S.C. political briefs

Senate panel delays action on controversial bill

A state Senate committee Thursday delayed voting on a bill that would bar the state health insurance plan from paying for abortions for victims of rape or incest.

Senators argued for close to 45 minutes about the bill, before state Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, chairman of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee, asked to delay action on the proposal until the committee’s next meeting. That could come as early as next week.

A subcommittee of the panel voted 3-2 Wednesday to bar the state health plan – which insures state workers, and teachers and local government workers can opt to join – from covering abortions in the cases of rape or incest.

Advocates of the proposal say they are trying to protect “a human being in the mother’s womb.” Opponents called the proposal “cruel and heartless.”

Adam Beam

Richland councilwoman will run for re-election

Joyce Dickerson is seeking a third term on Richland County Council after ruling out a run for the S.C. Senate, which has no women members.

Dickerson, 66, said she struggled with whether she should try to fill that void. She said women, particularly African-American women, are poorly represented in the Legislature.

Ultimately, the Democrat said she decided — “unless something drastic happens within the next few weeks” — not to seek a Senate seat but to follow through on projects she has started in county government, including addressing the neighborhood needs of Broad River Road.

Dickerson lives in Emerald Valley. She has represented District 2, covering parts of Northeast Richland and Blythewood, since taking office in 2005.

Dawn Hinshaw

Transportation Department sets goal of paying bills quicker

South Carolina’s transportation secretary says his agency is trying to pay bills faster than the law requires after last summer’s financial mess.

Secretary Robert St. Onge told senators Thursday the agency’s new standard is to pay bills within 30 calendar days, rather than the allowed payment window of 30 business days. He says that causes too much confusion because many people don’t realize that could mean 45 days.

The Transportation Department fell behind on bills last summer, with road builders complaining they weren’t being paid for months. St. Onge says the agency started too many projects without balancing its cash flow.

He told a Senate panel that about $120,000 worth of invoices are overdue now, but there are problems with those bills.

The Senate panel is considering restructuring the agency. A 2007 law put the Transportation Department in the governor’s Cabinet but left its oversight to a seven-member commission, elected by legislators. St. Onge thus reports to both Gov. Nikki Haley and the commission.

St. Onge told the Senate panel that he’s OK with having two bosses, but he wants one of them -- the commission -- to stop micromanaging the agency. St. Onge says the commission goes beyond the bounds of legislative oversight.

Haley wants legislators to eliminate the commission. She says that system is too political and pits regions of the state against each other.

The Associated Press

Motor Vehicles closes its Santee office

The Department of Motor Vehicles has closed its Santee office.

The office near Lake Marion opened in January 2008 and has operated for two days a week. Officials say the employees who run that office will return full-time to their permanent assignments.

Director Kevin Shwedo said the Santee office processed less than 5 percent of transactions that other area offices process. He added closing it makes good fiscal sense.

The Associated Press