Know your state lawmakers

Rep. Annette Young

Young, 55, has served House District 98 since 1991 for Charleston and Dorchester counties. She is first vice chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee as well as first vice chairwoman of the Legislature's Joint Bond Review Committee. Young, who is from Summerville, is president of Young Enterprises and a graduate of R.B. Stall High School. She was active in several parent-teacher associations, was chairwoman of the Dorchester County Republican Party and served as House Majority Leader in 1995. She has also received the Order of the Palmetto and was named Dorchester County Representative of the Year in 1986.

Young and her late husband, Roger Allen Young, have two children, Robert, who is married to Summer, and Kristina Cook, who is married to Bob Cook. Young is a member of Dorchester Presbyterian Church.

DOT just the tip of the iceberg, Young says

Question: What is your top priority this year?

Answer: As soon as I heard of the waste and deception at the state Department of Transportation, it's been all about reforming the DOT. They were wasting and hiding millions in tax dollars. Fixing this agency is my clear priority.

(The Legislature passed a reform package. Young led a team of House members who began investigating the agency in November.)

It was a great restructuring bill, giving the governor the Cabinet form, which is something he wanted. That means there will be someone governing the 5,000 employees at the DOT. We set qualifications for the commissioners and required a priority approval system for projects, making sure the roads to nowhere stop.

We had 18 meetings before we brought it to committee and passed it unanimously out of the House, and unanimously out of conference committee, too.

Q: What is the most common complaint your constituents call about? What can you do to alleviate their concerns?

A: Transportation. Our roads are in bad shape with all the growth and I tried to fix it by getting additional dollars for the DOT next year. I plan on introducing a bill next year that will take the car tax to go to roads. It's close to $100 million. We've got to have a recurring revenue stream for (the Senate) to support it.

Q: What are your political ambitions?

A: My ambition is to serve my constituents in Summerville and Dorchester County, the people I have been serving in District 98 for the last 17 years. There is no other job I'd rather have.

Q: How do you spend your Saturday nights?

A: My Saturday nights I spend normally with my kids for dinner or I am at Folly Beach at my condo. I have a big family with lots of birthdays, and we always try to celebrate them on Saturday night.

Q: What's the most creative way you could propose to generate new revenue for the state?

A: The fundamental flaw with this question is assuming the state needs new revenue. With $1.5 billion in new revenue this year, revenue is not the problem. It's finding a creative way to give it back to the taxpayers. The General Assembly has done that by passing both the income tax cut and eliminating the grocery tax. This is $221 million of permanent tax cuts.

Q: What is the least effective government agency and how can it be made more effective?

A: It was time to stop the waste and ineffectiveness of (the DOT). The DOT is just the tip of the iceberg. Every agency should be examined and re-examined, every dollar spent from (the Department of Health and Environmental Control) to the Department of Education.

The Sunset Commission is set up to review every agency to see if it's still needed. I am a big supporter of cutting government, not growing government.

Reach Yvonne M. Wenger at ywenger@postandcourier.com or 803-799-9051.