The SC House of Representatives is not meeting in regular session this week.  By furloughing House Members this week, we are saving taxpayers $50,000 per week. 

The House does this because we know that we can complete the people’s work in less time and for less money.  South Carolina has one of the longest legislative sessions in the country, meeting from January until June each year. 

This week’s furlough was timed so that it would come before the critical time in the state budget writing process when the budget would be before the full House Ways & Means Committee.  We also have scheduled furloughs this year for the weeks before and after Easter so Members can spend that time with their families. 

Combined, these three weeks of furlough will give taxpayers a savings of over $150,000.

Here’s what the Associated Press reported about the House Furloughs:

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina House is furloughing itself next week.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell said the House will not meet for its normal Tuesday through Thursday schedule next week. The week off comes before debate on the budget starts in the full House Ways and Means Committee.

The House also will not meet the weeks before and after Easter, which falls on April 8 this year.

Each week of furlough for House members saves taxpayers about $50,000 in mileage reimbursement and pay for meals and lodging.

The House took five furlough weeks in 2009 and four in 2010 to trim spending during the recession. It took two weeks off last year.

The Legislature’s January-to-June session is scheduled to end June 7.

Dear Friends –

SC House Speaker Bobby Harrell wants to bar SC political parties from scheduling their presidential primaries after any other Southern state.

South Carolina could not enforce the requirement because it cannot overrule national party rules. But Harrell, a Charleston Republican, said he hopes the requirement would give South Carolina’s state party leaders more leverage when negotiating future primary dates with national party leaders.

South Carolina’s jobless rate plunged to its lowest rate in three years in December as an improving economy had employers putting more people to work making, moving and selling goods.

The 9.5 percent unemployment rate in December was down from 9.9 percent in November and marked the fourth straight month of declines in a state that’s suffered among the highest unemployment rates in the country for years.

The lower rate remains well above the national rate of 8.5 percent in December. But South Carolina has not seen an unemployment rate this low since it was at 9.2 percent in the midst of the Great Recession in December 2008.

And the news isn’t great everywhere: Only six of the state’s 46 counties reported lower unemployment rates. And Marion County had the state’s highest jobless rate, 17.9 percent, up from 17.4 percent. Lexington County’s rate of 7 percent was the state’s lowest and up from 6.9 percent in December.

There were 3,800 fewer people working nonfarm jobs in December, but that overall category gained 17,800 jobs in the past year.

The biggest monthly gains came with 1,200 jobs in manufacturing and 1,500 in trade, transportation and utilities – all key to making and moving goods. Manufacturers, led by companies making products that last longer, have added 11,600 people to their payrolls in the past year and while trade, transportation and utilities are up 6,000 with retailers leading gains there.

The largest loss came with seasonal employment declines of 3,500 in leisure and tourism, while government payrolls lost 2,800.

When South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took office a year ago, the rate was 10.9 percent and peaked at 11.1 percent in August. It’s been a top political and image issue during her freshman year, with staff members having signs posted above their desks showing the rate and a computer monitor in the lobby outside her office flashing news of job announcements.

Haley said the latest rate was welcome news. “But we still have much work to do. We won’t stop until everyone in South Carolina who wants a job has a job,” the Republican governor said. That includes a new training program for workers that she has in the works.

South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance President Lewis Gossett said the news isn’t surprising and he’s seeing more optimism. “Manufacturers naturally want to grow – they want to do some good things,” Gossett said. But they’ve been leery of the national climate and economic policy.

“They’re very cautious but they’ve got a decent outlook,” Gossett said. “I think 2012 can be a very good year.

In a rare show of unanimity, Republicans and Democrats decried the decision as disastrous to the state’s economy and environment, and a black eye to Gov. Nikki Haley, who’s been under fire for asking her board chairman to hear the appeal.

“I think this is that important to our future, on every single level — environmental, competitiveness, cost — this fails. It fails! Let’s tell the courts. Let’s tell the people of South Carolina, tell Georgia, where we stand as a state,” said Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Charleston.

The House voted 111-0 for a joint resolution to suspend the Department of Health and Environmental Control’s ability to make dredging decisions, as of 2007. That’s when legislators created the Savannah River Maritime Commission and gave it authority to represent South Carolina on navigability issues in the river shared with Georgia.

Neither it nor the state’s natural resources agency was consulted before DHEC awarded the permit in November, two months after agency staff denied it, citing unacceptable harm to the environment.

A joint resolution has the same force as law, and must go through the same approval process, but is a temporary measure that dies when the issue’s over.

Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey called the vote “an unfortunate over-step of the Legislature’s authority.” A DHEC spokesman said the agency couldn’t comment due to pending litigation.

DHEC’s board could have let the staff’s decision stand.

The November reversal came after Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal flew to Columbia to meet with Haley, and she — responding to what she called a perfectly reasonable request — asked DHEC’s board to hear Georgia’s appeal. Minutes before the hearing started, staff reached an agreement with Georgia and the Army Corps of Engineers, which the board, composed entirely of members she appointed, approved unanimously with no debate.

The decision sparked outrage and Senate hearings, as legislators said South Carolina handed Georgia the competitive advantage over Charleston’s port and killed efforts to create a port in Jasper County 14 miles closer to the Atlantic than Savannah.

Agency leaders and the six board members testified to senators last month that Haley did not pressure them for approval. But the testimony also made it clear that board members did not understand the science, as senators peppered them with questions they couldn’t answer, particularly about the diesel-powered devices the agreement relies on to pump oxygen into the river.

The agreement also means South Carolina won’t have access to land slated for the Jasper port for decades, and lawmakers contend the river will be so impaired that getting a water quality permit for Jasper would be unlikely.

“Calling it a decision is an insult to decisions. That would suggest analysis and input,” said Rep. Leon Stavrinakis, D-Charleston. “Their answer is these bubbles are going to solve everything. It’s a joke!”

The maritime commission has joined an appeal by the Southern Environmental Law Center, arguing the permit was improperly granted. It contends the dredging will deplete dissolved oxygen in the already impaired river, destroy habitat of endangered fish and destroy hundreds of acres of fragile freshwater marsh.

Attorney General Alan Wilson is representing the commission, as the law that created the group requires.

While the joint resolution approved by the House won’t end the lawsuit, still in its early discovery stages, it should help arguments in court that the commission has permitting authority, said Wilson spokesman Mark Plowden.

When discussion on the measure started in the House last week, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, was alone in defending DHEC’s decision and Haley’s input, saying legislators shouldn’t be afraid of competition. Norman was absent Wednesday.

Lawmakers say Haley should call it a mistake and join their efforts. But Haley has remained steadfast in supporting DHEC’s decision, saying her pro-business board did as it was supposed to in making a decision quickly without regard to politics.

“I have said it before, and I will say it again: I am not afraid of a 48-foot Georgia port, 36 miles up the Savannah River, confined to one-way traffic. You should not be either. Let’s quit bickering and work together to see Charleston return to its greatness, Jasper have a future, and Georgetown have a purpose,” she said in last week’s State of the State address.

The “bickering” comment didn’t go over well with legislators.

Merrill said it minimizes an issue that has dire consequences to the state’s economy.

“Her continuing to support DHEC is not doing her any favors,” he said. “I think the governor got buffaloed.” He said he also believes Georgia used the board’s naiveté to its advantage.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell said with one in five jobs in the state tied to ports, the issue is too important to ignore.

“Not only has this placed Charleston’s port at a competitive disadvantage and jeopardized the very existence of a future port in Jasper, it may have also put our state’s taxpayers on the hook for paying a significant portion of Georgia’s port dredging,” said Harrell, R-Charleston.

(Columbia, SC) – Today, the S.C. House of Representatives passed a bill (H. 4627) to protect our state’s waterways and environmental interests.  The Legislation, approved by a 111 to 0 vote, reaffirmed and solidified an existing 2007 state law requiring the Governor’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) Board to first gain the approval of the Savannah River Maritime Commission before it can take action on matters pertaining to the navigability, depth, dredging, sludge disposal and other collateral issues in regard to the Savannah River.

A retroactive measure, lawmakers sought this bill because of serious concerns over DHEC’s decision to bypass the Maritime Commission and ignore state law by unilaterally voting to reverse its earlier decision to deny dredging 36 miles of the Savannah River to a depth of 48 feet.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell issued this statement about the bill’s passage and DHEC’s vote:

“With one of every five jobs in our state directly tied to our ports, this is too important an economic issue to ignore.  South Carolina is a state that thrives on free markets and fair competition.  Put our ports on a level playing field with other states, and you’ll see our businesses and workers compete toe-to-toe with industry leaders around the globe.

“I’d like to thank Rep. Jim Merrill and all the other sponsors of this bill for their hard work to protect South Carolina’s natural resources and the competitive position of our state’s ports.  Had DHEC simply followed the law this legislative measure would have been unnecessary.

“Many of us were deeply disappointed when DHEC voted to reverse its previous decision that denied a Savannah River dredging permit because of overwhelming evidence showing the irreversible environmental damage this would cause.

“Based solely on the merits of this case, DHEC was correct to deny this permit.  But given the Board’s sudden reversal, the intentional bypassing of the Maritime Commission and state law, the irrefutable environmental damage and the uncompetitive disadvantage to our ports; this was a terrible decision by the DHEC Board.

“Not only has this placed Charleston’s port at a competitive disadvantage and jeopardized the very existence of a future port in Jasper, it may have also put our state’s taxpayers on the hook for paying a significant portion of Georgia’s port dredging.

“Because of DHEC’s reversal on dredging the Savannah River, South Carolina will be left with an expensive dredging project issued in violation of state law that will forever damage our river’s environment and put our state’s ports at a severe competitive disadvantage for years to come.”

# # #

(Columbia, SC) – To secure our state elections and the integrity of every ballot, South Carolina lawmakers passed a Voter ID law last year supported by more than ¾ of all citizens.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell said, “Lacking a photo ID requirement makes it difficult, if not impossible, to prove or even recognize some types of potential voter fraud.  Many opportunities where fraud could occur would easily be prevented with Voter ID, or at a minimum, make it very difficult to cast a ballot from beyond the grave.”

A House Judiciary Sub-committee hearing was held yesterday on questionable data reported by the state Election Commission on the number of SC voters currently lacking photo IDs.  The revelation of a SLED investigation into hundreds of reported cases where votes were cast by individuals after the date of their deaths raised serious questions of possible voter fraud.

• 37,295 people listed by the Election Commission as needing photo IDs are deceased
• Of those, 957 were found to have voted AFTER the recorded date of their deaths, according to the SC DMV

“Dead people voting – this reeks of voter fraud tales usually reserved for Chicago political folklore, not South Carolina,” Speaker Harrell said.

A SC DMV review of the 240,000 voters (<9% of all registered SC voters) the Election Commission claimed did not have photo IDs, showed the real number could be less than 28,000:

• 37,295 are deceased
• 20,508 did in fact currently possess the necessary photo identification
• 154,258 individuals had previously been issued SC photo IDs but were canceled either because they had declared residency in another state or the ID had expired
• Additionally – 334 voters were registered at the same address, One voter was listed as being 130 years old, 25 voters were registered at a Correctional Center

“Yesterday’s breaking news of a SLED investigation into hundreds of reported cases where dead people voted raises some very serious concerns of potential voter fraud that must be addressed.  It also validates our hard-fought efforts to secure our state elections by passing a Voter ID law,” Harrell commented.  “The one positive thing this disturbing new information of possible fraud does, is it makes our already strong challenge of the Justice Department’s denial even stronger.”

# # #

 ****Note****

SC’s Voter ID Law & Other Voter ID Facts:

• Voter ID was upheld as Constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court
• Voter ID was recently precleared by the Department of Justice in another Southern state with voter identification requirements more strict than SC’s law
• Voter ID laws have been adopted in both Republican and Democrat led states
• Brings needed security to election process and integrity to every ballot
• Employs commonly used, everyday photo identification methods also necessary to do things like: cash a check, board a plane or buy cold medicine
• SC law made the necessary photo IDs available to citizens free of charge
• Voters lacking the necessary identification on election day can still cast a ballot after signing an affidavit affirming their identity
• Federal law ID requirements to obtain entitlements (like Medicaid) are more strict than SC’s Voter ID law

Given all these facts supporting the case for a Voter ID law in South Carolina, many were surprised when the DOJ denied preclearance for our state’s new law.  Further analysis has shown that the DOJ based their rejection on what has been shown to be severely flawed data and is a leading reason why strong support is being given to our state’s appeal of this decision.

Lawmakers have full plate this year

Money, Chas. port lead 2012 session

By Yvonne Wenger

Monday, January 2, 2012

COLUMBIA — South Carolina lawmakers are about to embark on their 2012 session, but how much will their work in the next six months change the lives of the men, women and children who call this state home?

Gov. Nikki Haley said that depends on which steps the Legislature takes to create jobs for the nearly 10 percent of workers who are unemployed.

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The 2012 legislative session begins Jan. 10 and ends in June. All 170 House and Senate members are up for re-election in November.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said he is focused on pocketbook issues such as limiting what lawmakers can spend in the future and which fees state agencies can charge.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, puts the emphasis on the big picture and what will bring long-term economic prosperity.

But the difference between meaningful change and political rhetoric comes down to the courage lawmakers can muster in an election year.

All 170 House and Senate members are up for re-election in November.

The state’s three top Republican leaders and key Democrats outlined for The Post and Courier the issues at the top of their agenda for the January-to-June session that begins Jan. 10.

“Fiscal issues will be the dominant issues of this legislative session from the budget to tax reform to the retirement system,” Harrell said. “I think an election year makes it more likely that we’ll get progress because everybody is on the ballot.”

Money matters

–Haley will lay out her vision for economic policy in her executive budget, due early this month. She said to achieve strong job creation numbers in 2012, the Legislature should phase out the corporate income tax and reduce the tax on manufacturers. The governor also wants the Legislature to simplify the individual income tax to eliminate three of the six brackets.

“Our goal in this administration is to get every person in a job,” Haley said.

She said she wants “truth in budgeting” that looks at overall state government spending, such as fines and fees imposed by state agencies, not only the $6 billion-plus portion in the general fund.

Research by the South Carolina Policy Council, a conservative think tank, puts state spending at nearly $22 billion, which includes federal tax dollars that flow to South Carolina and tuition paid by students at the state’s colleges and universities. The Legislature’s general fund budget — and the portion subject to the most floor debate and committee work — is about $6 billion, or just 27 percent of government spending.

–McConnell has a “fiscal fitness” plan. The plan’s most significant elements call for a constitutional spending cap and the creation of a commission that uses zero-based budgeting to prioritize government services.

–Harrell added the elimination and protection of certain sales tax exemptions to the list of 2012 priorities. Harrell said the Legislature needs to keep breaks on residential electricity and water, groceries and prescription drugs on the books. Other exemptions — and he wouldn’t say which ones until he develops some legislative consensus to avoid a target list for lobbyists — need to go.

Issues to watch

–Deepening of the Charleston port and settlement of the long-simmering dual rail access issue will prove to be an undercurrent in the 2012 session. Lawmakers are also expected to stake out positions on the future development of the Jasper port.

Any action will follow the recent controversy over the role Haley played in a water permit South Carolina issued to Georgia for the deepening of the Savannah port. South Carolina’s ports are in direct competition with Georgia’s.

–McConnell called Medicaid “a financial time bomb” that has the potential of bankrupting the state. As issues over the federal health care law, known to some as Obamacare, are sorted out nationally, the state will develop its plan to pay for the program that has seen dramatic cost increases as more South Carolinians turn toward social services.

Restructuring

–First on the Senate floor when the Legislature reconvenes is a bill to create a Department of Administration, under Haley. The proposed agency will shift authority from the Budget and Control Board, which McConnell said has “grown so big it’s become almost a fourth branch of government.”

The board is controlled by five members: the governor, treasurer, comptroller general and the Legislature’s two top budget writers. It manages state government when the Legislature is not in session, with responsibilities such as maintenance of the state fleet and upkeep of public buildings. The board also can allow agencies to spend in the red, give colleges and universities the OK for building projects and set contribution rates for the state’s retirement system.

Just how much control the Legislature will give the governor over the state administration and financial oversight is up for debate.

–Following a cash crunch that left the state Department of Transportation broke in 2011, the Legislature wants to figure out how to improve its management. The options are to put control of the agency under the governor’s office or continue to split oversight between Haley and a commission of political appointees.

Lawmakers might also change the way the agency decides which road maintenance and construction projects are approved. Some argue that the state should increase the 16-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax, set in 1987, to better fund infrastructure. That is unlikely in a GOP-controlled Legislature during an election year.

Retirement

–The state’s retirement plan for government workers, including teachers and police officers, is a mess. The Legislature must make decisions about future cost-of-living increases, retirement age and contribution rates.

The state needs a plan to generate enough cash to cover an estimated $13 billion to $17 billion worth of currently unfunded pension benefits promised within 30 years.

The consequences of their decisions will directly affect people’s lives, said Senate Minority Leader John Land, D-Manning.

“Anytime you underfund the state workers, firemen, law enforcement officers or teachers, you’re doing damage to your society in general and especially the middle class,” Land said.

What won’t happen

–Significant changes to the way public schools are funded in South Carolina likely will have to wait for another year. Politicians constantly talk about inequities within the schools — with achievement and resources varying greatly between ZIP codes — but any meaningful change to address that isn’t likely to happen until after the election.

Lawmakers might, however, take some Republican- friendly steps such as increasing the amount of cash the state sends to charter schools.

Harrell said changing the education-funding formula is one of the most difficult tasks for the Legislature, and it hasn’t been changed in some 30 years.

Covering the politics of the Lowcountry, South Carolina and the nation.

That’s because changing the formula will create winners and losers among school districts.

–A dramatic overhaul of the state’s tax code. Small-ticket changes to tax policy could find support in the next session.

McConnell said he hopes election-time pressure will force action.

“With the climate in Washington and across America — and particularly in South Carolina — we have a unique opportunity,” he said. “There is a perfect political windstorm.”

Rep. David Mack, D-North Charleston, said he is expecting a different kind of windstorm — one created by political blustering.“Forget about Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative — what’s in your best interest?” Mack said.

Copyright © 1995 – 2012 Evening Post Publishing Co..

Staff reports

South Carolina’s jobless rate fell below 10 percent in November for the first time since April as retailers beefed up sales staff for an unexpectedly good holiday shopping season and others dropped out of the job search.
The state’s jobless rate dropped more than half a percentage to 9.9 percent from 10.5 percent in October, according to a report from the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce released this morning.

It was the largest monthly drop in the 35 years that statistics have been kept in the state.

Overall, nonfarm employment grew 15,000 from October to November and is up nearly 31,000 from a year ago – the largest increase for the same time period since 2006.
Folks found 7,100 jobs in retail and 6,600 in professional and business services. Manufacturing, which has been a bright spot for the state, continued its climb, adding 900 jobs between October and November.
The national unemployment rate also saw a significant decrease, from 9 percent in October to 8.6 percent in November.

“Through the efforts of the businesses in our state who have hired more South Carolinians, we have seen a significant decrease in the unemployment rate,” said S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce Executive Director Abraham Turner. “We want to partner with employers to help train the state’s workforce because we know that training is the most important component in providing businesses with a skilled and productive labor force. Through a partnership of this kind, I am optimistic that job growth will continue in the coming months.”

Dear Friends,

Thanks to the internet and social media, traditional media outlets no longer have a monopoly on where you get your news – making it more difficult for them to hide the truth. 

In the last few weeks, I have been attempting to inform the public about the Chairman of the SC Democratic Party’s attempt to use the Supreme Court of SC to raise your taxes by $3 Billion a year.

They are trying to create a backdoor tax increase by suing the state, asking that everything sold in SC be required to have a sales tax on it. That would raise taxes by adding 6% to the cost of groceries, prescription drugs, residential electricity, gasoline, water, and several other things that you buy on a regular basis. 

If you are not familiar with this Supreme Court case, click here to read what The State newspaper didn’t want you to know about this attempt by the Democratic Party Chairman to raise your taxes by $3 billion a year.  

We’ve come to expect slanted (mostly left-leaning) reporting from the mainstream media, and frankly, I was not surprised by recent editorial comments made by The State newspaper on this major case pending before the SC Supreme Court.   However, I am now shocked by The State’s blatant censorship.  

In the documents they filed in the Supreme Court lawsuit, the Chairman of the SC Democratic Party and others clearly stated that their goal is to raise taxes on all South Carolinians by $3 billion annually and grow government spending 50%.

Downplaying the very real ramifications of the Democratic Party Chairman’s lawsuit, The State newspaper, first of all, knowingly misrepresented and withheld facts about this backdoor tax increase, and then attempted to mislead its readers by censoring attempts to bring this crucial information to light.  

The public needs to know about this disregard for the truth. And to get you those facts, I sent The State a Letter to the Editor. Citing indisputable facts easily found in public court documents, I pointed out how their inaccurate reporting was misleading and a disservice to the public they claim to be informing.  

The State could have just chosen not to print my letter at all, but instead the very same editors responsible for this misreporting, censored my letter and ran THEIR version of the letter.  

That’s right, they actually CHANGED my Letter to the Editor and censored out key details.   This is an intentional and blatant attempt by The State to censor the truth.

Why is The State afraid to let you see my entire letter to the editor? Why did they censor my letter and leave out key facts about the case and about their reporting? Why don’t they want you to know exactly what the Democratic Party wants to do with this $3 Billion tax increase? 

Again, thanks to the internet, social media and your Grassroots efforts to spread important messages, you can now judge for yourself.   Click here to read what The State newspaper didn’t want you to know about this attempt by the Democratic Party to raise your taxes by $3 billion a year.  

Our citizens deserve to know the truth driving the Democrats’ backdoor $3 billion tax increase and The State’s censorship of the facts.

I hope that you’ll help us get the word out by forwarding this email to everyone you can. I also hope that you’ll repost this to Facebook and Twitter to ensure the public hears the truth.

Sincerely,

Bobby Harrell

SC Speaker of the House