House Completes Their Work & Furloughs

Capitol Information Affiliates, LLC Volume XXVII Issue 11 March25, 2016

House Completes Their Work & Furloughs

Senate Finishes Refugee Bill with Compromise; Furloughs until April 5

House of Representatives Budget Debate Monday

Road Money

The House of Representatives began their budget debate Monday at 1pm. The first amendment impacted the Department of Motor Vehicles by transferring $100,000,000 in the current fiscal year from any available cash balances and from the earmarked and restricted funds collected from fees and fines retained by the agency for its operation to the State Highway Fund at the Department of Transportation. The department shall transfer the amount in four equal installments on a quarterly basis. For fiscal year 2016-17, all provisions of Title 56 of the 1976 Code related to the use of all fees and fines collected and retained by the department for its operations are suspended. Chairman White said the amendment takes the total for current road funds to $400+ million. Representative James Smith said it was a remarkable amendment. White said it was a response to the Senate’s actions. Smith said, “This will help DOT to do malfunction junction earlier.” Representative Cobb-Hunter asked if there would be an impact on services for the DMV and White responded that other provisos would make them whole. He added, “By doing this, DOT will be guaranteed money and can bond to do more road work.” He said it was the right thing to do to provide stable, long-term funding to the DOT. Representative Hill asked how the money would be used and White answered that DOT would “bond the dollars and they will have to move it to the SIB. We didn’t dictate what it would be used for.” The amendment was adopted. The House moved through Parts 1A and 1B and adopted sections carrying over sections with amendments. On Tuesday,White put the money back into the DMV later in the day via amendment 3D.The amendment gives the DOT permission to spend the $100,000,000. He also offered amendment 31 to allocate excess funds of $15,320,000 in nonrecurring funds to the DOT. He told Representative Ott that this was a good mix of money. Ott asked if allocations for alternatives – more sustainable funding – would be available in the future. White said, “Yes, but not at this time.” His amendment was adopted. Late Tuesday night, RepresentativeSimrill offered an amendment to use the auto sales tax for roads. He took 40% of the tax ($65,680,000) to go to roads. His amendment was adopted. Representative Simrill offered an amendment which takes the funding of $135 million from the County Transportation Funds and places it in the State Highway Fund for the purpose of the paving, rehabilitation, resurfacing or reconstruction of the primary road system. It further instructs the DOT to develop and implement a needs-based weighting methodology to allocate funding for the resurfacing of roads. While Representative Moss supported the amendment, Representative Walt McLeod did not. He said the money belongs to projects recently planned. He said, “We’re scraping. We won’t have a surplus next year. Let’s not put rural South Carolina on the block for sacrifice.” Representative Bamberg said he was torn on the issue because he is concerned about how the DOT chooses projects. Representative James Smith said the House was “not providing a secure source of funds.” The amendment was adopted. James Smith offered an amendment to increase the gas tax by 10¢ a gallon. He said they took an historic vote last year when they raised the

gas tax. Ott agreed and said his people don’t call it a tax; they call it a user fee. The amendment was tabled.

Budget Debate Tuesday

CHE

The House resumed their budget debate in Section 1A with amendment 19 for the Commissioner of Higher Education. Representative Taylor took point on the amendment to explain that they had formed an ad hoc committee and filed a bill to create a Board of Regents. He said the bill has been filed every session since 2003. He said the CHE has now “unified in purpose.” He added that they didn’t have staff. The amendment adds 14 specified staff and $1.4 million to fund them. “Trouble is coming because the model on higher education is based on enrollment and tuition has skyrocketed,” said Taylor. Representative Loftis spoke in support of the amendment saying that in years past, he was a critic of the CHE. He said the board members believe they have the leadership to turn it around.“If we don’t have a Regent system, CHE is the only alternative,” said Loftis. Representative Merrill spoke against the amendment saying they had approved $300,000 and three FTEs for the advisory council. He said the ad

hoc committee had no agreement and did not present a bill. Representative Clary said the CHE “has diminished and become largely ineffective. Taylor asked Merrill if he “brushed his teeth or sharpened them this morning” to a good deal of laughter in the Chamber. Merrill said they should have “a permanent director of CHE before we let an interim run it.” Loftis told Merrill he was an “excellent spin doctor.” Representative Walt McLeod said that in the system MUSC, USC and Clemson were the three gorillas “and the others are at the mercy of the gorillas.” He added, “Overtime you can give a little power to the CHE if you can sneak it by the gorillas.” He said he would vote for the amendment but it would not pass because the gorillas don’t want it. The amendment was tabled.

Department of Agriculture

Representative Norman introduced amendment 38 substitute. The amendment takes $1.1 million from the Department of Agriculture. He said the LAC had reviewed the history of their management and gave examples of poor agency management. He said it was “cronyism at its worst. The public is sick of this.” Representative Hiott disagreed with Norman. He said agriculture was at a difficult point and “we’re trying to get $40 million back to the farmers. Obviously, there is a personal issue between you and the commissioner.” Norman responded, “This is about management. It’s not personal.” He later added, “He’s giving away rent to friends. Are we going to hold them accountable?” Representative Bales agreed with Norman. Representative Simrill said the amendment had nothing to do with the Farmer’s Market. He said the $800,000 came from the marketing for the Certified SC Grown and he added the Agriculture Commissioner is elected and therefore accountable to the people. He said the $300,000 comes from the operating budget of the agency. The amendment was tabled.

Statewide Water and SewerFund

Chairman White offered an amendment which was adopted. It gives $4,250,000 million to water sewer grants. Later in the day in Part 1B, a proviso was passed allowing the disbursement of the monies.

Circuit Court Judges & Criminal Domestic Violence

Representative Pitts offered an amendment to create three new circuit court judges and ancillary staff to handle criminal domestic violence cases. Representative Clary said they had enough judges. Representative Hiott supported the amendment. Pitts said, “CDV cases will go from Magistrates Court to Circuit Court where there is a serious backlog of cases.” Pitts said this was a recommendation from the Governor’s budget. Representative Rutherford also supported the amendment but asked when the last time circuit court judges received a pay raise to which Pitts answered not in 15 years. The amendment was adopted. Representative Williams offered an amendment to place $400,000 in the area of criminal domestic violence which was tabled. Pitts offered another amendment to place $2,980,000 for the prosecution of criminal domestic violence. The amendment was adopted. A later amendment provided for disbursements of the funds to the circuits.

State Pay Raise

Chairman White offered an amendment which gave state employees an additional 1% pay raise for a total of a 2% pay raise for the year. He said they had put money aside for a tax cut and the “Senate didn’t go along with it.” He also said the committee had covered the employee’s insurance and is making the employer’s contribution to the state retirement system. Representative Neal said state employees are 18% behind the private sector. He said South Carolina has the lowest rate of pay in the Southeast to which White responded, “Over the years we tried to get the pay increase up. Your business is only as good as your employees.” Representative Southard said the 52% of state employees make less than $32,000 a year. Representative Cobb-Hunter said that state employees say its way past time that we should give them a raise. She said she sees the effort of Ways and Means as a starting point. The amendment was adopted. Cobb-Hunter offered an amendment to take the pay raise to 3%. She said she wanted to show the Senate that they are serious. White responded, “Are they going to pull out the money pouch?” He said there was no more money to which Cobb-Hunter replied the money was still there until the House passed a budget. Representative Hill moved the amendment was out of order because a state funding source is no longer available. Sitting as Speaker, Representative Pope sustained the point of order. Tuesday night, Representative Douglas offered an amendment to give additional pay increases to state employees making less than $75,000. Her amendment failed.

Local Government Fund

Representative Ott offered an amendment to increase the local government fund by $10,600,000. He said, “Until we pass the budget the money is there. When I put up the amendment the money was there.” Representative Hill said the pay raise took up all the money and made the point of order that a state funding source was not available. Speaker Lucas sustained the point of order using House Rule 5.3B. Representative Bamberg made the motion to recede for one hour so that members could rewrite their amendments. His motion was tabled by a vote of 66-45. Representative Southard offered the next amendment to fund local government at 4.5% with all available funds not appropriated. Hill said, “With budget surpluses, there was no excuse not to fully fund the local government fund. He made the same point of order which was sustained. Representative Atwater offered an amendment to fund local government by $4.5 million. He said Ways and Means had given them 1/100th of the budget and that

was not fair. Hill and Atwater discussed the lack of money. Representative Finlay asked if they were able to bind future legislatures. He said, “The 4.5% commitment is a promise that we cannot and should not meet. Atwater said they promised them predictability and “we’ve short them.” Atwater called the money a promise which offended Southard because it is in statute. Representative Herbkersman said local government did not ask for an increase. He said, “They asked for FEMA match for flood damage -$72 million. They were happy they were funded.” Representative Norman said the state was taking on burdens they did not have 30 years ago. Atwater said his point was they were not meeting their statutory obligations. White moved to table the amendment but the House refused to table the amendment. White said if the amendment passed, they would have to cut education, healthcare roads or they could eliminate the FEMA match. “Once we are out of balance, you’ll have to vote to cut dollars,” said White. Herbkersman said they were happy to get the FEMA match. Southard asked if the FEMA money had strings attached. White said no but they had to match under a 80/20 plan with local government paying the 20%. Representative Bamberg said, “Voting down amendments for expediency is disheartening for me. It makes zero sense to say we can’t vote on amendments if they get the budget out of balance.” A second vote killed the amendment. Atwater offered an amendment to increase the local government fund by $1 million and amendment was tabled. Ott offered an amendment to increase local government by $10.6 million with the money coming from the Highway Fund. His amendment was tabled. Representative King offered an amendment to increase local government by $4.9 million which was also tabled.

OCRM

Representative Murphy offered an amendment to instruct the OCRM to study the coastal zone boundary and report back to the General Assembly by January of 2017. He said the General Assembly will make any changes and that it could change the OCRM’s jurisdictions. The amendment was adopted.

Cutting Grass

Representative Hixon offered an amendment on the transfer of welcome centers from the DOT to Parks, Recreation and Tourism. “They don’t cut the right of way at exit 1,” said Hixon. He also offered that the amendment “makes sure that PRT cuts grass and the right of way. His amendment was adopted.

Shortage of CDL Licenses

Representative Bingham offered an amendment to have the Department of Commerce form a study committee to study the issue. He said, “You can get a CDL at the age of 18 but you can’t drive commercially over state lines. Drivers are 23 or 24 before they are hired.” The amendment was adopted.

Teacher Retention

Representative Hayes offered an amendment to take money from the Department of Education carry over monies and from their technology technical assistance program. The amendment allocates the $9,058,672 appropriated for districts with a poverty index of eighty percent or higher to provide for

Teacher Recruitment and Retention. The funds shall be allocated on a pro rata basis to each district based on the districts 45 day student enrollment count.

The bill was given second reading Tuesday and third reading Wednesday morning. The House of Representatives is furloughed and will be back in session April 12.

CRF

The House gave second reading, as amended, Tuesday night to H.5002, the Capital Reserve Fund. They amended the bill to replace the Department of Education Technology Technical Assistance money that they used for teacher retention in poverty stricken areas. They also amended the bill for $50,000 to preserve the USS Laffey. The House gave the bill a third reading Wednesday.

FOIA

The Senate Judiciary Committee met Tuesday and gave a favorable as amended report to S.913 regarding the Freedom of Information Act. Senator Larry Martin said there was currently no FOIA for body cameras. Senator Saab said the family may not want the video released to the media. Senator Hembree said, “If someone requests a video it will be disclosed unless law enforcement shows why it should not be disclosed.” Hembree amended the bill by adding language that says the court has the authority to interpret and consolidate the case. Exceptions to the amendment mirror federal language. The committee also adopted the subcommittee amendment.

Cockfighting

The Senate Judiciary Committee met Tuesday and gave a favorable as amended report to S.157 regarding cockfighting. The amendment increased the penalties for cockfighting and statesthey are not felonies but misdemeanors. It defines cockfighting and addresses minors. A minority report was placed on the bill.

Alimony

The Senate Judiciary Committee met Tuesday and gave a favorable report to S.1169 establishing two additional types of alimony – transitional and fixed term alimony. Senator Malloy said he thinks judges will use their discretion. Senator Rankin said a judge cannot set a fixed term of alimony under current law. Senator Allen said judges feel “strapped” in regard to fixed term alimony. Senator Bennett said he sometimes thinks judges “don’t have a real solid understanding of economics.” Senator Saab supports the bill saying, “In family court there needs to be creativity in handling alimony cases.” Senator Bright Matthews said they should put into the bill that women should never have to pay alimony. Senator Gregory told her they were trying to give judges more tools. Malloy said all they were talking about was money. Saab said he disagreed. Rankin said there was confusion on the bench and that lawyers support the legislation. Senator Campsen said, “I am tired of eroding the family unit in this country.” He said they were not addressing the elements a judge should consider.

Port Enhancement Zone

The Senate Finance Committee met Tuesday and gave a favorable report to S.0743, which creates a port enhancement zone to serve as a distribution hub for cargo shipped to and from the Port of Charleston. Senator Matthews and Burnie Maybank said they had been working on this bill for a long time and it will help the high poverty locations especially the I-95 corridor. The initial capital investment of $20 million for the distribution center would create 50 new full-time jobs to process a minimum of 5,000 shipping containers (TEU’s). The following counties would have census tracts that would qualify as port enhancement zones - Bamberg, Clarendon, Colleton, Dorchester, and Orangeburg.Taxpayers that qualify for the job tax credit and are located in a port enhancement zone are allowed an $1,000 credit for each new full-time job created. This additional credit is permitted for five years beginning in the taxable year following the creation of the job (the second year). Taxpayers that qualify for the job tax creditare allowed a job tax credit for each new full-time job created based upon the county in which the new job is located. The bill would lower the threshold to allow a taxpayer that creates and maintains at least fifty full-time new jobs in a port enhancement zone to petition for a moratorium on state corporate income taxes or insurance premium taxes for ten taxable years. If the number of full-time jobs falls below fifty full-time jobs in a port enhancement zone the tax moratorium shall cease.