Legislative eNews-JUNE 22, 2007

LOCAL

Bluffton Town Council Passes Important Ordinances

 
The Bluffton Town Council this week passed two ordinances in addition to its annual budget. 
 
The budget, included a 2 mill decrease for property owners.  The Council reserved the opportunity to finally set the town's millage rate until later in the summer when key economic data is obtained from the state.
 
The Town Council then moved to pass its stormwater ordinance which makes changes to the town's design which will alter the way the town and developers consider new projects.  The new guidelines call for significant new erosion controls and testing during and after project completion.
 
The Council also approved a new zoning code for the historic district called the Old Town Master Plan.
More information on these important ordinances can be found at www.townofbluffton.com.
 
Town of Hilton Head
 
At the Town Council meeting on Tuesday, Mayor Peeples indicated that the town will work with the county on an agreement to give the town a greater voice on airport issues relating to the Hilton Head Regional Airport.  The agreement would take the place of making changes to its LMO. 
 
The Mayor announced outlines of the agreement, but more detail will be announced after further negotiations with all the interested parties.
 
Beaufort County New State Senator Chosen
 
On Tuesday, Catherine Ceips captured the District 46 Senate seat.  Ceips received almost 78 percent of the vote.  Democrat Terry Thompson garnered 16 percent and Libertarian Greg Grazianni close to 6 percent.   District 46 has 76,627 registered voters and about 108,000 people of voting age, with 12 percent of registered voters voting in this election. Senator Ceips was sworn into office on Thursday. 

STATE

 
SC Legislature Passes Budget, Workers Compensation Reform, and SCDOT
 
In special session this week the SC Legislature passed the following:
 
· A $7.4 billion budget that includes the elimination of the sales tax on groceries, beginning November 1, and an income tax reduction for the lowest 2 percent of wage earners.  The budget also includes the following business-supported items: $167.5 million for the port access road;$2.4 million for harbor dredging at the Port of Charleston; $17.1 million for 4-year-old kindergarten and First Steps; $20.9 million for the Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA); $1.2 million for CATT training; $14 million for the Governors School for Science and Mathematics; $3.6 million for the Virtual Learning Center; $1 million for apprenticeship programs;$30 million for Medicaid maintenance; $22 million for the South Carolina Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a total of $30 million for the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism for advertising, marketing, and new product development, and $7 million for the South Carolina Department of Commerce Closing Fund.  The budget also includes a provision that will allow retail businesses to open on Sunday, at their discretion, by reducing the threshold on county accommodations taxes to qualify for the elimination of the retail sales restrictions. 
 
· The legislative also passed a plan to reform the state's workers compensation system.  The reform legislation represents a positive step forward for the business community and includes orderly dissolution of the Second Injury Fund, effective July 1, 2007.  Strong language for repetitive trauma is included, as is the correction of all court cases that have significantly weakened workers' compensation law in recent years.  The legislation also provides for a rebuttal presumption for the 50 percent back rule and fraud provisions for both employers and employees.  A new appellate procedure was established, in which appeals from the commission now will be sent to the Court of Appeals instead of the Circuit Courts.  The compromise legislation also releases trucking companies from liability in accidents involving independent contractors.
 
· The House and Senate also agreed on a South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) restructuring plan this week but did not include funding for the maintenance of South Carolina's failing secondary road and bridge network.  The final reform package gives the governor control over the top three levels of the SCDOT and contains criteria for ranking road projects.
 
Lawmakers will return to Columbia on Thursday, June 28, to deal with gubernatorial vetoes.

FEDERAL

 

Immigration Bill Back on the Senate Agenda

After pulling the bipartisan immigration reform bill off the floor in early June, Senate supporters and the Bush Administration agreed on a process to bring the comprehensive immigration bill back to the Senate floor next week, perhaps as early as Tuesday.  The agreement would allow 20 amendments from supporters and opponents of the bill.  The agreement gives supporters of the bill until July 4 to complete action on the immigration bill.