Legislative action week of Jan. 27-Feb. 2
The 4th week of the session:
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: The House approved a bill clamping down on illegal immigration. It would require businesses to check their employees' status through a federal verification program or hire people with a valid driver's license. It would prohibit illegal immigrants from attending S.C. public colleges and would create a felony for hiding or transporting illegal workers. The Senate now will take up the bill.
TEACHERS-SEX ABUSE: Legislation to make sex between teachers and students a crime even if the teen is legally old enough to consent (16 or older) was approved Thursday in the House. Any high school employee or volunteer who has sex with a student can be charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to the bill.
HEALTH CARE BUSINESS: Small businesses and their employees received a boost last week with the House approving a bill that is aimed at lowering health care costs. The bill allows a group of at least 10 businesses to join together and negotiate cheaper insurance rates than an individual business. The state's Small Business Chamber of Commerce favors the state setting up the cooperative and negotiating for cheaper rates for tens of thousands of employees in small businesses statewide.
HEALTH INSURANCE: A group of insurance, medical and business groups released a plan Tuesday that could begin covering the estimated 700,000 South Carolina residents without health insurance. The Covering Carolina Collaborative wants to give tax breaks to businesses, expand Medicaid coverage and pool together residents considered uninsurable due to their poor health.
SANFORD-DUI VIDEO: Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford released a video Monday on YouTube that features a woman talking about her 5-year-old son, who was killed by a drunken driver while riding his bicycle in 2005. The governor said the video was meant to make the DUI issue more real for residents. Legislation meant to toughen the state's weak drunken driving laws is in a Senate subcommittee. It passed the House last year.
ALLIGATOR HUNTING: A bill that makes it easier for property owners to kill alligators on their land and set up a special hunting season for the animals received key approval Thursday in the House. Allowing people to kill gators is necessary in South Carolina because they are threatening people and pets, said Sen. Larry Grooms, the bill's chief sponsor. The Department of Natural Resources estimates there are about 100,000 alligators in the state.
SUPREME COURT SEAT: Court of Appeals Judge John Kittredge is set to become the state's next Supreme Court justice when legislators vote Wednesday. The Greenville native is the lone candidate after Appellate Court Chief Judge Kaye Hearn withdrew Thursday.
GANG PREVENTION: Saying criminal gangs are endangering communities across South Carolina, state Attorney General Henry McMaster released five recommendations Wednesday for combatting the growing threat. Curbing the gang problem will require learning more from gang members and creating a network of churches, schools and social services, the state's top prosecutor said.
FIRE SPRINKLERS: Taxpayers could get credits if they retrofit their homes and businesses with fire sprinkler systems under a measure heading to the House floor. The bill notes that fire sprinklers greatly reduce property loss and the chances of someone dying in a fire. The proposal, which gives up to $50,000 in tax credits to offset the cost of buying and installing fire sprinklers, was approved Wednesday by the House Ways and Means Committee.
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY: The South Carolina House officially congratulated Illinois Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday for winning the state's Democratic presidential primary last weekend. The resolution noted the enthusiasm for the contest between Obama, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Seneca native former N.C. Sen. John Edwards created record turnout for Democrats. The Jan. 26 primary had nearly 250,000 more voters than the race four years ago.
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Comments
This article has 9 comment(s)
Posted by skyguy51 on February 3, 2008 at 8:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
H.4400 has no sanctions against PRIVATE employers, only employers doing business with the state of SC. It also preempts local ordinances such as Dorchester County's ordinance. It would be nice the the P & C reporters would read these bills first.
Posted by KidYendor on February 3, 2008 at 12:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I would appreciate the P&C putting the bill number of legislative bills they are writing about in their stories. There are varying bills concerning illegal immigrants and it gets a bit confusing discerning others from the one that is the subject matter.
Posted by carolinadude on February 3, 2008 at 10:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
THIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND APPARENTLY THIS PAPER BELIEVE THAT THE PEOPLE OF SC ARE STUPID. WE KNOW THAT THIS IS A BILL THAT'S OF THE CHAMBER, BY THE CHAMBER AND FOR THE CHAMBER. WELL MAYBE WE ARE STUPID FOR LEAVING HARRELL AND THE REST OF THOSE BOZOS IN THE LEGISLATURE. IT'S KNOWN THAT THE SENATE IS THE "DELIBEERATIVE BODY". HOPEFULLY THAT GROUP IS TO A LESSER DEGREE "BOUGHT AND PAID FOR" THAN HARRELL'S CROWD. WE'LL SEE!
Posted by carolinadude on February 3, 2008 at 10:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sky Guy,
You're absolutely correct. These reporters become part of the problem when they haven't researched their subject matter. There are no sanctions against the "lawbreaker employers" because the Chamber instructed them accordingly.
80% of South Carolinians are for comprehensive immigration reform including severe penalties against the employers who hire the illegals. Our "legislator representatives" however choose to represent the 20% who line their pockets. Enough said!
Posted by signstation100 on February 4, 2008 at 1 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Senate Judiciary Committee, under Sen. Ritchie's guidance, had 4 statewide meetings this fall, to gauge citizen opinion. Hopefully, they will use this knowledge to improve on the House bill and make it something we will all be happy with. Any law is only as good as the enforcement behind it. If McCain, Obama, or Billary win El Presidente', you can kiss this and all other state bills goodbye-unless we use our state's rights with perhaps the Constitutional Convention, and pitchforks, to regain our sovereignty. KWL
Posted by signstation100 on February 4, 2008 at 1:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The bill which allows property owners to kill alligators on their land is short sighted. There is a natural selection of the "BULL" in an area and people do not know how to know which one that is. If they accidentally kill the bull, the other males will get confused, fight for leadership, and likely exhibit behavior unusal to them. This may cause attacks and chaotic behavior in a particular pond which could be dangerous to human residents. I recommend calling the Dept of Natural Resources for assistance in selecting which gators to kill. kwl
Posted by mrsnipe on February 4, 2008 at 2:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sham Immigration Bill Passed by SC House
It is nauseating to read the Chamber of Commerce House Bill that Speaker Bobby Harrell pushed through the full house. Senator McCain sound-alike Harrell denied several legislators their right to introduce amendments that would have given South Carolinians an immigration bill like Tennessee or Arizona.
Private employers received a "Free Pass" and free ride. The bill does not address the hiring of illegals by private employers who do no business with the state. The greedy poultry processors, construction contractors, hospitality industry, farmers, and landscapers get a free ride, as long as they don't do business with the state or municipalities. The bill only penalizes, minimally, companies that hire illegals AND do business with the state. A whopping 10% penalty is assessed if a company with a state contract hires illegal aliens. Furthermore, local ordinances that penalize companies that hire illegal aliens are forbidden. Legislators need to represent the people, even if they lose their committee assignments.
Representative Joe Neal, a Democrat, called the bill a sham, and a deceitful tactic against the people of South Carolina. "We didn't even require them to lose the contract or fire the illegal immigrants," said Neal, D-Hopkins.
The Chamber of Commerce did not want private employers on the bill. Let me repeat this: The Chamber of Commerce does not want our legislators to pass a law that would go after private employers that hire illegals. Since when did we elect the Chamber of Commerce to be our representatives and senators? Folks, we need to make examples of these political cowards who continue to betray us. Are we going to give these house members a free ride or are we going to find candidates to challenge them in the upcoming June primary? What went on behind "closed doors" is a national disgrace.
Amend or put back in S392 the following:
---to include penalties for private employers (Tennessee and Arizona's Laws do this). These employers are the number one magnet of illegal aliens.
---to delete the phase in period for businesses. All businesses, regardless of the number of employees should be penalized for the hiring of the illegals.
---that you want local governments to have the right to make stronger ordinances. The Chamber of Commerce Does Not Want This!
---make it a felony to transport, conceal, harbor or shelter an illegal alien. I believe this is in the version that will be going to senate. But it won't hurt to remind them that we want this as part of the final version.
Terry Payne
Lowcountry Minuteman Civil Defense Corp
22 Hillcreek Blvd
Charleston, SC 29412
mrsnipe@comcast.net
Cell: 843-475-1100
Posted by cherylharris on February 4, 2008 at 6:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The SC Illegal immigration Bill is nothing more that 40 pages of sham. It does nothing to rid our state of the illegal invaders.
There are over 40 million illegal invaders in our country and over 500,000 are in SC.
Our government does not want us to know about this because they know that if they stall long enough the North American Union will be in place by 2010.
These illegal invaders kill over 9,000 US citizens every year. That is over 52,000 since 9-11.
They molest hundreds of our children.
They rape, rob and injure hundreds of thousands of our citizens every season.
Their presence is costing US taxpayers between 400 and 600 billion dollars annually.
By the inaction and unwillingness of, not only the SC state legislature but every state and federal legislature, to rid our state and these United States of these invaders we hold these men and women complicit to each and everyone of these crimes.
We hold you culpable to every tax payer dollar spent on foreign nationals and not spent on our citizens.
We hold you culpable to every murder, rape, robbery and all harm to every US citizen caused by these illegal invaders.
We ask that the citizens of this state and every state vote out every single one that does not pass and fund a bill to e-verify every worker before March 15, 2008 and immediately stop all federal and state aid and immediately stop giving citizenship to the children of these illegal invaders and make it retroactive back to 1990.
I, for one, will no longer vote for those that are complicit to rape, robbery and murder.
Posted by carolinadude on February 4, 2008 at 11:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I would like to commend the individuals making the above comments for your firm and exemplary stand against the forces of corruption within our state government which is more widespread than most of the general public realizes. Palmetto Man above expressed his desire that the FBI would conduct another undercover operation in Columia. Well "Operation Lost Trust" was conducted by the U.S. Attorney's office led at that time by the present SC Attorney General McMaster. The U.S. Attorney's office has been vacated twice in the last year, first by Strom Thurmond Jr., and most recently by Reginald Lloyd who recently was appointed to head SLED by Gov Sanford. There's been no continuity in that office. Therefore i believe that the only solution to reform this government is to "vote the rascals out". Again, I salute each of you for your expressed insight into this grave matter facing SC and our nation.