Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dwight Drake will hold a news conference today to ask lawmakers to adopt a plan he says will "spur hiring and bring down unemployment in South Carolina."
Drake, according to his campaign, will be joined by Democratic Reps. Boyd Brown of Fairfield and Bakari Sellers of Bamberg, who will offer Drake's jobs plan as a bill.
"With unemployment at record levels and families across South Carolina suffering as a result, we need less talk and more results," Drake said. "As governor, jobs will be my No. 1 priority, but this state can't wait another year for action. So with the help of Representatives Brown and Sellers, we're going to get started on putting South Carolina back to work right away."
- From staff reports
Opposition to DHEC restructuring grows
Efforts to put the governor in charge of South Carolina's environmental protection agency are losing steam as opposition mounts in the state Senate.
This morning, the Senate Medical Affairs Committee will discuss dropping a plan that makes the agency a Cabinet department under the governor. The meeting is at 9:30 a.m. in Room 308 of the Gressette office building.
A compromise proposal would allow a board to continue oversight of the Department of Health and Environmental Control, instead of letting the governor pick an agency chief. But committees of the board would be set up to hear permit appeals, one for environment and one for health, according to one compromise plan.
A bill introduced last year would have made the agency a Cabinet department and dissolved the board.
DHEC, responsible for protection of public health and the environment, has been under fire for a series of missteps chronicled by The State newspaper in late 2008. Agency officials have sided with business leaders in fighting plans to dissolve the board and let the governor pick its director.
- Sammy Fretwell
VOTER ID PASSES SENATE
South Carolina voters would have to bring photo identification with them to polling places under a measure that has cleared the state Senate.
The contentious bill heads back to the House following its passage Wednesday in the Senate. The bill will likely end up in a conference committee to work out differences between the chambers.
South Carolina voters aren't required to have a photo ID when they vote now. Under the proposal, they would have to have some form of state or federal-issued ID with them starting in 2012.
Democrats had opposed the measure as potentially discriminatory. They conceded when Republicans agreed to extend the period during which people could vote early in person, and to allow people to get ID cards for free.
- The Associated Press
STATE WON'T BAIL OUT TOLL ROAD
The S.C. House has rejected a proposal to allow the financially troubled Southern Connector toll road in Greenville County to refinance its debt.
The road is owned by the S.C. Department of Transportation and operated by a private company, but the company defaulted on bond payments Jan. 1. The road has not been as heavily traveled as expected, and tolls failed to raise enough revenue to pay off the bonds.
Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Horry, who drafted the amendment, said the state would not be liable for any debts owed on the road. But other lawmakers were not convinced and voted down the amendment 46-55.
- John O'Connor
REX TO DISCUSS CIGARETTE TAX PLAN
State schools chief Jim Rex will again pitch his idea today to raise the state's lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax to $1.34 a pack to prevent the state from furloughing teachers. Rex is expected to get support from education groups that want to spare teachers from taking days off without pay and are worried about the impact it might have on instruction.
Rex's plan calls for the first 50 cents of the increase to help pay for the state's health care costs and smoking-cessation programs.
The remainder of the increase would go toward preventing five days of unpaid leave, as is under consideration by House budget writers. That move would save the state roughly $100 million.
Lawmakers are trying to figure out how to fill a more than $500 million hole in the state's budget for its next fiscal year, which starts July 1. Public education makes up 38 percent of that budget and is a likely target for cuts.
- From staff reports
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"If I thought a meeting with those parties would make a difference, I would."
- Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, on the negotiations between Senate lawmakers and real estate professionals on a bill that would cap tax increases at the point of purchase on commercial real estate. Developers say the tax hikes tied to the purchase of property is slowing real estate sales. The so-called point-of-sale tax hikes are part of 2006 tax reform that raised the sales tax to pay for a cut in the state's property tax.
SCHMOOZING
When and where lawmakers will eat and drink for free - and who's buying.
THURSDAY
8-10 a.m. Breakfast, Blatt Building, Room 112, Association of Cosmetology Salon Professionals
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