March 19, 2009
Preparing for the “Second Half”
The passage of the state budget traditionally signals the end of the “first half” of the legislative session for the South Carolina House. So much of January and February are consumed with work on the budget, that it can be hard to push other weighty issues.
But with the budget in the Senate now, the House turns its attention to some of the issues we still have to complete. Three items from our agenda are on the calendar when we return: reducing red tape for small businesses, a major government reform bill, and protecting the secret ballot.
The House Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee will hold hearings next week on reducing red tape to small businesses. We have been working hard with industry groups, business associations, and the several chambers of commerce to recruit businesses to testify to the committee. Any South Carolinian who owns a business, or knows of regulatory headaches that the state government causes, is encouraged to come testify. Go to www.scstatehouse.net to find the phone number for the LCI Committee and ask how you can testify.
We have several major government reform bills queued up for consideration. The biggest is an effort to jump-start job creation in South Carolina by combining the Employment Security Commission with parts of the Department of Commerce, and giving power over that new agency to Governor Sanford. As usual in South Carolina, we have several different agencies “in charge” of areas of government and they don’t talk to each other. Combine this legislation with the “Department of Administration” legislation the governor has requested, and we will complete our promise to streamline government and make it more accountable.
The biggest fight we are expecting is over the secret ballot – one of America’s foremost rights and protections. Democrats in Washington, and their union supporters, want to strip the right of a secret ballot from workers in union organizing votes. Nothing can be more un-American than that.
Make no mistake: At its heart, this is not meant to be an anti-union bill. We want to make sure that anyone voting to unionize at their workplace is not intimidated into their vote, whether that is by the union or by the employer. People should have the right to make their choice in secret, and the House Republicans will fight to ensure workers have that freedom.
Tax reform bills are very difficult to consider during the first half of the legislative session, since the members of the Ways and Means Committee are completely consumed by the budget. The creation of a tax realignment commission that will review our tax structure from top to bottom and propose ways to streamline and reform the tax code, is on the agenda. As are several bills that will limit state spending – legislation that the House Republicans have passed more than a half-dozen times over the past 10 years.
The General Assembly is planning to adjourn two weeks early this year. In the House, that will mean saving taxpayers more than $100,000. It’s not a major sum, but it is what we can do to save precious taxpayer dollars. The House has long contended, and voted for, a shorter session. This year, we will prove that we can complete the people’s work while still taking six weeks off. Hopefully, this will help change minds so that we can permanently shorten our legislative session and save taxpayer money every year.
As always, thank you for the privilege of serving you in Columbia. If I can ever be of assistance to you, or if you have ideas on issues you want me to share with the rest of the General Assembly, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 864-230-7044.
