The sun has almost set on the 2008 legislative session, leaving local lawmakers looking at several key issues on the horizon, including coping with a slumping economy, reforming the tax structure and finally passing a cigarette tax increase.
“That was the number one failure,” said state Sen. John Matthews, D-Bowman, of not overriding Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of the cigarette tax increase this session.
Sanford vetoed the bill because he wanted revenue from the increase to be used for tax cuts. The General Assembly wanted the money to go toward expanding health care.
House Minority Leader Rep. Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, said while that was a big disappointment, the Legislature did accomplish quite a bit with a limited budget.
“We were able to do as much as we could for public education,” said Ott, noting the Legislature was able to fully fund base student costs and continue the 4-K pilot program.
State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, counted the replacement of the much-maligned PACT test with a more diagnostic test as a victory.
“It was clear that PACT was an idea whose time had passed,” Cobb-Hunter said.
In terms of higher education, Matthews believes funding is insufficient, which he said is leading to tuition increases at the state’s public institutions. This is further widening the gap between an affordable education and access for college-aspiring students, according to Matthews.
“We will see less and less students going to college,” he said.
Ott says that outsourcing jobs, spikes in mortgage payments and gas costs are directly impacting the state’s bottom line this year, which in turn impacts all state-funded agencies. It is a phenomenon he expects to continue until the bleak economic forecast changes course.
“Unless we find some solutions to those issues, we will continue to see less money in state coffers,” Ott said.
Next session, Ott proposes that all state-funded programs be evaluated to assess their effectiveness and importance. He believes applying funding based on those evaluations would be more prudent than this year’s practice of equally cutting funding across the board for everything.
State Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, said, “On the bright side of things, even in light of the harsh economic circumstances, we were able to edge out a small raise for state employees.”
This year, the General Assembly passed a bill placing stiff penalties on businesses that hire illegal immigrants. Those penalties range from a $1,000 fine for first-time offenders to shutting down a business for habitual ones.
State Sen. Brad Hutto said the federal government’s inability to pass comprehensive immigration reform forced the state’s hand to pass its own legislation.
“It’s limited reform, but it’s really not a state issue. We addressed what we could ... It only addresses 5 percent at best of the issue,” Hutto said of the bill. “Until Congress and the president address this in Washington, nothing is really going to change.”
What are some of the items on the agenda for local lawmakers next year?
Passing the cigarette tax increase will remain priority number one, and state Rep. Bakari Sellers, D-Denmark, predicts there will be enough votes next year to override a potential veto from Sanford.
Sellers cites providing more infrastructure to the state’s rural areas to boost economic development as a vital initiative as well.
Matthews said it is important to pass tax structure reform and change the funding formula for public schools in the near future to create a fairer system.
Hutto says any new tax structure needs to be looked at from a holistic approach, so it does not favor one group over another.
That’s a move he thinks should solve the funding inequity among the state’s public schools.
Without a significant industrial tax base, rural school districts like Bamberg and Allendale will always stagger behind under the current system, Hutto said. “It should be looked at from a equity basis, regardless if the county is rich or poor.”
Cobb-Hunter is on a study committee investigating ways to make public education funding more equal among districts.
“I’m hopeful we can come up with recommendations that are fair and reasonable,” she said. But she did note that money alone would not solve all of public education’s issues because parents must become more involved.
Govan wants lawmakers to be more aggressive in addressing the energy crisis on the state level, saying South Carolina should not wait for the federal government to act.
He says he also wants to build on the economic development taking place in Orangeburg County and the economically depressed area along the I-95 corridor.
In 2009, Matthews will seek to pass two bills he introduced this session.
One bill would change the language in the state’s constitution to require schools provide a “high-quality education.” Currently, the state requires that schools provide a “minimally adequate education.”
Matthews hopes a petition in favor of the measure will garner a million signatures. The change will have to be approved by voters since it’s a constitutional amendment.
The senator also has a bill that would reshape how the South Carolina State University trustees are selected. The bill proposes that three trustees on the 13-member board be selected by the university’s alumni association.
The bill passed the Senate but never made it out of a House panel that struck down similar legislation from Govan earlier this year.
“Some people are playing with it in the House for political reasons,” Matthews said.
And Govan said, “Even though it was introduced and didn’t pass, it creates the framework to do some positive things when we return.”
n T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached by e-mail at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-534-1060. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.