The Buzz

Legislative silly season in full swing

It’s that kooky time of year when lawmakers pre-file bills for the new session that begins in January. And seeing how 2012 is an election year for lawmakers, there’s plenty of “feel good” legislation!

First up: Reps. John King, R-York and Rep. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston, gave Buzz a chuckle with their bill to end Gov. Nikki Haley’s requirement that state workers answer their phones by saying, “It’s a great day in South Carolina!”

King and Gilliard’s bill would lift the requirement that state workers use the greeting “so long as certain conditions exist in South Carolina.” The bill also would ban any future requirement that state workers use the greeting or a similar one “connoting the advantages of or a general pleasant demeanor in this state so long as any of the following conditions apply:”

• The state’s unemployment rate is 5 percent or higher.

• All South Carolinians do not have health insurance.

• Funding for public schools, colleges and universities is not sufficient for 21st-century standards.

• The state’s rural infrastructure is inadequate.

King, an oft-critic of Haley last session, said to expect more bills in the same vein.

“This bill is just one small part of an overall strategy,” King said in a statement. “You can expect more in the future.”

Haley has said the greeting is one small way to make residents and visitors feel good about the state.

But read on ...

Look at me! Look at me!

In the category of, “I’m running for Congress,” state Rep. Thad Viers, R-Horry, introduced tons of bills last week, including several that no self-respecting GOP voter could disagree with.

Viers, who is running for the new 7th District, wants, “all local school districts and public colleges and universities of the state” to recognize Veterans Day.

Viers also filed a bill to pre-empt any federal law or rule that would restrict a person’s choice of a private health-care provider or the right to pay for medical services. (Take that, Barack Obama, and your health-care reform act!)

Viers also wants to require applicants for food stamps and Medicaid to undergo drug tests.

I’m not sure I know what I mean either, officer

In the we’re-not-sure-what-you’re-talking-about category, Rep. Don Bowen, R-Anderson, wants to ensure that a person who is involuntarily intoxicated or who does not have “sufficient mental capacity” is not held criminally liable.

The bill defines involuntary intoxication as “consumption of a substance through excusable ignorance; or coercion, fraud, artifice, or contrivance of another person.

Excusable ignorance?

Buzz is looking forward to hearing examples of what that means.

Note to file: Don’t upset Sen. Bright

On the Senate side, state Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, is playing the tough guy with a three-strikes-you’re-out bill.

Defendants convicted of a felony who have two or more previous felony convictions would have to serve an additional 10 to 30 years in prison, under a bill Bright pre-filed.

(Yikes. Buzz needs to remember not to make Bright mad.)

This bill is endorsed by Bambi, too

Meanwhile, state Sen. Ronnie Cromer, R-Newberry, must have had a lot of calls from rural residents. He’s filed a bill to prohibit deer hunting with a firearm within three hundred yards of a home. (Unless of course, the homeowner has given the hunter permission.)

And the pre-filing fun isn’t over yet! Senators and House members will pre-file more bills Monday and Tuesday.