News
Legislators face critical budget year in new session.
January 4, 2010
by Sarita Chourey
COLUMBIA — Amid efforts to raise South Carolina’s cigarette tax, change the unemployment-benefits system and prod the economy to life, lawmakers will face another critical budget year.
Senate Minority Leader John Land and others say budget worries will consume next year’s session, the second year of a two-year General Assembly.
“This coming session will be probably the most difficult session that I have participated in 35 years, because we have no money,” said the Manning Democrat.
Because of weak tax revenues, lawmakers will have to address a funding hole approaching $500 million as they craft the next $5 billion state budget. Some possible remedies are in the works.
This month, S.C. Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, and other caucus leaders, filed a bill to create a waste-targeting commission of lawmakers and business leaders to look for unnecessary services provided by the state.
With cost trimming will come the likelihood that lawmakers will be furloughed for a few weeks again this year, said House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham, R-Cayce. He said the caucus was not ready to release its formal agenda for the upcoming year but said, “First and foremost, we’ll focus on anything and everything we can do to grow South Carolina’s economy.”
Deep water
Meanwhile, lawmakers will also have to tackle legislation to create the state’s compact on the proposed Jasper Ocean Terminal. The deepwater port on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River would be owned by South Carolina and Georgia. Supporters have called it the greatest potential job creator in the state. Both states’ legislatures must approve a compact document and send it to Congress for approval.
Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R- Bluffton, who serves on the state’s Savannah River Maritime Commission, predicts South Carolina lawmakers will unite to get it done, but politics will factor into the process.
“We’re getting alot of cooperation from the people in Charleston on this,” Herbkersman said. “The political areas I see are between South Carolina and Georgia.”
Tensions between the two states persist over plans to deepen the Savannah River from 42 feet to 48, a project some South Carolinians view as a threat to the Jasper port, prompting some Georgians to be wary of obstructionism.
“In my mind the folks in South Carolina have really been pushing this hard,” said Herbkersman, referring to the compact work for the Jasper Ocean Terminal.
“It’s not that it’s on the back burner in Georgia, but it’s just not as big an importance to them as it is for us.”
Campaigning
Lawmakers this month voted not to impeach Gov. Mark Sanford, who has been under siege since confessing to a secret five-day trip to visit his Argentine mistress in June. But while the decision has siphoned some political fuel from the upcoming legislative year, the multitude of sitting state lawmakers who are campaigning for higher office brings its own energy.
Among the campaigners are gubernatorial hopefuls Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington, Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau, Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Camden; and those seeking a congressional seat: Sen. David Thomas, R-Greenville, Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, Rep. Rex Rice, R-Easley, and Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Clinton. Rep. Tim Scott, R-North Charleston, is running for lieutenant governor.
“What you should expect to see is some grandstanding by some of the candidates,” said Phil Bailey, spokesman for the S.C. Senate Democratic Caucus. “Folks who normally don’t take the floor on a particular issue may see it as an opportunity to get their name in the papers and get some free media.”
Land says to expect more empty desks on both chamber floors this year.
“But for those of us doing the daily lifting and so forth, that’s just a minor inconvenience,” he said. “If you’ve been ‘round the General Assembly long enough you know there are certain workhorses up there, and the same ones will be carrying the load again this time.”
But Bingham took a different view and said campaigners for higher office can bring added urgency to their statehouse activities.
“You’re very active. You’re very engaged with people, and you clearly hearwhat their concerns are,” he said. “It makes people more responsive and more willing to take action on issues that are important.”
Reach Sarita Chourey at sarita.chourey@morris.com or (803)727-4257
