SC political briefs: Veto in store for anti-port expansion bill

Spokesman: Haley will veto port bill

Gov. Nikki Haley will veto a bill designed to undo a controversial Georgia port expansion, her spokesman said Tuesday.

S.C. House members unanimously agreed Tuesday with Senate amendments to a measure that says the Haley-appointed board of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control overstepped its authority when it granted a water-quality permit to Georgia. The permit helped clear the way for deepening the Savannah port, which competes with Charleston’s port.

Lawmakers have decried the DHEC vote, claiming it will hurt South Carolina environmentally and economically. They say only the state Maritime Commission can approve the Savannah River proposal, and a lawsuit is in the works with state Attorney General Alan Wilson representing lawmakers’ viewpoint.

Haley, who appointed the DHEC board, has stood by the permitting decision. Her spokesman said the bill passed Tuesday oversteps the Legislature’s authority.

Gina Smith

‘I Believe’ license plates for sale

S.C. drivers can buy religious license plates that feature three crosses and a sunrise, 21 / 2 years after a federal judge declared a previous legislative effort for the “I Believe” tags unconstitutional.

The new tags are sponsored by the nonprofit group www.IBELIEVEsc.net as allowed under state law. Nonprofit spokeswoman Adrian Grimes said the new tag is a nonpolitical way for Christians of all denominations to share their faith.

In 2009, a federal judge ruled that “I Believe” tags that legislators created by state law violated the First Amendment ban on establishment of religion by government.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued over the 2008 law. A spokesman said the group sees no constitutional problem with these plates.

The Associated Press

Bill would suspend benefits for drug users

A measure suspending the unemployment benefits of anyone who fails a

drug test as part of a job application is heading to the S.C. House floor.

State law already disqualifies workers fired for drug use from collecting unemployment benefits.

The bill advanced Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee addresses those already receiving benefits. They would be suspended if a job seeker tests positive for illegal drugs while applying for a new job, and the prospective employer reports the failure to the state.

A Senate bill would require all jobless workers to pass a drug test to collect their benefits. But the U.S. Labor Department says that would conflict with federal law.

The Associated Press

House furloughed next week

Members of the S.C. House will take three days off without pay next week. The Tuesday-to-Thursday furlough, covering the Legislature’s normal work week, is expected to save taxpayers $50,000 in lawmaker pay.

House members are also expected to be on furlough the week before Easter and the week after Easter -- an additional $100,000 savings. Lawmakers have opted for furloughs in recent years because of the recession.

Gina Smith

Judges considering if lawmakers should testify

Attorneys for two of South Carolina’s top legislators say legislative privileges protect their clients from testifying in a lawsuit over the state’s new U.S. House districts.

“State legislators and their staff possess an absolute privilege against being questioned on their communications or deliberations concerning legislative activity,” attorneys for House Speaker Bobby Harrell and Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell argued in court papers filed Monday.

The Charleston Republicans are part of a lawsuit filed last year over new U.S. House district lines, including the state’s new 7th Congressional District along the coast.

The Department of Justice already has said it would not challenge the new layout.

However, six black voters are challenging the plan passed by the GOP-dominated state Legislature, claiming the plan “creates a system of voting apartheid in South Carolina that segregates white and black voters into election districts” and packs black voters into one congressional district. The suit asks the judicial panel to throw out the plan, make lawmakers draw a new one and bar any elections based on the plan.

The Associated Press