & figures from SC’s 2012 First-in-the-South Presidential Primary:

• A record 600,000 South Carolinians voted in the January 21^st Election
• 5 Presidential debates (Greenville, Columbia, Spartanburg, Myrtle Beach & Charleston)
• Over 1,000 on-site media members from 30 states & 12 countries covered SC’s Primary
• Hundreds of campaign events across SC, each generating much-needed economic activity
• $13.2 million in television ads purchased in SC, drawing mostly out-of-state dollars
• $14 million economic impact for the Myrtle Beach debate alone
• Nearly $½ million increase in Charleston tourism revenues over the Election weekend

# # #