SCOPPE: Taking the temperature of the 2010 Legislature

MAYBE IT really is true that legislators couldn't think about anything except Mark Sanford for the past six months.

Judging from the meager supply of bills they pre-filed in advance of today's opening of the General Assembly, they certainly haven't been coming up with a lot of creative new ideas for improving our state.

Granted, our state would be in relatively good shape if lawmakers simply would do all the things we've known for years they ought to do but aven't done. And the volume of pre-files is usually off in the second year of a two-year session, because all the perennial bills are still around from the previous year. But what the pre-files lack in volume they tend to make up for in measuring the legislative psyche.

There's precious little in the hopper to address the giant elephant in the room - the massive and growing budget shortfalls. And lawmakers haven't let the plummeting revenues - or lack of ideas for a way to deal with the problem - slow the flood of proposals for special new tax breaks they'd like to dole out, or for expensive new spending programs. On that count, there are few new ideas, and no good ideas.

What legislators do seem to be interested in is how to open the state to more gambling, via "charitable" raffles, thwart any sort of federal health legislation and - don't say our lawmakers aren't reactive - crack down on texting while driving.

I counted at least seven bills among the 237 that would outlaw texting while driving; several also limit conversations to hands-free devices. They range from one drawn so narrowly that the grown-ups could still send e-mail messages on their Blackberries (S.991, Sen. Mike Rose) to one that bans any cell phone use by minors and limits adults to hands-free devices (S.954, Sen. Luke Rankin) to a draconian measure that sends drivers to jail if they send messages or read any printed material - on screen or on paper (H.4189, Rep. Don Bowen). A bill by Rep. Garry Smith (H.4206) would keep all kinds of cell phone use legal, but allow it to be introduced as evidence of contributory negligence in any lawsuit involving an auto accident.

Perhaps it might be smart to start with the simple, straight-forward measure by Sen. Kevin Bryant (S.970) that outlaws the one thing all grown-ups should be able to agree should be illegal: texting and e-mailing while driving.

Speaking of road hazards, Sen. David Thomas (S.922) and Rep. Joe Neal (H.4281) want to require mopeds to carry insurance, which sounds reasonable to me but probably won't get very far in a Legislature that can't overcome the governor's objection to banning 5-year-olds from driving ATVs. Perhaps Sen. Tom Alexander will be more successful with his plan to require strobe lights on mopeds (S.941).

No one is proposing to add strobe lights to golf carts, but Sen. Larry Martin (S.930) would require golf carts to be registered with the state if they're driven on the highways, as they can be during daylight hours, within two miles of the owner's home. The existing restrictions don't apply in Richland County, where, thanks to Rep. Todd Rutherford, you can drive your well-lit golf carts after dark. If Mr. Rutherford gets his way on the roads again, you'll soon be able to legally drive 80 mph (H.4185).

The one driving bill that doesn't involve cell phones and is both significant and smart is Sen. Joel Lourie's proposal (S.909) to require 15-year-olds to keep a beginner's permit for at least a year before they can apply for a special restricted driver's license, and to eliminate the confusing "conditional driver's licenses" that currently come between the two and give kids more license than they need sooner than they need it.

Two other smart bills stood out - not new ideas, but good ones that have been rejected in previous sessions and could easily meet the same fate this year because they're not A List issues:

H.4201 by Rep. Grady Brown would prohibit new common-law marriages after Dec. 31. The probate judges who have to settle estates have been lobbying for this for years, because the definition of these relationships is so slippery that it's hard for the participants to know - much less prove - who is and isn't "married," which causes a world of headaches when one "spouse" dies.

H.4265 by Rep. James Smith would require the Department of Social Services to establish a voluntary rating system for child-care systems. This is something the department has tried to do in the past, only to be thwarted by those "choice" advocates who want parents to make all the decisions (at taxpayer expense) once their kids are in school, but who simply cannot stand for the idea of giving parents useful information that might help them make smart decisions about younger kids.

Finally, two bills stood out in the opposite direction. Rep. James Smith (H.4235) wants to create a state Board of Talent Agencies and Talent Agents. And you thought regulating cosmetologists was silly.

And Rep. Alan Clemmons (H.4238) wants to require that county assessors be elected - which would turn what is supposed to be an objective evaluation of property values (and thus tax bills) into one dictated by political considerations.

Thankfully, on these two counts we can take solace in the knowledge that most bills never make it out of committee.