Bill Herbkersman - SC House - District 118

From the House

2012-02-08T16:01:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

Last week was a lot of hurry up and wait as we plow through the preliminaries before the rough and tumble of budget talks. My previous report on Health and Human Services and Director Tony Keck’s presentation before my Ways and Means subcommittee was an example of how state and national trends are playing out in South Carolina. The projected rise in overall health care costs nationwide is driving a serious effort to employ technology to keep those costs from overwhelming budgets from households all the way to Medicare and Medicaid.

Beaufort County is at the forefront of these cost saving efforts. There is CareCore, of course. It is a state-of-the-art medical service allocation system. There is also an outfit on Hilton Head Island that uses advanced communications technology and focuses on a few common illnesses, such as ear infections. They save countless dollars in emergency room visits by having a qualified nurse taking care of problems over the phone. There are several similar protocols in service locally that are having great success by helping to increase utilization of expensive medical equipment by scheduling patients more efficiently. Wait times go down and utilization goes up.

Also, the combination of a desirable quality of life for service providers and an older, relatively affluent population results in more doctors wanting to relocate here. For example, a good friend of ours, Dr. David Rowe, recently moved down from Tennessee to manage the Pain Center at the Okatie Outpatient Center. As we become more known for our excellent healthcare facilities and outstanding doctors, that reputation serves to attract larger numbers of seniors and retirees to our area. That virtuous cycle tends to build on itself with a resultant increase in medical related jobs coming to Beaufort County.

One of my legislative goals for this session is to work with my friend Murrell Smith (R-Sumter), along with HHS Director Tony Keck, to see if we can reduce the regulatory impediments so that even more of the cutting edge medical industry locates in our state, and particularly in our part of the Lowcountry. High quality personnel staffing innovative medical facilities, using the best record keeping technology, equals better care at lower cost. It also creates high paying jobs and a much enhanced quality of life for residents and visitors.

Finally, I have sad news to report. Keith Marsh, the son of Chris and Barbara Marsh, passed away unexpectedly last week. Mary and I hold these good people in our prayers. As parents, we feel the anxiety of our nearly grown children making their way in the world and we are acutely aware of our inability to always be there to protect them from harm. Those wishing to may make a donation in Keith’s name at Family Promise of Beaufort County (www.familypromisebeaufortcounty.org).

Most folks know that Dr. Chris Marsh is a mainstay of the regional environmental community. As executive director of the Lowcountry Institute, located at Spring Island, Chris has worked tirelessly to increase our understanding of the natural features that make our part of the world so special. In fact, Chris Marsh is my primary advisor on all things having to do with water quality and habitat preservation as it relates to the state’s role in preserving our natural treasures.

Next week, I’ll begin my budget commentary, as well as give you an update on new additions to the Promenade.

From the House

2012-02-01T11:01:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

A fairly productive week in the House of Representatives as we wade into the hearings and presentations that will guide the particulars of our budget preparation. One of the very few positive aspects of three years of serious budget reductions is the fact that we are getting better at doing more with less. Now that there is a little more revenue, I want to continue championing the frugality that began as necessity, and look at how we can keep the austerity mindset as we structure our finances.

We have an ally in this mission in Tony Keck, Director of Health and Human Services. Tony’s budget recommendations last week were a study in how we can take better care of our most vulnerable citizens while still holding the line on expenditures. His experience and creativity have made him a standout at HHS, not only for his ability to do more with less, but also in his judgment concerning what areas can be reduced with the least disruption to the client population.

Another matter that is of great concern to this representative has to do with the status of Highway 170 and Highway 278 in Beaufort County. In fact, for some time now, those roads and their respective futures have been in the top three topics of your emails and phone calls to my office. At this writing, my meetings with SCDOT and the Infrastructure Bank seem to be heading toward a very positive outcome. I don’t want to be too specific until we can be sure of our position. For now, let’s just say that the financial markets are such that bonding costs are at historic lows and contractors are certainly bidding as though they want to work for us. Stay tuned on this one.

For some time, I have been troubled by what appears to be our state’s sacrifice of any leverage we might have had relating to the creation of the Jasper Port, the competitiveness of the Port of Charleston, as well as the health of Savannah River. As a member of the Savannah Maritime Commission, tasked by the Speaker with protecting the interests of our state in all matters having to do with what happens on or about the tidal portion of the Savannah River, I was curious (to say the least) about the DHEC board’s reversal of staff findings on the potential dredging in the Savannah River. As a commissioner, it was somewhat disconcerting to read in the paper what had occurred in a half-hour board meeting in Greenville; reversing an eight-month-old decision made by environmental professionals after thousands of man-hours of study and many months of careful deliberation.
Apparently, my discomfort was shared by every other member of the House as well. After remarks by my friend, Jim Merrill (R-Daniel Island), the House voted unanimously to retroactively remove any authority on dredging from the DHEC board. For an appointed board to take such a decision without consultation with elected representatives of the people of South Carolina is not my kind of governance. This is especially egregious considering that currently one in five jobs in our state is related to ports activity, not to mention the fact that the bulk of the drinking water in Beaufort and Jasper counties comes from the Savannah River. Friends, I know that politics can be maddening at times, but this little episode makes the Manhattan $26 trinket deal look reasonable.

From the House

2012-01-26T09:29:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

The second week of session was productive, in my view, less for what was done than what was said. With a little more income flowing into the state coffers, we are now having the conversations, sometimes debates, about what needs to happen. After three years of often excruciating agency cuts, do we try and return a modicum of functionality to the fiscal skeletons of Health and Human Services, Education, DHEC, or SCDOT? Or do we try to spark growth by reducing corporate and income taxes? There seem to be a few members representing these viewpoints, while most participants, including your representative, think that we can do a bit of both.

What we cannot do is fall into the trap of thinking that our sputtering recovery is going to support everyone’s pet projects while we cut taxes and revenue to the point where any economic dislocation of even a short duration has us scrambling to pay our bills and keep our promises. We have shown we can live through adversity, now let’s demonstrate that we can be smarter about a return to relative prosperity. For once, I am modestly optimistic that we have learned the lessons of fiscal austerity: to differentiate between our wants and what we actually need. As we go further into the budgeting process, we’ll see if my optimism is justified.

On to local matters with statewide implications. We have heard from quite a number of people on the proposed casino in Hardeeville. While this proposal is for a casino not technically in District 118, it will be become so next year after the redistricting takes place. Also, the proposed casino is literally next door to Sun City, and those residents certainly have an interest in this matter.

I am not opposed to gambling per se. If you are interested you might go to my web site and check out a couple of columns from March of 2009 where I dealt with the issue. My unofficial polling then revealed a general consensus in favor of well-regulated gambling, such as horse or dog racing. The margin was something like 8 to 1 in favor. My thinking has always been that this is a matter of Home Rule. What might be absolutely unacceptable to folks in Newberry, might be highly desirable for residents of Hardeeville or Sun City.

Also, what constitutes “well-regulated” is a crucial detail. My friend, Paula Harper Bethea has done a fantastic job of running the South Carolina Education Lottery, which contrasts vividly with our experience with video poker.

If you have thoughts on what “well-regulated gambling” means, or if you have had experience with gambling in areas where you may have lived, please call me, write me, or preferably email me. If you see good possibilities, say so. If you think there is no such thing as “well-regulated gambling” and gambling makes for unsavory business, say it.

District 118 is blessed with many smart people of different backgrounds and experience who are good enough to share their thoughts on these matters. I know I go to the well pretty often, but you never disappoint me.

As an example, I had a good email conversation last week with a fellow whose name you would recognize. He is a frequent “letter to the editor” contributor whose comments I follow and often admire. He is bright, articulate and passionate about things we both seek to make better. We just happen to represent different areas along the political spectrum. I can admire his letters and opinions but still disagree strongly, and usually do. While I am generally in the mainstream of local political thought and he is somewhat outside that mainstream, I need to hear from him. A good diversity of conviction is essential for civic progress. Let me hear from you!

From The House

2012-01-18T09:13:00.000-05:00

Bluffton Today

We reconvened the session last week at the statehouse with a lot of housekeeping and disposition of matters held over from the previous year. One of those matters was the veto of Senate Bill 211, the I-95 Corridor Authority Act. This was a measure that had been in the works for several years that finally was passed and vetoed by the governor. We adjourned before the House could vote on whether to sustain or override the veto.

One of the frequently asked questions that I get at speaking engagements is why some things take such a long time to go from the initial idea to legislation to statute. The I-95 Authority Act is the perfect example of why important legislation should take a long time. The process is intentionally cumbersome because it is immeasurably more difficult to repeal and unwind legislation with many moving parts than it is to revisit the idea several times before passage. Ask the real estate folks about ACT 388.

You may remember a number of years ago when PBS aired a documentary on the I-95 corridor through our state, the so-called “Corridor of Shame.” It was a wrenching expose of failing schools and dismal economies in the mostly rural counties bordering along I-95 from Jasper County to Williamsburg County. It somewhat followed the Abbeville School District v. State of South Carolina lawsuit then making its way through the courts. The legislative response was to initiate a needs assessment process with the intent of creating a sort of special purpose district to focus on the problems highlighted by the media and judicial attention. The final product of the process was the proposed creation of the I-95 Corridor Authority. The authority would be funded by state tax money, as well as federal and private grants. It would have an appointed board, which could hire folks and enter into contracts. It was essentially a quasi-government within our state government. It would be tasked with improving education and economic development within its area of operation. At the time, it seemed like a serious, reasonable approach to tackling historically intractable problems in focus areas of rural South Carolina.

While the intent of the authority was certainly laudable, many of us had reservations about the transparency of an unelected authority spending state dollars, which were also commingled with private and federal moneys. Those dollars would be dispersed as “grants” to various entities, some of which had better financial controls than others. The original legislation went through a number of iterations during several sessions, finally passing last year, only to culminate in a veto by the governor.

Your legislator and many others wrestled with this idea. We sought the advise of constituents and spoke with public officials in our state and in other states where similar ideas had been tried. My thinking finally crystallized around the notion that the authority was a poor solution to a very difficult and historic problem. The problems of the I-95 corridor are essentially similar to those in much of rural South Carolina, varying only by degree. To create an unaccountable governmental entity to address one area, with built-in political and oversight complexities, just didn’t seem like the proper way to go. What once seemed idealistic and innovative, in the clarity of hindsight, seemed hopelessly vulnerable to the vagaries of unintended consequences.

Consequently, on the first day of session, after a brief caucus, your delegation fanned out to work the floor in favor of sustaining the veto. By a vote of 76-47, we carried the day.

In summary, both education and economic development will be addressed in all of our state, not simply along a particular road. An authority might have seemed a good idea in 2009, but by 2012, its weaknesses were glaringly self-evident. In my view, we didn’t just dodge a bullet, it was a howitzer shell.

From the House

2012-01-11T09:13:00.003-05:00

Bluffton Today

I am immensely grateful for all the kind phone calls and emails concerning last week’s column. Not only were folks amazingly understanding of our family situation and how we chose to handle it, many were good enough to share similar stories and how they ultimately became “teaching moments” in their families. Mary and I are deeply touched and humbled by your kindness and empathy.

As some of my friends in Columbia are starting to realize, transparency is often difficult and sometimes even a little embarrassing. The “public” in “public official” often means that one’s expectation of personal privacy is different from that of a private citizen. You have chosen me as your representative in our state government and my consistency and integrity are part of what you hired me for. If there are times when I fall short of the mark or make a mistake, you will hear it from me. If I need to explain or apologize, it will happen immediately with no spin, no rationalizations, and no excuses.

Another popular topic in our constituent contacts last week had to do with the roads around Sun City, both the horrendous stretch along Highway 170 from the back gate to the Bluffton Parkway and Highway 278 from Sun City to I-95. One of the calls was from my good friend Eileen Brenner. Eileen wanted an explanation as to why the quality of the pavement in the relatively new portion of 278 from the front gate of Sun City to I-95 seemed to be deteriorating. I immediately called SCDOT to see if this was something on their radar. It was not then, but is now. When there is good information to pass along, you will be the second to know. Eileen will be the first.

In the ten years I have been your representative, the Bluffton area of Beaufort County has grown in population dramatically. Our transportation needs have grown along with our population. I am proud to say that our share of road construction has pretty much kept pace, with a few glaring exceptions, with our growing population as well as our increased popularity with visitors. In truth, much of the heavy lifting in this area is due to the diligence of my friend Weston Newton, Chairman of Beaufort County Council. While I have had good success in repatriating many of the state gas tax dollars leaving our county back to our county, Chairman Newton has made countless trips to Washington over the years to make our case before our federal delegation, usually successfully.

Unfortunately, Chairman Newton and I have been working against a road building and maintenance regime that has historically allocated scarce resources according to population rather than usage. Consequently, more densely populated upstate areas seemed to receive more attention than our overburdened roads, even though much of our traffic involved visitors supporting the tourist economy. It has taken longer than I would have liked, but we are now approaching parity with our upstate neighbors.

Today is the second day of the new session. While those of us in leadership have been hard at it during most of the summer and fall, the rank and file members have arrived and are settled in. The caucuses have met and organized, ready to take up the people’s business. For your Beaufort County Delegation, this is going to be a stellar session.

Join me in this space every Wednesday to hear not only what is happening in your House of Representatives, but also what it means for you, your family and your state.

From the House

2012-01-04T01:17:00.000-05:00

Bluffton Today

The colored lights are taken down and returned to their home in the attic for another eleven months. The Christmas tree has been reduced to mulch and placed around the azaleas. The holidays are behind us and the new year is looking bright and full of promise. Session begins in less than a week and your legislator and your delegation are ready to begin a truly productive several months on your behalf.

Last year, my office fielded and processed over 15,000 constituent contacts. That is almost a 20% increase over the previous year. Many of those emails, calls and letters were requests for information or help in navigating the unfortunately complex web of state government. A great number of your calls were in response to my requests for your opinions of the issues of the day. We are blessed with a tremendously efficient two-way communication in District 118. You tell me what you need or don’t need from your state government, and it is my duty and my pleasure to make your wishes the centerpiece of our legislative agenda. We’re confident that 2012 will continue as another example of how the good ideas of our people find voice in the General Assembly.

One of the issues that I have been particularly strong on over the years is one that I inherited from a political mentor, former Rep. JoAnne Gilham from Hilton Head. The culmination of Rep. Gilham’s service in the state house was a measure she originally sponsored that sought to close many of the loopholes in our DUI law. While JoAnne’s bill ultimately passed, it was seriously diluted in committee and was far from her goal. Subsequently, I, along with the Beaufort County delegation, have continued to work diligently to reform the DUI statute, consulting with Sheriff Tanner and Bluffton Chief McAllister. We have made good progress, but work remains to be done.

In this column, constant readers will recognize that I am always beating the drum for responsible alcohol consumption, designated drivers, and all those things that parents like Mary and I tend to go on about. Imagine our reaction when we got the call that a member of our family had been charged with DUI over the holidays. First was the relief that everyone was safe—then the gratitude to law enforcement whose astute professionalism detected and stopped the infraction before any of the “what if” situations could materialize. We all know families who have lost loved ones or whose loved ones became heartbreakingly diminished by such a momentary lapse of judgment. That family could have been us.

There are serious and appropriate consequences for driving under the influence, both financial and judicial. This is as it should be. We will, as a family, undergo these consequences with the seriousness appropriate to the matter. As onerous and complicated as the process might be, it is nothing compared to what it might have been. For that small blessing, we will always be grateful.

As for my legislative agenda, DUI reform remains a priority. In fact, it just climbed up the scale a place or two. As long as Sheriff Tanner and Chief McAllister tell me they don’t have sufficient tools to take impaired drivers off the road, I will be working on the law. As long as Solicitor Stone tells me he doesn’t have what he needs to make good DUI cases, I will be on it.

Before all this, my position was about good policy or delegation legacy—now it’s also personal. I ended the last column of 2011 on this topic with a two-word sentence. The first column of 2012 will end with the same words: No excuses.

From the House

2011-12-28T09:28:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

Mary and I hope that everyone had as nice a Christmas as our family. Despite our recent loss, we pulled together and made what could have been a less than joyful affair into one of our best ever. The miracle of Christmas has always been about gratitude.

A brief and unscientific survey of merchants around Bluffton and Hilton Head would lead me to believe that most businesses in our area are experiencing their share of thankfulness. It seems that all the “shop local” sentiment so effectively promoted by the chambers of commerce did exactly what was intended. Most of the assessments I’m hearing are somewhere between “above average” to “over the moon.” Our merchants in the Promenade and around Old Town Bluffton report that between Thanksgiving and Christmas day, sales were very strong and continue briskly so far this week before the New Year celebration.

This is right in line with what we heard recently during the economic forecast session at the USC Darla Moore School of Business. According to our very own economist, USC’s Doug Woodward: “the state’s economy is looking good…South Carolina is in relatively good shape and there is growth in the US economy where we are in a position to do fairly well.” That may not sound like high praise, but for those of us who know Doug Woodward, it almost sounds as though our own dismal scientist is succumbing to a fit of “irrational exuberance.”

There are obviously a few spots in the economy still feeling sluggish after the Great Recession, such as home sales and new construction. However, the leading indicators for these areas are looking up and we have every reason to be optimistic that 2012 is going to be a turnaround year for real estate.

The surprise, of course, is that the manufacturing sector is leading the recovery with convincing gains across the board. Bridgestone, Continental Tire, Boeing and a host of smaller manufacturing players are seeing a serious recovery. While manufacturing only accounts for around 10 percent of our jobs, my friend Bobby Hitt, SC Secretary of Commerce, told me that we have a realistic shot at increasing that to 15 percent in the very near future. In fact, South Carolina is leading the region in manufacturing growth.

According to the latest projections from the Federal Reserve, South Carolina is one of two states likely to show growth in the next six months in excess of 4.5 percent. Combine that with the national business magazine naming us as the fourth best state in the nation in which to do business and you begin to see what all the buzz is about.

I mentioned a few columns ago that we had regained our AAA credit rating. While that is good news, what it means in practical, immediate terms is we can refinance a series of bonds saving the taxpayers a little over $24 million in borrowing costs. As a member of Ways and Means, such good news and such great economic projections help to salve the lingering sting many of us felt over the austerity budgets we have crafted these last several years. Sometimes it’s hard being the budgetary grownup saying we can’t afford this program or that new highway.

For me, one of the leading local economic indicators has turned out to be the live/work units we are putting together in Old Town Bluffton. The buzz has gone from several friends and interested locals, to calls from folks in the Upstate, and now there are several parties from Atlanta and Nashville requesting information and wanting to talk about taking the concept beyond Bluffton. We’ll see what happens.
In the meantime, please celebrate responsibly. Sheriff Tanner and Chief McAllister will have every available unit on the road this holiday. No excuses.

From the House

2011-12-21T10:19:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

With only a few days left before the Christmas holiday, I probably don’t need to remind you that there are a good many of our neighbors struggling to secure just the basics of living right now. Our friends at Bluffton Self-Help, Volunteers in Medicine, and Deep Well, to name just a few, are doing what they can. They could all use your help, especially right now.

What if I told you that there is a potentially productive strategic relationship for job creation (my favorite topic) and the non-profit sector? What might make it even more interesting is if you knew that very similar legislative initiatives were recently introduced into the state houses of both Massachusetts and South Carolina. What could the do-gooder liberals in Massachusetts and the rock-ribbed conservatives of South Carolina possibly have in common? And why are they both very excited about this forward-thinking job creation strategy?

The idea is called CHIRA, and the idea could potentially unlock trillions of currently idle dollars, and put them into the non-profit sector, building hospitals, schools, cultural institutions, and performing the good works that Americans have traditionally supported. Building equals jobs and jobs support families. The unlocked dollars would not only be available immediately for local projects, they would be directed by individuals in local situations with almost zero government input. Sounds pretty interesting, doesn’t it?

CHIRA is an acronym for Charitable Investment Recovery Act. It is a process whereby holders of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) could loan a portion of their accounts to their favorite charity or non-profit. Concurrently, the 501(c)
(3) would purchase insurance to guarantee repayment, plus interest, of all dollars to the donor’s IRA. These dollars move immediately from Wall Street to Main Street. Instead of funding the Wall Street Casino, we could fund improvements right in our communities, guided by our local needs by local folks.

Right now, you can leave your IRA to a charity, but you won’t personally see any of the benefit because your estate will make the award. There are ways to donate assets before death, but there is a daunting level of complexity. CHIRA provides an alternative to this complexity while also making your wishes translate to good works while you are around to enjoy the moment. For details, go to www.chirausa.com and take a look for yourself.

Like all seemingly good ideas, this one needs the scrutiny provided by the committee system in the General Assembly. There may be some downside that is not immediately apparent. That is why we hold hearings and receive testimony from folks whose special knowledge in these matters is heard. Having said that, I have spoken to a number of legislative colleagues whose opinions I respect, and the overwhelming consensus right now is very positive for this initiative. As we look more closely at the particulars in committee, I will of course keep you informed.

Finally, I want to leave you with two suggestions: First, do your shopping locally with your friends and neighbors. Circulate your dollars around the community and you will be surprised at how many of them return home. Secondly, please make sure you attend all your holiday parties with a designated driver. One or two glasses of eggnog may impair your senses just enough for this Christmas to be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Give thanks for all our blessings and have a merry Christmas, confident that the coming year will bring us closer to peace and prosperity.

From the House

2011-12-14T10:13:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

As always, I appreciate all the comments, calls and emails on the previous columns we have produced. It is almost exactly a month until we reconvene the General Assembly. As we are refining our legislative agenda, your input is absolutely invaluable. Historically, the week after Thanksgiving is when your contribution to the agenda starts to get serious. While my conversations with you are the primary driver of the agenda, this year I am hearing much more from individuals and businesses from around the state and from other parts of the country. It’s an interesting phenomenon, but I represent you, and your voices are by far the most important to me.

We are still getting many responses from the Medicare/Medicaid columns of last month. In that vein, if you have a complex or multi-part Medicaid question, or a question about matters related to Health and Human Services (HHS), please, if possible, send it as an email or written letter. That way, I can research the matter and get back to you with the correct information, or I may just put you in touch with the person you need to talk with from the state. As much as I enjoy chatting, sometimes the complexity of these issues requires a more formal way of communicating. When we get you squared away, then you may want to come into the office and we’ll have that chat over a cup of coffee.

Last week, I rode up to Columbia for a meeting with the State Infrastructure Bank. It was my pleasure to be joined in the meeting by my good friend Weston Newton, Chairman of Beaufort County Council, along with his County Administrator Gary Kubic.

Hardeeville Mayor Bostick, and several key officials from Jasper County also joined us. This is an example of the regional cooperation that we have been talking about for a generation, which is now starting to happen routinely. It will also become more common and more important after the House districts are realigned in 2012, essentially creating a Beaufort/Jasper block in the legislature.

The subject of our meeting with the Infrastructure Bank had to do primarily with the status of the widening and enhancement of Highway 170, along with some of the feeder roads that will make our 170 efforts more effective. The outcome of the meeting was very positive and reflected the efforts of your representative over the last decade in creating the groundwork and rationale for the repatriation of your tax dollars back to the Lowcountry to address our local needs. It also reflects the success of Chairman Newton’s campaign to temporarily add a penny to our local sales tax to support crucial transportation projects. I will have more on this as it goes from agreements in principle to line items in the budget. Suffice to say we are no longer on the dark side of the moon, politically speaking.

There is good economic news from the big brains up at the Darla Moore School of Business at University of South Carolina. Over the last 18 months, our state has made big progress in the manufacturing segment of our economy. With Boeing, Bridgestone, Continental Tire, Amazon and a host of middle and smaller companies poised for expansion, they are conservatively projecting a 15% increase in manufacturing activity.

Also, a combination of our budgetary restraint and increased tax receipts has resulted in the restoration of our triple A credit rating, which will save us millions in borrowing costs over the next year.

Finally, my idea for live/work units in Old Town Bluffton sparked a ton of interest. That interest is somewhat driving the configuration of the project. If you want to become a part of the Bluffton economic phenomenon, call me at 757-5464.

From the House

2011-12-07T08:58:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

Today is the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor that precipitated our entry into the Second World War. For those who were there, or whose loved ones were there, it was the equivalent of being at ground zero New York City for the calamitous events of 9/11/01. While that war is long over and the Japanese are now our fast friends and allies, the lessons of Pearl Harbor are not to be forgotten. Constant vigilance is truly the price of liberty.

On a happier note, many congratulations to our Bluffton Bobcats football team. Going to the state championship game is something that everyone in Bluffton can be proud of. The entire season was an example of how sport is meant to be. The young men who played the games, the classy coaching staff, and the enthusiastic but well-behaved fans all deserve credit for a stellar season. In the end, we fell just short of perfection, but in all the ways that truly matter, our community is uplifted by the example set during this outstanding season. Regardless of the final score, the Bluffton Bobcats, Bluffton High, and the Bluffton community are all winners.

Another great example of the entire community pulling together for the common benefit is the fantastic 2011 Bluffton Christmas Parade. With Grand Marshal (and former mayor) Hank Johnston leading the way, the parade stepped off right on time. To the delight of the estimated crowd of 8,000 to 10,000 attendees, the two hour long parade snaked through the heart of downtown Bluffton. The dignitaries were dignified, the Marine Band was excruciatingly precise, the Shriners were rowdy and loud, and all the singing and marching children were cute beyond the dreams of their proud parents.

As one of the “dignitaries” situated in the front of the parade, I was able to make it from the disbanding site at Frazier Park back to the Promenade for the last hour and a half of this splendid event. Even for those of us a little too old for Santa Claus, there was definitely Christmas magic in the air surrounding our amazing community parade.

There was organizational magic, thanks to Sandra, Julie, Tammy and all the tireless workers at Town of Bluffton. After all the years Town Clerk Sandra Lundsford has run these parades, she can do them in her sleep.

Special thanks go to Chief Dave McAllister and his crew for the excellent manner in which the traffic was handled. The notices of road closures and car removals along the parade route were done with timeliness and tact. All the policemen not actually in the parade were in place to make sure the excitement didn’t get out of hand. They were invisible but effective. As always, their performance reflected the highest levels of professionalism.

People really understand there is something special about Bluffton. Whenever I give a speech, many of the follow-up questions have to do with how can folks become a part of the community, especially the business community. They want to know what’s the possibility of doing a live/work situation in Old Town. Right now, the Promenade is sold out-- with a waiting list. However, I have an idea for a new project that just might answer the need for affordable live/work possibilities right at the center of Old Town Bluffton. Give me a call at 757-5464. We’ll sit down with a cup of coffee and talk it over. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Finally, in this season of holiday festivities, please use common sense and appoint a designated driver. Losing a loved one is always tragic, but even more painfully so during the holidays.

From the House

2011-11-30T08:42:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

The response to last week’s column was simply overwhelming, particularly with regard to the passing of my brother, Tom. We are immensely grateful for all the kind words and stories about Tom and how he conducted himself in his civic life and in his business. Although our holiday was a little subdued, we are resolved to carry on in the spirit of thanksgiving, enjoying friends and family and all the pleasures, great and small, of living in this not-so-little-town. Thank you.

The official kick-off to the Christmas season is, of course, the amazing and spectacular Bluffton Christmas Parade. It is always held the first Saturday of December. This year, that is the third of December.

When Mary and I first attended the parade many years ago, we were so charmed, it kind of sealed the wisdom of our moving to Bluffton. These were obviously our kind of folks. At that time, Miss Babbie was the parade organizer, and as with most of her events, it was so well put together it seemed as if an interesting group of people just happened to show up at town hall at the same time and follow one another down Calhoun St. and around the corner down to Scott’s Grocery.

The Bluffton Christmas Parade is a bit more formalized now, an understandable and necessary consequence of just crazy popularity. Most years there are at least ten thousand spectators lining the route, oftentimes ten deep, not counting the little ones scurrying about to retrieve the tons of candy launched from the passing floats and vehicles.

The parade will leave Bluffton Town Hall around 11a.m. and follow Bridge St., turning right onto Calhoun St., taking May River Road to Pin Oak St. and finishing at Oscar Frazier Park. Folks will start lining the route early, so plan accordingly.

The Friday evening before the parade is also a special night with the lighting of the Town Hall Christmas Tree at 5 p.m., followed at 8 p.m. by the lighting of the Promenade Christmas Tree. In between, the Bluffton Old Town Merchant’s Society will again be having the “Light Up the Night” celebration. Businesses and art galleries will stay open late for an interesting shopping experience lit by the glow of some 400 luminaries. The “Holiday Trolley” will also be on hand to ferry shoppers and partiers around the Old Town area from 5 to 8. There will also be four or five bands stationed throughout the neighborhood to liven up the evening.

For the last few years, “Light Up the Night” has been an extremely successful and enjoyable event. After the galleries and shops close, a lot of folks like to patronize the restaurants and low-key bars situated in the historic district and Promenade. As always, be sure to have reservations for dinner and a designated driver for the bar scene. (Sorry, I can’t help myself—I’m a dad).

Every year, the Hilton Head Island/Bluffton and Beaufort Regional Chambers of Commerce do a great job of reminding us to “Shop Local.” Great events like “Light Up the Night” certainly make it easy and fun to patronize the local shops and galleries, especially in Old Town. It just makes sense to support the merchants that make the area so vibrant and inviting. But don’t forget that Shop Local is also about your insurance agent, and HVAC installer, and all the service people you count on, from doctors to landscapers. These are your neighbors and friends, as well as the folks whose success creates the jobs we need to grow our local economy. Spread the love—Shop Local.

From the House

2011-11-23T17:31:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

I want to thank all of you for the emails, questions, and positive suggestions concerning the last two columns devoted to Medicaid/Medicare issues. We always appreciate it when we get calls from people saying they now have a better understanding of issues we try to help with, both in the column and from the office. We do our very best for each constituent, but there is something humbling and gratifying when we get a modicum of acknowledgment for our efforts. None of us are immune to the powerful charm of the simple “thank you.”

I also want to give thanks on behalf of my family to all the good folks who stopped by the office, called, or emailed us at the passing of my brother, Tom. The long contest with his ultimately terminal adversary showed us a man of persistent optimism, immune to despair, who endured his trial with good grace and humor even as the inevitable approached.

Tom was trained as an accountant, with interests around Beaufort County as well as in the mountains of North Carolina. While he was frequently about his businesses both here and away, we shared an office in Bluffton for almost eighteen years. More times than I can count, as Cathy and I would struggle to keep up with the issues and demands of my legislative office, Tom would pitch in. He became so familiar with the workings of state government and with the people who run the offices at the various agencies; he became an integral part of the team. He was so personable that many of those agency heads became his personal friends, eager to help with our requests. Everyone liked Tom, but those who knew him best, liked him the most. He will be missed.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. If the truth be told, most of us in District 118 have so much to be thankful for, a proper tally of gratitude would fill a dozen issues of Bluffton Today. Our blessings and abundance also require that we share with those who might be momentarily excluded from prosperity, or facing health challenges, or simply don’t have the good choices most of us enjoy. Local civic and church groups offer a huge array of opportunities for service. The local Rotary is ringing the bells for the Salvation Army. Bluffton Self Help and the new Volunteers in Medicine both need helpers, both as workers and as check-writers. Service is the active form of gratitude.

Speaking of gratitude, there were boatloads of grateful folks last Sunday out on the high bluff over the Colleton River at the Waddell Mariculture Center for the 4th Annual Taste Of Waddell celebration. Sponsored by the Friends of Waddell and the HHI Sportfishing Club, the event was a benefit for the cobia, red drum and sea trout enhancement program, as well as the Port Royal Sound red drum study and other essential projects carried on by Al Stokes and his crew at the mariculture center.

Participants not only had a gorgeous Lowcountry afternoon to enjoy, they also got to taste some of chef Mike Sigler’s specialty shrimp dishes, enjoy Bluffton bluegrass with Lowcountry Boil, and compete for some pretty impressive auction items donated by local charter captains and merchants.

In a later column, I will detail how Waddell went from nearly being defunded every budget cycle for a decade to being the centerpiece of the newly expanded water quality effort being spearheaded by the Friends of the Rivers’ successor organization, Port Royal Sound Foundation.

From The House

2011-11-16T10:11:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

We certainly appreciate all the calls and emails this last week, particularly on the Medicaid/Medicare issue. The number of constituent contacts was around 385, which is very close to record territory and uncharacteristically high for the off season. The cost of medical care is something nearly everyone is focused on, especially in light of the expected changes relating to the federal law known as the Affordable Care Act, which will start to kick in with a vengeance in 2014.

Just a reminder: If you have questions or need help with Medicaid related matters, we are the folks you want to call. If we can’t help you, we can send you to the right person or office. If your questions are concerning Medicare, please call Rep. Joe Wilson’s office.

Last week, we drew a clear distinction between Medicaid and Medicare, as well as who is covered by each program, and some commentary on why this is an important distinction. I also gave a small preview of some major changes in store for the state administered program, Medicaid. Nearly all of those changes are mandated by the aforementioned Affordable Care Act, which, in its current form, will become a factor in our state budget process beginning in 2014, and really slamming us in 2017.

One of the well-meaning, but stunningly misguided, intentions behind the Affordable Care Act is to reduce or eliminate the uninsured from our medical care delivery system. One of the ways this will theoretically be accomplished is by dramatically expanding the Medicaid program. While Medicaid is currently the state administered, state/federal jointly funded healthcare program for our very poor, elderly, and disabled, the new mandate enlarges the program to cover essentially all uninsured persons or families making less than 133 percent of the federally defined poverty standard. Although the numbers don’t always match up, this means that a family of four making less than $30,800 in 2011 would now be eligible for Medicaid. There are quite a number of folks between the ages of 26 and 65 that fall into this category.

From inception in 2014 going forward for three years, the federal government will pay for the newly eligible Medicaid enrollees. After three years, they become the responsibility of the states. Most states, and our state in particular, currently are struggling to keep up with their Medicaid obligations. By 2017, this newly created unfunded mandate will absorb an unmanageable portion of our state budget. This assumes, of course, that the feds don’t modify the system in light of the unsustainable financials, as they did with the Long Term Care portion of their “reform.”

As a consequence, we are looking at a level of imposed uncertainty on our state budget that has this legislator losing sleep. As a member of Ways and Means, I will be responsible for deciding what we will have to cut in order to comply with this federal mandate. In my view, there are not too many good options at this time. This is time when I have to ask for your help, to tap the wisdom and experience of the voters of District 118.

If, in your experience, there is a more effective way to organize our health care system, now is the time to share it. There is consensus only in the fact that our present system is headed for a point where healthcare costs and GDP become the same number. The system represented by the Affordable Care Act essentially rearranges the various payers, but does little, again in my view, to attack the core of the issue, which is how to have acceptable healthcare at an acceptable cost.

Let me hear from you.

From The House

2011-11-09T07:53:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

After my recent comments regarding volunteering for the many boards and commissions that make every level of government run more effectively, we had a few folks call and indicate a willingness to serve. One of the first was my friend Chuck Stewart of Rebel Dog Cycles in Bluffton. After reviewing Chuck’s very impressive resume of civic volunteerism, I believe that with a few more good citizens like the CEO of Rebel Dog Cycles on our myriad boards and commissions, we would see a marked improvement in their overall performance. Thanks, Chuck.

I guess the thing is this: we all have the right to complain and I welcome your input whether it’s positive or negative. However, the corollary of complaint is service. If you can contribute a little time and effort, your suggestions for improvement usually carry more weight. Those suggestions are usually more informed as well. Together, we are a lot smarter than any one of us individually.

Several of the many calls we received this week were concerning the difference in Medicare and Medicaid, and why is Medicaid such a big issue now.

Simply put, Medicare is federal and Medicaid is state. Medicaid is a 46-year-old health care program for the very poor, elderly and disabled. It is means tested, jointly funded by the federal and state governments, but managed by the states. It is known as the nation’s health care program for low-income Americans, though it currently covers only certain categories of people.

In 2010, Medicaid covered about 60 million people, with around 46 million of those being low-income children and their parents. It is the largest source of health insurance for our country’s children. Medicaid also covers almost 9 million non-elderly people with disabilities, among them 4 million children with physical and mental illnesses and 8 million low-income seniors who also qualify for Medicare. The dual qualified seniors usually are much sicker and poorer than regular Medicare recipients. Medicaid helps to pay these senior’s Medicare premiums, as well as pay for long-term or nursing home care. There is also a pregnancy benefit for low-income women that extends for the duration of the pregnancy.

The reason the Medicaid financials loom so large in our budget is that with the economic downturn, the numbers of potential Medicaid recipients has escalated dramatically. It essentially is a negative multiplier of the effects of poverty in our state. We receive less revenue from all sources, but the obligations on our system are increased exponentially by this “safety net” insurance feature.

This is one of the reasons for my fixation on jobs and economic development. As we create more good jobs, fewer South Carolinians fall into the safety net, so that even modest job gains boost our bottom line by a big number since the negative multiplier is reduced. Just as one lost job can create a whole family of Medicaid recipients, one new, good job can take all those family members off the Medicaid rolls.

Next week, I will offer a preview of some of the changes likely to be made in the Medicaid landscape.

For some good news, we only have to look as far as Old Town Bluffton. A week after the success of the Arts and Seafood Festival, this weekend saw great turnouts for both the Art Walk on Friday and the Palmetto Animal League (PAL) Beer and Oyster event at the Promenade on Saturday evening. Let’s extend the streak to the Taste of Waddell celebration next Sunday from 3-7 on the bluff at the Waddell Mariculture Center. I guarantee a great time for all.

From the House

2011-10-30T16:42:00.002-04:00

While most of us are paying very close attention to the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, it is worth noting that the part of government that will have the most profound effect on our day-to-day lives is local government. This is truly where the rubber meets the road. Much of this important work is done by you and your neighbors who volunteer time for work on boards and commissions associated with the county or municipalities, or in some cases, the state government. Ideally, there should be a waiting list for each of these opportunities to serve. This is rarely the case.

One of the functions of your Beaufort County Delegation is to appoint members to many of these crucial advisory bodies. Listed below are some of the appointments we would like to make if there are candidates to consider:

Beaufort County Transportation Committee (two vacancies)
Beaufort/Jasper Higher Education Committee (three commissioner’s terms expiring)
Beaufort/Jasper Water and Sewer Authority (one opening)
Coastal Empire Mental Healthcare Center Board of Directors (five terms set to expire with one immediate vacancy)
Lowcountry Tourism Commission (one vacancy)
South Island Public Service District (five terms expiring)

As the chairman of your delegation, I have set the next meeting for Monday, 7 November, at 10 a.m. in council chambers of the courthouse in Beaufort. If you have business before us, please contact Ashley at ashleys@bcgov.net to get on the agenda. Today is the deadline, but this has been in the papers for the last two weeks or so. I cannot overstate the importance of having qualified, motivated people to serve on these boards and commissions. If you want to get involved, we will find a place for you.

Speaking of involvement, the Bluffton Town Council elections are coming up next Tuesday, 8 November. There are two seats at issue with four good people running. There are a host of very pressing matters facing us in Bluffton, not the least of which are the quality of the May River water, the current affordable housing effort, reopening and revising development agreements, and annexation policy. The candidates have been working the neighborhoods, but with over 50 square miles and nearly 15000 residents, it will be difficult for all of us to have a personal conversation with each candidate.

However, the League of Women Voters of the Hilton Head/ Bluffton Area has stepped up to conduct a candidate’s forum tonight at 7 p.m. at Bluffton Town Hall. I urge each of you to attend and hear for yourselves what positions the candidates put forth and how they articulate and defend those positions. The second most important thing a citizen must do is become an informed voter. From my conversations, it is clear that there are numerous and stark contrasts between and among the positions of the four people running for office. Hope to see you there.

The most important thing a potential voter must to do to fulfill his or her obligation of engaged citizenship is to vote. Please become familiar with the issues and then vote. It’s that simple. Unfortunately, there are parts of Bluffton, especially the newer neighborhoods, whose record of voter participation leaves room for improvement.

We all have excuses for not doing those things we know we should. We are all busy. I get it. Having said that, I want to make clear that the absolute foundation of our representative democracy is the vote. The vote is our voice: it is “We the People.” Silence in this context is simply failure.

From the House

2011-10-26T08:17:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

Thanks for all the calls and emails on last week’s column about my gleanings from the Conference on School Choice in California. The feedback was about equally divided between positive and negative, which is pretty much what I expected. On emotional issues like school choice, I mostly hear from either defenders of the status quo or folks that want to go to an entirely different system. I am somewhere in the middle. I want to preserve and enhance those elements of the current system that are working, while allowing for creativity in evaluating variations and alternatives to what we have now, especially in areas of chronic deficiency. Your opinion and analysis will, of course, help guide my thinking on this crucially important matter.

Most of this week was spent in Charleston at a pre-session budget conference. We are trying to get out in front of some of the issues likely to dominate the budget portion of the new session beginning the second Tuesday of 2012.

Right now, we are taking a hard look at the State Retirement System, especially given the blows to our retirement trust account issued by the Great Recession.

When we speak of the State Retirement System, most people think it just covers state employees, or those of us in the statehouse. In truth, this system covers not only those working for the state, but also those working under what are called the local subdivisions. These are county and municipal employees. Also covered are school system workers, university and tech school employees, even the good folks making lunches in school cafeterias. This is obviously a very large pool of workers who have legitimate claims on the system to which they have contributed.

Currently that system has an unfunded liability of around $19 billion. Thirty-one percent of this liability is direct state employees, twenty-six percent is to local subdivisions, and forty-three percent is to local school systems. There are some structural reasons for our present situation but a large part of it has to do with the health of our investments. In 2008, the funds lost 2.56 percent, followed in 2009 by a massive loss of nearly 20 percent. Fortunately, this was followed by two years of gains of around 14 and 18 percent respectively. Unfortunately, as investors know, the miracle of compound interest works strongly against you in a down market. For example, if your portfolio contains 100 units, and it declines by 20 percent, you then have 80 units. If, in the next year, you gain 20 percent, you are still 4 percent behind where you began the previous year. Multiple down years take a tremendous toll, which often takes many years of great returns to make whole. This is a part of our current situation. It is a big challenge, but we will meet it head-on and you will hear all the details from me as they emerge.

On a lighter note, the Historic Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival was another wildly successful event. We all need to thank Brooks Willis, the Festival Committee Chairman, along with Board President Mary O’Neil, VP Dan Wood, Secretary Tammy Sauter, and Treasurer Barry Connor, as well as board members Tina Toomer, Nancy Schilling, and Dave Dickson. Fantastic job from all the volunteers, Bluffton Rotary and the patient residents of Old Town.

Also, next Saturday, 29 October, from 11 to 3, will be the First Birthday Paw-ty of the PAL adoption center in the River Walk Business Park in Okatie. Might be the perfect time to adopt a grateful shelter pet.

From the House

2011-10-19T11:20:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

Last week, I was in California for, among several things, the Conference for School Choice. This was a convergence of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents whose focus was entirely on how to foster better educational outcomes for our children.

If our current educational system was doing the job, there would be no need for exploring newer ideas or processes. If our current system was more flexible, less one-size-fits-all, we wouldn’t be having this conversation around the country. As it is, we are spending ever increasing dollars on an effort that produces outcomes that suggest we are falling further and further behind our competitors in the global economy. This is a situation that is absolutely ripe for innovation.

In fact, one of the presenters at the conference spoke about how the late Steve Jobs, no slouch in the innovation field, was an active proponent of school choice. I urge you to Google an interview that Jobs gave to a newly minted “Wired” magazine in February of 1996. In the interview, Jobs reveals his enthusiastic support for a “full-on voucher system” as the economic driver of educational innovation.

While harnessing market forces to allow schools to compete with one another for the best teachers and students has an appeal to many, it also assumes that all people are profoundly interested in having their children receive the best education possible. Sadly, that is not always the case. Those children living in poverty or in dysfunctional family situations are at a disadvantage regardless of how their school is organized. Ninety percent of the speakers at the conference dealt in one way or another with how to get parents involved in their children’s education. It is a fact of life in our state that sometimes parents are too preoccupied with simple economic survival to properly attend to their children’s educational potential. We cannot simply discard these folks. Thus the challenge to optimize the system by providing different avenues to success tailored to the needs of students, and to parents across the economic spectrum.

In South Carolina, there is something of a chicken and egg situation between jobs and educational success. More and better jobs equal increasingly stable and functional families, which in turn leaves time and resources to pay attention to the successful education of the children in the family. Instead of taking a holistic look at what our culture needs to function optimally, we tend to look at the economy and education separately, without seeing the necessary connections. In my view, these seemingly separate challenges should be subsumed into a focus on what makes for successful families. Basic to all this is decent, well paying work for parents. Basic for decent, well paying jobs for the next generation is quality education. End of story.

Whether we will be able to meet those challenges is the test for this generation of public officials. As long as tax dollars in one form or another are used for education, the political process is how priorities are set and processes are funded. I say we commit to finding successful models, be they vouchers, education savings accounts, charter schools, semi-private schools or whatever, give them a real-life trial run with meaningful and honest metrics, and see what’s what.
In the meantime, I’m looking for another 600 jobs to add to those just announced for Jasper County. Families with sound economic underpinnings are much more likely to be participants in their children’s educational successes. The next Steve Jobs may be walking to Red Cedar Elementary this morning.

From the House

2011-10-12T08:21:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

We had an extraordinary number of calls last week on a variety of issues. Many of you wanted to comment on our job creation efforts in the local area. I appreciate those kind words. We are always active on the economic development front whether you hear about the specifics or not. We also got more calls on the new waste receptacles in the Promenade. It seems that each time we have some sort of event in the neighborhood, folks call in and let us know how much they like what we have done with the Calhoun Street Promenade, and how it’s always well kept and tidy. While, as developer, I do have a bit to do with keeping things nice, it is our great group of merchants and residents that do the heavy lifting in the spiffiness area.

One of the new tenants in the Promenade is Bluffton Today, our local newspaper. Kathy Nelson is the new editor and a fine addition to the excellent staff. Kathy is an interesting newspaperwoman and the consummate journalism professional. Bluffton Today is located in the first building on the right as you enter the Promenade from the south. I urge you to come by during business hours, meet the new editor and maybe take her to lunch and demonstrate that great Bluffton hospitality.

We have obviously had some job creation success with bringing in new companies from outside the area. However, it should be noted that the expansion of current businesses is starting to have a very positive impact on job growth. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the healthcare industry. Last week, we had a good meeting with the folks from Hilton Head Hospital and representatives from Candler St. Joseph Hospital, headquartered in Savannah, just across the river. The demographics of District 118, Greater Bluffton, and Beaufort County are such that the healthcare industry is bound to be a very large player in our local economy. In my view, it is important that my office act as something of a clearinghouse for accurate information that makes it easy for these businesses to locate here, or expand their current operations.

One of the features that businesses always want to know more about is our educational regime, from pre-kindergarten to baccalaureate level. They want to hear about not only a well-trained workforce, but also where the children of that workforce will go to school and what the offerings are. To be able to give a more comprehensive take on this topic, I am off to a school choice conference this week. The idea is to see how other communities have broken out of the one-size-fits-all mindset and improved educational outcomes by expanding the potential offerings on the menu. I’ll give you a report in the coming weeks.

Finally, we come to a good story of a young man who created his own job by doing what he is good at. Chris Shoemaker grew up on the May River and has become an expert waterman over the years. The son of Kathleen and Steven Shoemaker, Chris inherited great people skills and a love of the outdoors. Chris has opened a guide service to share his deep knowledge and understanding of the local estuarine environment. If you are new to the area, or just want to spend the day on our pristine river, give Chris a call. You won’t be disappointed.

From the House

2011-10-05T10:02:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

Finally, the cool weather has arrived after a somewhat brutal summer. Most of us welcome the change, if for no other reason than October is the beginning of oyster season. The local tradition of the charity oyster roast presents an opportunity to savor what are arguably the finest oysters in the world while helping out the schools or my buddies at Rotary in the good works they perform.

As many of you know, the oyster has long been a symbol that seems to bind us together as Blufftonians, and as custodians of the incredible May River estuary, from which these succulent treats are harvested. Back in the old days, oyster canneries were common in the Lowcountry and Bluffton had more than our share. During the Great Depression, oyster harvesting and processing were some of the very few jobs available.

While there are still huge areas open to harvesting, my friends Larry and Tina Toomer of the Bluffton Oyster Company are nonetheless deeply concerned over recent shellfish closures in and around the headwaters of the May River. Your legislator will continue to work closely with the Town of Bluffton, Beaufort County, and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to reverse the closures and add protections to the currently pristine areas. This is something you will hear much more about in the upcoming session, as well as for years to come. Unlike in the old days, only a small number of jobs are directly tied to oystering. However, our clean and green Lowcountry is a powerful driver of our visitor and retirement economy. If we become careless with our natural resources, we will lose much more than oysters.

One of the potential tools of great effect in keeping our natural beauty is the Blue Ribbon Coastal Futures Committee, which has continued to meet over the summer with some regularity. As noted in a previous column, this group is chaired by my neighbor and friend Wes Jones, who is a local lawyer and former head of the Coastal Council. Wes does a great job running the meetings and keeping our focus on the matter at hand. Whether you know it or not, when you call or email my office with advice or suggestions on more effective water quality or land management regulation, you are contributing to the work of this committee, as many of your comments are submitted into the record of proceedings.

Continuing in the environmental vein, I want to thank all those who called to comment on the new trash receptacles installed around the Calhoun Street Promenade. These units are set up so that one side is for regular trash and the other side is for recyclable materials, such as glass bottles or aluminum cans. All the merchants and residents of the Promenade already do a good job of recycling, but we felt it would help the cause if we made it convenient for our visitors and patrons to automatically do the right thing.

Finally, one bit of housekeeping to mention. Some time ago, we had some email and web site issues that caused us to miss a portion of our usual traffic. Hargray got the matter corrected expeditiously but we keep getting emails from a month ago. If you don’t hear from us almost immediately when you send email or make calls, please resend your traffic. Technology is great but sometimes it falls short. We absolutely need to hear from you. So, if in doubt, please resend.

From the House

2011-09-28T10:30:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

I was distressed and saddened to hear of the untimely passing of my friend Don Ryan last week. As the President and CEO of CareCore National, Don and his team had a profound impact on the economic prospects of Bluffton and District 118, as well as Beaufort County. His vision for the future of this area was a strong part of the job growth success we have experienced locally and regionally. It is a rare individual who can see the big picture, not only from an economic point of view, but also from the standpoint of how good jobs can literally recreate a struggling community, one family at a time. Don Ryan was one of those individuals.

It is a fitting tribute to the legacy of this innovative entrepreneur and civic stalwart that the business incubator partnership between CareCore National and Clemson University will go forward as planned. My friend Jerry Stewart, the point of the economic development spear for Beaufort County Council gave me a good update on the relationship a couple of days ago. Even with our stunning loss, the challenge of quality job creation will have to be met. Sadly, one of our leaders, Don Ryan, has left us. He will be greatly missed.

Continuing in the economic sphere, I was fortunate to be able to attend the recent Home Builders Association event at 9 Promenade. These are some folks that have been hit pretty hard by the prolonged recession but still manage to remain upbeat about the turnaround, especially in the Bluffton area. One of the few positive aspects of enduring serious economic dislocation is that it forces us to be more creative and more efficient in our allocation of time and resources. This has been the case with us in the General Assembly, and certainly with the members of the HBA.

One of the most upbeat and positive people around is my good friend Steve Tilton, who just happens to be the current president of the association. Steve is not only an excellent businessman and creative homebuilder, he also is a fellow whose involvement in the community is second to none. It was a pleasure to spend some social time with Steve and his lovely wife Maureen, as well as so many of my friends and development colleagues from Beaufort and Jasper counties.

From a political perspective, I get a tremendous amount of actionable advise from the builders, as they are a huge segment of our economy, and as such, have a first-hand knowledge of what parts of the government are helping the cause, and which parts need to disappear. I encourage members of our delegation to attend these get-togethers for that very reason. This time around, Rep. Andy Patrick from Hilton Head was able to be with us. He and I agreed that we learned a lot and had a pretty good time as well. Executive Officer of the HBA, Ashley Feaster knows how to put on a great event.

Finally, the situation at the entrance to St Gregory the Great is not satisfactory, and has never been satisfactory. It is inconvenient and unsafe. I have had SCDOT down here a few times, in consultation with Sun City County Councilman Jerry Stewart and County Council Chairman Weston Newton. We are banging away at this problem and it will get better. Right now, I don’t have a timeline, but all the parties are equally upset, so we will see some movement on this sooner rather than later. Please be patient.

From the House

2011-09-21T09:30:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

Last week, the number of constituent contacts we logged was an all-time high. This is unusual since we are not in session and there is not a single big issue, such as the budget or the immigration bill pending. What we do have is a huge number of smaller matters that each has a strongly motivated group of supporters. These include the dog fighting and dog baiting issue, along with redistricting concerns, especially the school board districts. We are also hearing a lot about municipal issues from Bluffton, Hilton Head Island and Hardeeville.

Fortunately, our staff is well trained and willing to redirect callers to the proper offices for the information they seek. What you will never hear from us is: “it’s not my job”. While we may not give advise in matters outside of our jurisdiction, we know that oftentimes residents are not familiar with the particulars of the various levels of government. It is our job to be helpful to any who call or email regardless of whether we are technically the correct office to handle their inquiry.

Although we will help correct any confusion on the part of callers, it is important to note that we have excellent relations with both Beaufort and Jasper counties, as well as the municipalities in our area, both inside and out of District 118. Part of the success we have enjoyed in the last decade has to do with keeping the lines of communication open, down to the local jurisdictions and up to the federal level in Washington. The price of miscommunication, especially at this time of strained budgets and general incivility, is just something we cannot afford.

Communication and civility were two of the high spots during last week’s reception for your representative at the home of my great friend Joanie Heyward in old town Bluffton. Among the hundred plus friends and supporters gathered on a balmy pre-fall afternoon were my Beaufort County delegation colleagues Senator Tom Davis and Representative Shannon Erickson, as well as Beaufort County Council Chairman Weston Newton. We also were joined by members of the financial, legal and health care communities, along with a number of what are correctly called “the job creators”, that is, of course the business community.

These good folks were treated to a well-appointed table of great food and beverages, arranged around the pool in Joanie’s back yard. They also heard an interesting talk from Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell, who held forth on a variety of topics from redistricting (including some inside notes on our chances with the DOJ review), state employment prospects, and the bright future of the Waddell Mariculture Center.

Speaker Harrell and I were both thankfully brief in our prepared remarks so that there was a goodly amount of social time with many topical issues being the grist for spirited and information-rich conversation.

Looking out over the crowd, I was gratified to see so many of the folks that gave me the benefit of the doubt ten years ago and helped launch my political career. It was also great to see so many younger people interested in the mechanics of good governance. I am grateful for the confidence, as well as the material support that flows from this multigenerational base. Most importantly, I am sincerely humbled by the unwavering affection and support of my beautiful wife and “speaker of our house”, Mary Herbkersman. Her patience and wise counsel makes all things possible for me.

From The House

2011-09-07T07:25:00.003-04:00

Bluffton Today

We had quite a number of calls on a story that we broke a couple of weeks ago concerning the dog baiting issue. I had a good chat with Chief McAllister on this matter at the time and will meet with him early next week to see where we go from here. It seems that evidence of dog baiting is one of those bellwether activities that really gets the attention of law enforcement, especially those involved in the proactive field of community policing.

We are fortunate to have Chief McAllister in Bluffton, as he is a nationally recognized “community policing” expert, having published scholarly papers on different aspects of this law enforcement specialty. I look forward to hearing his views on how we can rid our community of these despicable forms of animal abuse and all the related activities that go along with dog fighting and dog baiting.

An interesting sidebar to the story has to do with the poor animal whose discovery sparked the widespread outrage since we initially broke the story. The dog now has a name, “Malachi”, and his rehabilitation has become something of a personal matter in the community. So much so that there is an event planned for Saturday, Sept. 24th at 8 pm at Montana’s Restaurant, to raise funds to help Malachi and other fighting dogs that are likely to be discovered as Chief McAllister turns up the heat on this heinous “sport”. The event is sponsored by Three Black Dogs, whose number is 706-3456. Call them for more info and to contribute.

I want to also thank all the friends who called last week to let us know our web site, as well as my legislative email account, was down. It took some doing, but finally the good folks over at Hargray were able to track down the problem and set things right.

As if we needed more evidence that Bluffton punches well above its weight, the Tea Party Express is coming to our little town for an event on September 10th. As the developer of the Calhoun St. Promenade, it has been our policy to host any and all charity or political events on the community space in the center of the park. In keeping with that longstanding policy, we welcome the Tea Party Express and look forward to hearing from some of the heavy hitters vying for the GOP presidential nomination.

From past tea party events, we couldn’t help but notice that our gathering place in the Promenade is always just as trash free and immaculate after the rally as it was before. We appreciate this example of responsible event planning more than you know. I also appreciate the emphasis that these folks place on shrinking the size of government, an issue your representative has been aggressively championing for nearly a decade. When you combine our striving to repatriate more Beaufort County tax dollars back to local needs with an overall downsizing of the state government, it turns out we can do both at the same time. This results, paradoxically, in Beaufort County being somewhat less of a donor county, while at the same time increasing the state contribution to our schools and roads. I’m certainly glad to have the tea party energy working with me on this two-track mission.

Finally, more indicators of the ascending status of District 118 and Beaufort County. There is to be a reception for your representative at the beautiful home of my dear friend Joanie Heyward next Thursday, September 15th. The special guest speaker is my friend and colleague, Rep. Bobby Harrell, Speaker of the SC House of Representatives. For more information, contact Donna Martin at 864-561-3738

From the House

2011-08-28T14:08:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

We got a fair number of calls and emails regarding last week’s column. I greatly appreciate the fact that the general tone of this back and forth was business-like and cordial, with a complete suspension of the few examples we have seen of rudeness and inappropriate commentary. I think the relentless heat this time of year was responsible for what we were hearing. As we approach the cooler fall weather, I predict we return to normal Bluffton courtesy and cordiality.

With the near constant talk of redistricting, there is something of a misunderstanding as to when the district lines will alter. While District 118 is going to include part of Jasper County and Hardeeville, that change is some time down the road. In the meantime, please refer your questions on Jasper issues to the Jasper County Delegation office where Rep. Curtis Brantley and Sen. Clementa Pinckney are available to deal with your problems and questions. While I have a keen interest in Jasper and Hardeeville issues, at this time that interest is of a concerned neighbor.

One of my recent “off season” concerns is all the publicity that surrounds the perception that SCDOT is not paying its bills. There is confusion as to whether our road and bridge builders are handling their resources properly. Part of this has to do with the scheduling of work and the different scheduling of receipt of revenues by SCDOT. This is a complex matter that lends itself to some misunderstanding by those that want to oversimplify the process. Anticipating this problem, I asked the financial side of SCDOT to forward me a weekly update of their fiscal situation, which is my right as a member of Ways and Means. Here is where we stand:

SCDOT cash balance on 21 August was $61 million. $49 million has subsequently been sent to the South Carolina Comptroller General’s office for processing as payments to the contractor’s you may have been reading about. For the month of August, SCDOT has made $125 million in contractor payments, vendor payments, and payroll. It is my understanding that, as of today, all unpaid vendor invoices are within the thirty-day working period and are scheduled for processing. On the revenue side, SCDOT is anticipating receipt of the state gas revenues from the Department of Revenue on September 6th or 7th, estimated at around $35 million. The SCDOT is expected to receive normal reimbursements from the Federal Highway Administration the first two weeks of September that will bring total September reimbursements, by my estimate, to around $70 million.

The cash balance for September, with the infusion of state and federal dollars will provide adequate resources to meet payroll, debt service, contractor and vendor payments to ensure the agency will have no outstanding bills over thirty working days, which is what we mandate in the state. More importantly, we do have adequate and accountable resources for the highway and bridge maintenance programs to go forward in a prudent and predictable fashion.

We will continue ahead with some projects, including $89 million in federally funded projects eligible for reimbursement. I believe we may hold off on about $24 million in state funded projects, which were not included in my above estimates. This, in my view, is simply a matter of controlling cash flow in recognition of today’s fiscal realities.

From the House

2011-08-22T12:45:00.000-04:00

Bluffton Today

We got an amazing number of calls and emails commenting on last week’s column, primarily on the animal abuse and the “bottle bill” that will be coming up next session. As always, I appreciate the responses we get to topics presented in the column. Over the years, it has been a fertile field of ideas, many of which have found their way into legislation, and ultimately into law.
As much as I enjoy the conversation when you call, sometimes it is better if you will compose your thoughts into an email. That way, when we conduct hearings on the various matters under consideration, I can enter your correspondence into the official record, as well as read your words before the committee or subcommittee charged with reviewing the issue. Some of the emails we received on the bottle bill were absolutely masterful. They represented several different takes on how to encourage recycling of beverage bottles, as well as examples of unintended consequences of different laws in other states.
The idea that the state might impose a deposit on disposable beverage containers is not without controversy. Both sides of this issue were well represented in the calls and emails we received. As with most of the matters that come up for legislative treatment, there is no completely clean, good answer to the question. Mostly it is a matter of whether we should even consider a legislative solution, and if so, which is the one approach with the best cost/benefit ratio. Obviously, the more serious input we have, the more likely we will arrive at a good outcome. You are an integral part of the process and, in truth, you make me look pretty good sometimes. Thank you.
There is a side to this that I need to touch on, albeit reluctantly. While the overwhelming majority of constituent contacts we handle are serious, businesslike transactions, we are beginning to see more and more rude or insulting comments and suggestions. Having been a businessman for most of my life, I know that not everyone is a satisfied customer. If you have a complaint, I want to hear it. I need to hear it. However, if you are unkind to my staff, or use language that would make your mother cringe, perhaps you should calm down before making that call or composing that ugly email. If you think it’s a good idea to torture animals for our amusement, explain it to me calmly. If it is truly your right and privilege to throw your empty beer bottles on the side of the road, make a case for it. Maybe I’m missing something.
It’s no secret that we have an unemployment problem in our state. I work on it every day. I think about it every night. There are two local folks that not only think about it, they decided to make their own jobs. Bud and Shirley Mingledorff are a couple of friends of mine who are fun Bluffton people that want to take you fishing. If you don’t want to fish, they will ride you and your friends around in one of their nice boats while you enjoy our beautiful Lowcountry. If you want to take a bunch of folks over to Savannah for dinner on River Street, Mingledorff Charters might be just how you want to get there and back.
Bud and Shirley may not have the answer to all our economic woes, but they are certainly a part of the solution--and a creative, fun part at that.

From the House

2011-08-15T08:29:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

I want to begin my recap of this session’s high spots, as well as begin to give you an idea of what is likely to be in play as the legislature reconvenes after the first of the year. First, I’d like to share a piece of disturbing information I recently received, so maybe we can all be on the lookout for this kind of activity.
My good friend Leigh West Brown found a lab mix dog that had apparently been used in some sort of dog baiting or dog fighting activity. She shared the info with me, along with extremely disturbing photos. The cruelties that this poor animal had endured, presumably as part of some sort of sick entertainment, were simply horrifying. The law is very clear in this matter, made even more clear by recent updates to the statutes as we in the General Assembly were made aware of the extent of the problem.
If you come across animals that are mistreated for any reason, call law enforcement. If you come across any kind of dog fighting, chicken fighting, or baiting, please call law enforcement. This should not be something we tolerate in our community. Also, you might want to contact Leigh West Brown to see how you can help.
As a tourist area, we have more than our share of opportunities for outdoor recreation, sometimes while consuming various adult beverages. Done in a responsible manner, this can be good fun and a source of lasting memories. It also presents us with a potential disposal problem if folks are not careful. My friend, Senator Ray Cleary from Myrtle Beach has proposed a measure called the Alcoholic Beverage Container Recycling Bill, which passed the Senate but for various reasons was not taken up by the House. We will get a look at it in January.
While there are various ways we can encourage recycling, I’d really like to hear from any of you who might have experience in the ways that this can be handled. If you lived in a state with a deposit system, how did it work? Is this even something the state should have an opinion on? Let me hear from you.
One of the good things we managed to accomplish this last session was the continuation of the Land Conservation Bank. While we were unable to pledge any funds for actual purchases this time around, it is important that this tool was preserved for future use. This is especially true in our part of the world as both Hilton Head Island and Beaufort County have very successful and well-respected land preservation programs. In the past, both entities have partnered with the state to preserve lands in our neighborhoods, either by fee simple acquisition or purchase of development rights.
The Conservation Bank program was slated to sunset in 2013. However, House Bill 3083, written by my pal Mike Pitts, was passed with a comfortable majority to extend the life of the bank for an additional ten years.
Another forward-looking bill called the Commercial Center Revitalization Act, written by Rep. James Smith, was passed along with a Concurrent Resolution encouraging the Councils of Government (COGs) to draft ordinances to enable the retrofitting of shopping centers into dense, walkable, mixed-use town centers. As our commercial infrastructure ages, we need to have off-the-shelf solutions to repurpose and recycle these assets. This bill seeks to do just that.
More highlights to come as we trend into fall and the end of this hottest of summers.

From the House

2011-08-08T08:28:00.003-04:00

Bluffton Today

The number of calls increased last week despite the heat and the end of the session. A number of the calls were about issues that I am interested in, but have no special knowledge, such as school district matters, the federal debt ceiling, and even some town issues. Like you, I have opinions on these things; and sometimes I may be able to point you in a more productive direction for information, but unless it is a state matter, my opinions are just that.

One of the issues that folks are interested in has to do with redistricting, which is a process that is related to the work of the Census Bureau. Every ten years, they count us, determine where we all live, and help decide how our political institutions should be realigned so that we all have a fairly equal say in the government. From the state’s perspective, we do two major jobs: we decide where the new General Assembly district lines should be so that each political sub-division has roughly the same number of folks. You may remember that my district, 118, increased to almost twice as many residents as it should have, so I have been given a reconfigured area that is more proportional population-wise with the surrounding areas. I still represent Old Town Bluffton and most of Sun City, but I also have Hardeeville and much of southern Jasper County.

Since our state has increased in population while other states have decreased, we were awarded an additional congressional district, the seventh. Historically, we had seven congressional districts until the 1930s when we lost population as other states, mostly in the industrial northeast, made substantial gains. Now the process has reversed and we have seven districts again.

It is the job of the General Assembly to draw the new district lines. This time around, there were two plans for the new district-- one had Beaufort as the center of the new constituency, and the other had Horry County/Myrtle Beach as its anchor. In my view, both plans had strengths and weaknesses, but the folks from the Grand Strand prevailed.

Our new congressional home is in the First Congressional District, with Tim Scott as our congressman. As Congressman Scott is a friend of mine, and much of our Coastal Caucus is located between North Charleston and here, I wasn’t too disappointed to lose the new designation. In fact, after reflection, it seems to me that we have come out of this reapportioning process with much more political and economic coherence than was previously the case. While we are grateful for the good work of Congressman Wilson and especially to his “go to” staffer Cris Steele, our new situation offers much positive potential.

In the past, reapportioning was usually a messy, insider-driven process. More often than not, the courts would intervene and outcomes were puzzling to the average voter. This time around, I believe we did a good job of running this difficult process with much more openness and stakeholder input. The credit for this goes, in large part, to my friend Jim Harrison (R-Richland Co.). Jim is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, the group tasked with getting this thing done in a fair, business-like manner. I hope at least some of you attended the community input sessions that were organized across the state.

Finally, the fact that we have another congressman also means that we have another electoral vote in the presidential election. Sometimes, things just keep getting better.

From the House

2011-08-01T20:26:00.000-04:00

Bluffton Today

The seemingly endless session is now officially at an end. It’s time for those of us in leadership to begin our extracurricular activities on your behalf. It has already been a busy off-season, with much more on the agenda.
With the new congressional district now centered in the Myrtle Beach/Horry County area, we are reunited with our coastal compatriots in a district extending from Charleston to Beaufort County. This will offer us a much greater congruency with our colleagues from the Coastal Caucus. In the last six or eight years, the resurgent Coastal Caucus, led mostly by your delegation, has become a potent force in the General Assembly. One of our premier agenda items is the preservation and continuing support for the Waddell Mariculture Center in Greater Bluffton. In this, we can expect congressional attention from my friend, Tim Scott, congressman from Charleston and no stranger to Beaufort County.
Another of my extracurricular activities that will also have a direct bearing on clean water issues is the ongoing work of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Shoreline Management, chaired by my neighbor and friend Wes Jones. Along with my friends Tom Peeples, former Mayor of Hilton Head Island, and Joe Riley, Mayor of Charleston, we continue meeting to hash out issues that become ever more pressing as an increasing number of folks move to our area and the threat of rising sea levels becomes more apparent. We are attempting to create good public policy that also respects the rights of private property owners. It’s a tall order but I am constantly impressed by the amount of experience and the degree of mental horsepower represented on this committee.
Whatever the outcome of the current debt ceiling negotiations in Washington, two things are becoming clearer relative to our situation in South Carolina. Firstly, by contrast, our rancorous and protracted state budget process looks like the work of a conclave of serene economic philosophers next to the federal trainwreck. Secondly, the level of uncertainty attendant to both public and private finances is elevated regardless of the outcome. If this spectacle results in even a partial default, the uncertainty is increased exponentially.
Whatever the level of uncertainty, the work we are doing on both the Caucus Tax Committee and the Tax Realignment Commission is given added urgency. After three years of double-digit percentage reductions to our state budget, we are potentially looking at dramatic federal changes, whether to the Medicaid 3 to 1 match, highway dollars, or even to things we cannot at this point anticipate. It’s an interesting time.
However much we are confronted with uncertainty over future finances, there is one thing that is beyond party and beyond policy. That is the return of local hero Jeff Fulghum. For the last three weeks, a good number of constituent calls and emails to my office have been about Jeff. How is he doing? What are his plans? Is there going to be a public event for him?
This Thursday at 7pm, after the Farmer’s Market, Jeff will be at Vineyard 55 across from Miss Babbie’s Store on Calhoun St. We need to make absolutely certain this young man understands the depth of this community’s gratitude for his service and his sacrifice for our country.

From the House

2011-07-25T08:22:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

We had a ton of calls and emails about last week’s column. Many of you wanted to know more about Jeff Fulghum and how he is doing. I can only say that he is out and about but still needs some time to get reintegrated into Bluffton life. There is also the distinct possibility that he may have to heal a bit before he is his former active self. Nonetheless, when you see him, give him a handshake and tell him thanks.
There were also a fair number of calls concerning the budget and budget process, especially if the budget gives us any clues as to whether the state government is shrinking, expanding or staying about the same. The answer is that by most indicators, we are shrinking the size of state government. While the budget numbers have been declining for years, perhaps a better metric is the number of state employees.
In 2001, there were roughly 67,000 workers on the state payroll. In March of this year, the headcount was a little over 60,000. That is a decrease of around 11%. While that may seem like a smallish reduction, except that our state has traditionally run a very lean operation, and in that context, 11% reduction is profound. Needless to say, any deadwood that may have been there is long gone. In my experience, we have a pretty dedicated, competent workforce at the state.
One of our best, most competent state employees is my buddy Al Stokes, the site manager at the Waddell Mariculture Center here in Bluffton. Al and his crew do great work on a lot of fronts, including the various stocking programs and a number of research projects. Al was also one of the first folks I called when I heard about the problems on the Bluffton sandbars. Part of the Department of Natural Resources mandate is to monitor the rivers for potential pollution issues. Part of his response was to send me some info on what some of the other areas of the state are doing to protect their water quality.
One of the more interesting programs is being done by the City of Columbia and is called “Drains are not Dumps” to help folks understand that whatever goes into the storm drains goes directly into the river. Like us, they have a big problem with pet waste, motor oil, yard debris, and a host of other substances that residents choose to make “disappear” down the storm drains.
Our friends up in Horry County have a tremendous stormwater management problem that has resulted in beach water bacteria readings that far exceed safe swimming standards. Obviously, this has tremendous implications for their tourism industry. They are in the middle of a multiyear program to address the problem. The cost estimate for the effort is somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 million.
As more people move to our part of the Lowcountry and more folks discover what a great place this is to visit, the pressure on our waters continues to grow. If we can’t show an appropriate level of respect for our natural resources, we are in for some unpleasant surprises. We all want clean water and we all want low taxes. If we don’t do the right thing, we may find ourselves with neither. My brand of conservatism assumes a certain level of individual responsibility.

From the House

2011-07-18T07:38:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

We finally got some relief from the heat and drought here in the Lowcountry with the welcome rains of last Thursday and Friday. Out where we live, the landscape seemed to issue a collective sigh of gratitude when the rain finally began to fall and the summer heat momentarily tapered off.

Speaking of relief and gratitude, my good friend Jeff Fulghum is back in Bluffton after another year’s deployment in Afghanistan. You may remember that I have written about Jeff from time to time over the years, not only because he is a great fellow and a good friend, but because he exemplifies so many of the aspects of personal courage and service that I admire. Modest almost to a fault, he told me his finest achievement was making sure all fourteen soldiers under his squad leadership are now safe at home. This was in spite of a year’s worth of tough patrols and missions, with more than a few enemy engagements.

When Jeff says that things were tough, my sense is that was something of an understatement, given the fact that he spent some time in Mississippi on his way back home having neurological exams for combat wounds. His vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) on May 28, and he was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, concussion, smoke inhalation, and will probably have significant hearing loss. I’d say that qualifies as tough duty.

At a time when we hear far too much from blowhard chicken hawks and sunshine patriots of various stripes, Jeff Fulghum is a genuine patriot who stepped up and did hard, hazardous, and heroic service in a faraway place that is alien to our beautiful Bluffton in every way imaginable. For his efforts, he was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, high honors both.

Jeff is back in Bluffton, so when you see him, be certain to shake his hand and let him know how proud we are of him and how thankful we are for his service.

Finally, the session should wind up in the House the week of the 25th with some added visibility on reapportionment. At this time, it looks like the House of Representatives remap will be pretty close to what you have read in this column. However, the state Senate and the federal House of Representatives are still in flux.

After what has been a particularly difficult and protracted session, I am looking forward to spending more time in the office and talking with you about what we need to be preparing for the next go-round as we reconvene after the first of the year. As much as I have come to enjoy the back and forth of politics in Columbia, my greatest pleasure is still listening to the folks back in the Lowcountry. If I can help bring a new business or manufacturing plant to our area, I feel like we’ve made progress. If I, or my staff can help a constituent find the right person to help them with a state benefit problem, it’s a win. If I can help lower your taxes, or resolve a regulatory issue, it’s a win. It just reminds me why we call it the House of Representatives.

From the House

2011-07-11T08:38:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

I want to start this week by responding to phone calls and emails, beginning with all the good folks commenting on the election of Judge Malphrus. There seems to be a high level of agreement with the notion that Deborah Malphrus is going to make a terrific judge. She was impressive in all her interviews, candid with her answers to the many questions in multiple venues, and generally was the embodiment of judicial presence.

We are fortunate that the Lowcountry has another fine judicial asset to add to Solicitor Stone, Sheriff Tanner and Chief McAllister. We definitely have the cream of the crop.

In that same vein, congrats to Cpl. Mike Creason of the Bluffton Police Dept. for being named School Resource Officer of the Year in Region 4 for his work at McCracken Middle School in Bluffton. Cpl. Creason was also the winner of the inaugural Eric Bamberg Award as the Outstanding School Resource Officer of the Year for the entire state. Even before this recognition, Mike Creason was always, it seemed to me, the example of a caring, competent police officer that made us all proud. Outstanding work, Mike!

Another topic that got a lot of phone and email play was the sandbar issue. You may remember several years ago, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) came down pretty hard on bad behavior in the river and especially the sandbars. The issues were excessive drinking and uncontrolled dogs. In response to many, many calls, I had a meeting with my friends at DNR to ask them to back it down a bit, which they did. I was given assurances from many of you that we could take care of the matter locally, which, in my view, is the preferable way to go. In fact, for quite some time afterwards, the behavior on and around the sandbars was much improved. Folks seemed to take responsibility for keeping things under control simply by having the appropriate conversation with those that might not understand the local customs.

From what I heard from many of you this past week, I believe those conversations are about to begin again. As the representative of a rather conservative district, I know we can take care of this problem by setting a good example, and if need be, having the appropriate chat with visitors or newcomers who might not understand that we need to preserve and protect what nature has given us. One of the fundamental tenets of my brand of conservatism has to do with individual responsibility. I personally chafe when government decides to regulate that which I think we can do just fine regulating ourselves. The “nanny” state has no place in Bluffton.

Over the summer, I will continue to talk about the budget and some of the good things that come from keeping taxes low. The recent announcements of mid-size manufacturers locating in Jasper County have everything to do with our tax policies and how they affect our competitiveness. According to a finding of the U.S. Census Bureau Tax Foundation, our state has the lowest state taxes per capita in the nation. We are also in the top tier of several respected competitiveness rankings. How we got there and what it means are things you need to know.

From the House

2011-07-04T09:00:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

Before we get to the statehouse activity of the week, I want to pause for a moment and reflect on the meaning of this Independence Day, the 4th of July on which we celebrate the beginning of our transition from a cluster of colonies in the new world to a new nation destined to reshape the political geography of the entire planet. With a simple declaration, we ultimately went from dependence upon Great Britain and all that implies, to an independent nation ruled only by the will of a people who put together a governmental process so powerful and durable that for over two centuries, we have served as an exemplar of the unlimited potential of self-determination. From every corner of the globe, the American model is lifted as a lantern of freedom by peoples struggling in the dimness of tyranny and oppression. Our Declaration of Independence is no longer only a statement of American values, it has evolved into something akin to a global affirmation of inspiration and aspiration.

By all means, enjoy your day off. Enjoy a day on the river, or at a patriotic celebration, but also give some thought to those ideas that gave us the beginnings of our place as the primary nation among nations. If, however, in the course of our daily political back and forth, we should lose our grasp on these ideas that bind us as a nation, we will in time, lose our place among nations. The necessity has never been more real.

Speaking of political back and forth, the session that seems to never end continued last week with a raft of vetoes from the governor and an almost equally tall pile of overrides. I got a ton of calls from you on the SCETV veto, as did many of my colleagues. While there is a good case to be made for SCETV having the benefit of some level of free-market input, the governor’s veto seemed to ignore the fact that the statewide television network has many functions, such as aiding in evacuations, Amber alerts, Wifi and Internet components, as well as educational and corporate duties. The role of SCETV should be a standalone debate and not simply a feature of the budget process.

Many of you were disappointed that the governor vetoed the funding for the Arts Commission, even after we had moved it over to Parks, Recreation and Tourism (PRT). The arts are such a well performing part of our tourism and job creation efforts that simply slashing the very modest funding seemed gratuitous and unsound. In addition, such a veto certainly sends a baffling message to companies that might be thinking of moving a component or even a headquarters to our state.

Finally, among the many phone calls we received this week, perhaps the most welcome was from my dear friend of many years and fellow BT columnist Carolyn Bremer. As a warm water swimmer in her precious “River Maye”, Carolyn, among many others, is concerned with the overcrowding and poor stewardship threatening our lovely sandbars. Friends, this is an opportunity for us to step up and take care of what may become an enforcement issue. If we, as locals, don’t set a good example, we really can’t expect others to do the right thing.

(Is it just me, or do the second paragraph and the last paragraph of this piece seem to be about pretty much the same thing?)

From The House

2011-06-27T09:54:00.002-04:00

Constituent service call numbers are soaring along with the temperature. We were back up last week in the 370 range, not too surprising considering we were finishing up the budget. The extended session continues as the summer rolls on. My duty is in Columbia, but the May River is calling me.

I mentioned last week that the Beaufort County delegation had pushed through the candidacy of a worthy Jasper County resident for the Family Court judgeship. We had a number of calls wanting to know why we were supporting a candidate from a neighboring county rather than “one of our own” for this prestigious position. A good question that deserves a serious, straightforward answer.

The first part of the answer has to do with the candidate, now the judge. She is Deborah Malphrus, from Ridgeland. Most of the delegation members knew Deborah as a very talented and successful lawyer with a thriving practice. She also has been on the board of the Palmetto Electric Coop for many years, serving as chairman for a number of those years. In fact, the more we got to know the prospective judge, the more convinced we became that she would bring great skill and presence to the bench. This is not to say that there were not other very qualified candidates; there were several who would have certainly been given positive consideration had they not had the misfortune to come up at the same time as Deborah Malphrus.

As far as being “one of our own”, Deborah graduated from USC Law School and has been a fixture of the Lowcountry legal scene for many years. Early on, she clerked for the late Circuit Judge Carol Conner, later to become Appeals Court Justice Connor. Her father was the legendary Ridgeland lawyer Joseph N. Malphrus. Her brother is recently retired Jasper County Probate Judge Joseph N. Malphrus Jr. The tradition of public service in her family is strong, especially considering that at least one of her three children is looking to begin law school in the very near future.

As to why her candidacy was not forwarded by the Jasper delegation, the answer is that their delegation is currently small and composed of Democrats. In my view, the interests of securing a judge of Deborah Malphrus’s quality and character overwhelmingly trumped any partisan considerations.

While our work with Judge Malphrus began before the outlines of the new house districts began to take shape, her election certainly gets our work on the new Beaufort/Jasper delegation off on the right foot. I have every confidence that Judge Malphrus’s time on the Family Court bench will be characterized by prudence, competence and appropriate compassion.

Bluffton is fortunate to have two members on the SC Blue Ribbon Committee on Shoreline Management. They are your representative and committee chairman Wes Jones. We met two weeks ago in Columbia at the DNR Board Room and discussed agenda items generally related to the DHEC policy of beachfront retreat. Our goal is to develop specific regulatory recommendations relating to the findings of the DHEC Shoreline Change Advisory Committee. Essentially, we are trying to find that middle ground between the public good and private property rights relating to areas where the water meets the land. This is a process, which will be ongoing, and I will report to you from time to time on our accomplishments as well as frustrations.

From the House

2011-06-20T17:21:00.002-04:00

The number of phone calls and emails didn’t set any records this week, but it is amazing the level of interest this late in the process. We are in extended session, with a shortened week mostly dealing with cleanup and reapportionment. Still, we had 323 constituent contacts. The bulk of the calls were either on reapportionment or the Moss Creek Plantation dock system. Interestingly, many of the calls were from folks in Jasper County, now that the new district outlines are beginning to clarify.
As it now stands, District 118 is going to extend eastward to Burnt Church Road in Bluffton, including just about everything west of that, including Highway 46, Palmetto Bluff, the Buckwalter tract, Sun City, all the way to Hardeeville and over to I-95 and back to the Savannah River. This general designation will exclude Rose Hill Plantation and several other plantations on the Bluffton side of Highway 278.
The new district (120) will extend eastward from Burnt Church Road and pick up Myrtle Island, All Joy and the former Ulmer properties all the way north to Moss Creek Plantation. The district boundary will move westward along the north side of Highway 278, then north along Highway 170 to include Riverbend and Oldfield, extending all the way to Ridgeland.
The legislative implications of this new configuration are tremendous. With two seats bridging Beaufort and Jasper counties, we are bonded with our neighboring county in a manner that should give our corner of the Lowcountry a greatly increased profile not only in the legislature but in our economic development regimes as well. Regionalism has, up to this point, been something that everyone supports rhetorically but when it comes to practical cases, not so much. With the new configuration, regionalism is a legislative fact on the ground. Working in concert, our efforts regarding the port will be multiplied. Our chances of locating and sealing the deal with the next CareCore are greatly enhanced. Even the potential funding for USCB and TCL looks to benefit from a Beaufort/Jasper delegation working the budget.
In anticipation of our working partnership with our friends in Jasper County, next week I will tell you about how one of our important judgeships was captured by a worthy Jasper resident and the crucial role played in that process by your Beaufort County delegation. She’ll be an outstanding judge, and it’s a pretty good story to boot.
Finally, I want to remind everyone that school is out for the summer and our roads and sidewalks are filled with children on bikes, skateboards, scooters, and sometimes even golf carts and fourwheelers. Please be careful and attentive. The same goes for our rivers and creeks. A second of inattention while leaving or arriving at the sandbar can literally be life changing. More and more folks have found the May River and our sandbars. It is up to us locals to set a good example.
As always, over the summer, I will give you an overview of the session in terms of what passed and what it means. I will also give you an idea of what gets carried over and what we are likely to see next year. That is, of course, if we ever draw this session to a close.

From the House

2011-06-14T14:38:00.001-04:00

As Governor Haley and Senator McConnell were playing our their little drama last week, many of you were calling my office for some sort of explanation. In fact, 378 of you called, mostly to comment on the dust-up or to seek some understanding of what, to many, seemed like a schoolyard slap-fight.
In time, and with the intervention of the court, the matter was settled and the status quo was regained as all the combatants resumed a tense but amicable working relationship. My candid explanation of the events will have to wait for my autobiography.
From the standpoint of the House of Representatives, the matter was somewhat moot, as we passed all the long-needed reform measures back in March. Governor Haley wants the Senate to do likewise. To refresh your memory: H.3152 puts the Governor and the Lt. Governor on the same ticket—The House passed it 106-6 on March 3rd. H.3070 deals with the Superintendent of Education being appointed by the Governor. It passed the House 82-28 on March 3rd. H.3066 created the Department of Administration and was passed by the House also on March 3rd by a vote of 96-13. And the last of the Governor’s commonsense reforms, the combining of the Department of Probation, Pardon and Parole with the Department of Corrections (H.3267) was passed by the House March 31st on a vote of 81-21.
Of these bills, the creation of the Department of Administration has the potential to rationalize and streamline many of the critical functions of state government. If it does nothing more than reform our antiquated procurement regime, it will have been a wise move. However, I will report from time to time how the potential is translating into actual benefit with regard to getting the most value for the taxpayer’s dollars.
Suffice to say that this is not the first time the House has done the hard work of investigating critical needs, refining the intent and the language of the bills in sub-committee and full committee, and producing good legislation, only to have the senate process derail, delay or deny the manifest will of the people. Admittedly, the senate process allows for one or two members to hold up the entire proceedings-- sometimes for good reasons and sometimes for embarrassingly trivial ones. Fortunately, our Senator Tom Davis is always a team player with regard to Beaufort County Delegation mission critical matters.
My hope is that the Senate will expeditiously address the reform agenda already passed by the House.
Finally, I want to refocus on the local Bluffton scene to let you know that my friend Aaron Dowell has opened the Bluffton Boat Center in Burnt Church Park near Monster Pizza. I have known Aaron for a lot of years and he is a good fellow and a great craftsman. I expect the Bluffton Boat Center to reflect both those features.
This piece of good news illuminates why my legislative agenda is always about jobs, environmental conservation, and the preservation of the Waddell Mariculature Center. Aaron created his own job and all the jobs of the folks that work for him or will work for him because people want to enjoy the cleanest water in the state, right here in Beaufort County. The Mariculture Center, with their cobia and redfish programs, as well as their research efforts, also make for great fishing in our area. Our modest efforts to keep our waters clean and our support of healthy fish populations not only give us great quality of life, they create good jobs and good business for smart entrepreneurs like Aaron Dowell.

From The House

2011-06-06T07:52:00.001-04:00

We had almost 350 constituent contacts this last week, which was a little unexpected given the holidays. Many of these calls and emails were about the budget process, which is in the reconciliation phase with the Senate. A fair number, however, were concerning my traditional Memorial Day column — for which I’m grateful.

You may remember that we completed budget work on the House side and sent it on to the Senate in March. While this document was the product of much hard work, it was also based on revenue assumptions that have since been modified (for the better) and did not include some of the bills that have subsequently become law and need funding.

One of the ways we prepare for the ultimate conference committee negotiation with our Senate colleagues is to prepare amendments to our original budget that reflect the revenue changes, the new legislation and our House Ways and Means vision of how we should spend the people’s money. Amendment 1-A was offered by our chairman, Dan Cooper, in the Appropriations Bill, and it amended back to the version we passed in March.

The most significant change in the original budget was the addition of $210 million that has become available since March. We immediately replaced $97 million of nonrecurring funds with $105 million of recurring funds in the Education Finance Act (EFA). We always try to use recurring dollars whenever possible to avoid the scramble during the next funding cycle to find funds that may have been nonrecurring and not recurred, such as temporary federal grants or temporarily diverted trust account funds. My thinking on using one-time money for ongoing needs is well known, but I will elaborate in a future column.

The changes to the EFA funding had the beneficial effect of raising the anticipated per-student base cost to $1,876, which is an $88 improvement over the original budget.

We also directed $146 million into nonrecurring funds to begin to pay off the unemployment insurance loan to the federal government. This is, of course, the proper thing to do. However, it runs me hot that we borrow from the feds at a higher rate to take care of our unemployed workers than is charged the banks on the discount rate. It is federalism, but not a particularly cooperative version, in my view.

In addition, we clarified the language relating to the prohibition of lobbyists being paid with general fund dollars. The budget amendment also increases state contribution to libraries, as well as funds the Illegal Immigration Bill and the Voter ID Bill and continues implementation of the statewide accounting system. Additional funding also puts us on a trajectory to build the 5 percent General Reserve Fund mandated by the voters in November 2010. This should happen five years ahead of schedule.

This last feature was something that I worked hard on as we are increasing our “rainy day” fund at the end of a serious financial downturn. This gives me cause to think my colleagues in the House are beginning to think more concretely about the financial reforms I have been pushing for years. We’ll see.

Amendment 1-A is essentially our best, most prudent position in the upcoming conference committee negotiations with the Senate. It is a sound, forward-looking document that reflects well on the House of Representatives.

From The House

2011-05-30T08:24:00.002-04:00

This archived column is dedicated to my father, Donald William Herbkersman, an Army Ranger and Korean War veteran, as well as the Sun City Veteran’s Club and all Beaufort County veterans. We will never forget.

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It was my intention to talk about the budget today. The state budget is important and a big part of what you send me to Columbia to get accomplished. It is a reasonably clear statement of the political philosophy held by the overwhelming majority of your elected officials as it applies to the day to day operation of the state. The budget is a statement of values above and beyond any political rhetoric, because we spend money on what we value. If we fund it, we care about it.

However, with Memorial Day upon us, and especially as we are at war, I have been thinking about some of the larger issues and some of the more enduring values than perhaps those that are simply represented as line items in a budget.

The South, as a region, contributes to the ranks of the armed forces in numbers proportionally higher than our population would suggest. South Carolina is very well represented, even by the southern standard. And Beaufort County, with its large concentration of active duty military personnel, as well as many military retirees, is more than passing familiar with the sacrifices entailed in the defense of the republic.

We have Memorial Day to remind ourselves that what we so often take for granted, the gifts that our splendid nation has so amply provided, were not gifts in the sense that they were without cost. My generation has fathers and grandfathers that did not return from the Second World War or the Korean Conflict. We have brothers lost in the jungles of Viet Nam and now we have children, sons and daughters, leaving their lives in the harshness of Afghanistan and Iraq. From Cowpens to Kirkuk, our freedom has been anything but free. From Camden to Quang Tri to Sadr City, brave young patriots gave their lives so that we might carry forward this great act of faith we call America.

I’m not a constitutional scholar and I don’t often try to sort out the size of the bricks in the wall between church and state. I do know the argument is suspended when you pass through the gates of the Beaufort National Cemetery. It has no currency when you view the thousands of silent markers at Arlington National Cemetery. Each of our national heroes was carried to his or her rest by the God of their individual understanding. The grief of those left behind was lightened by the rituals and ceremonies of the many faith traditions we together embrace.
I hope you have a good holiday. Get outside and enjoy our wonderful clean river and lush, green landscape. As you do, please also give some thought and perhaps a prayer of gratitude for those who helped secure the blessings we enjoy.

Next week, I will get back to the budget and let you know what we are doing with your money. I’m also going to start giving a little more mention to the many generous and interesting contributors to the vitality of our community.

Please indulge my Memorial Day departure from business as usual. I think sometimes we need to slow down and refocus on the big ideas. It may be another reason we call it the House of Representatives

From the House

2011-05-23T08:34:00.002-04:00

I want to thank all of you who called, wrote, or emailed me this week as we begin to wind down the session. There are a number of outstanding issues to be dealt with, not the least of which is immigration. The immigration bill is coming forward and I will have much to say about what we are likely to do, but that will have to wait for a future column.

Today, it is redistricting and something of a “heads-up” on what our local legislative districts may look like.

As your representative for District 118, I have worked for the betterment of not only Beaufort County and Greater Bluffton, I have done whatever I could to help our friends in Jasper County take their place among the prosperous coastal areas of the state. Former Representative Thayer Rivers was one of my earliest legislative allies, and I have developed a good working relationship with his successor, Rep. Curtis Brantley. Also, I have always admired the idealism and keen political skills of Senator Clementa Pinckney, especially as we worked to make the Jasper Port a reality.

Even a cursory look at the map will show how all of our access to I-95 is through Jasper County. All our major rivers and estuaries make up in Jasper County as well. Consequently, much of our transportation effort and much of our environmental effort has been successful or unsuccessful largely to the degree we could enlist our neighbors in Jasper County. Needless to say, we in Beaufort County have much in common with our friends to the west.

It now appears very likely that the necessities of redistricting are going to draw us ever closer to Jasper County, Hardeeville, and even Ridgeland. To my way of thinking, this merger will be to the immense benefit of both counties, not only in efficiencies of proximity, but we will also potentially have the third most powerful delegation in the General Assembly.

This is how the maps are shaping up:

District 118, because of massive growth in Greater Bluffton in the last ten years, has twice as many residents as the average district. The new district will very likely contain much of present Bluffton south of Highway 278, much of Sun City, but also extend into Jasper County and include much of Hardeeville all the way to the Savannah River. There is another, new district that will likely have a part of eastern Bluffton, extend to the developments north of Highway 278 and follow Highway 170 as far as Ridgeland. District 123, represented by Andy Patrick, will gain Daufuskie Island, which is as it should have been anyway.

This new configuration is by no means carved in stone. There are any number of hurtles to be jumped, not the least of which is a blessing by the civil rights folks at the Federal Department of Justice. It does, however, use many of the favored criteria, such as county lines, roads, and rivers to draw districts that will not only give a desirable population distribution, but also does not dilute minority voting strength beyond reasonable percentages.

While this new configuration will take some getting used to, I believe the political strength of a Beaufort/Jasper delegation will more than compensate for any dislocation any resident might feel.

Next time, I hope the Amazon situation will be clarified to the degree that I can give you the real story of this somewhat bizarre tale of competing narratives.

From the House

2011-05-16T07:47:00.001-04:00

The Bluffton Village Festival was, as always, a pleasure to attend. The Bluffton Rotary, and particularly Karen Lavery, did a great job of putting on this signature event. I’m certain that Miss Babbie Guscio appreciates the care and attention to detail with which the Rotarians are carrying on the festival she created and nurtured for so many years. Good job all!

Two things stood out for me at the festival. One thing was the number of folks that came by the office during and after the festival. After I made the rounds, we opened the doors and a multitude of old-timers, as well as new Blufftonians, streamed in. It was good to be able to chat with so many people that all seemed to be in a celebratory mood. One fellow said the day reminded him of his time in Carmel, California, only this was better. Take that Mayor Clint Eastwood.

The second thing that was certainly impressive was how the Bluffton Police managed the huge crowds. The police presence was so subtle and so effective it was hardly noticeable. It was like having experienced referees at a basketball game. Everything was smooth and calm. In my chat with Chief McAllister, he explained that smooth and calm is largely what community policing is about. Organize crowd control so you don’t even notice it. We are fortunate to have these skilled professionals on our side.

Speaking of outstanding law enforcement, my friends Sheriff P.J. Tanner and Solicitor Duffie Stone were both recognized for meritorious service at the South Carolina Republican Party Convention in Columbia. Sheriff Tanner was honored for his “287 (g) task force” which is seven deputies trained to enforce federal immigration laws. Solicitor Stone was recognized for creating the Career Criminal Prosecution Team in 2008, which has been credited with helping end overcrowding in the county jail by bringing repeat offenders to trial faster. He also put up some pretty gaudy conviction numbers as well. They won convictions against 54 out of 57 defendants in 2009 and 43 out of 47 last year. Those are Hall of Fame numbers in any league. Once again, I’m happy we have the pros on our side.

My School Choice bill came up and was passed out of full committee after some heated discussion. Part of that discussion was a suggestion that the bill was in some way a negative reflection on the professionalism of our hard-working schoolteachers and principals. This is not remotely the case. The vast majority of our teachers are dedicated, caring professionals who do hard, important work under often less-that-ideal circumstances. At its core, the School Choice bill is about incentivizing parents to become more involved in the education of their children.

In all candor, our state does not have a distinguished history when it comes to public education. Our outcomes do not adequately reflect the dollar amounts dedicated to education. In my view, doing more of what has not worked gets a failing grade. I support anything that has a plausible shot at improving the preparation of our young people as we launch them into the modern world. The School Choice bill provides another potential avenue to educational success.

From the House

2011-05-09T07:44:00.002-04:00

Before we get into the hard news from Columbia, I want to take a moment to welcome a couple of new businesses to downtown Bluffton. Parrot Cove Ice Cream has opened next to Bear Comics in the north end of the Promenade, next to Booksalicious and Cork’s Wine Bar. These are more of the small businesses that help to drive the local economy by serving local folks and hiring locally. Also, what’s not to like about ice cream and comics?

I had the pleasure of pushing through the House of Representatives a good piece of legislation authored by my friend and fellow Beaufort County delegation member, Senator Tom Davis. The substance of the bill requires that any federal program, whether it requires matching funds, outright grants, or any other federal largesse, be made transparent as to whatever strings might be attached and what would be the state and/or local fiscal impacts of those programs as we go through time. In my view, it is a long-overdue effort to contain the unintended consequences of what might seem like handouts from the feds.

Senator Davis got the bill through the senate in record time and we took it up in the house by unanimous consent after crossover and passed the measure in short order. I believe that is a testament to the quality of the bill as well as the value of the material coming out of your Beaufort County delegation.

This year, the House of Representatives took off two weeks during the session, thereby saving the taxpayers something like $100,000 for our efforts. In comparison with our $5 billion budget, that might seem like a drop in the ocean. However, when you consider that we have one of the longest constitutionally mandated legislative sessions in the country while being one of the smaller states, the situation needs attention. This is especially urgent when you consider the results of a study done in 1995 by George Mason University and the University of Connecticut that showed that the longer congress was in session, the longer and more complex legislation became. I personally see this phenomenon in action nearly every day.

In response, the house has tried and failed to shorten the session nine times since 1994. This year, we passed a bill to end the session the last Thursday in May rather than the first Thursday in June. It’s only a week but it’s a start. Perhaps number ten will be the charm. In truth, I think I can be more helpful to the constituents of District 118 if I am present in the neighborhoods I represent. This is a conversation that will be with us for some time.

The other big-ticket item on the agenda for this week was reapportioning the General Assembly districts as well as our congressional lines. This is a duty that follows our every-ten-year census results. It is a complex process that involves several criteria, not the least of which is blessing by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. As it stands, District 118 is the largest district in the state, nearly double the size it will be. Beaufort County will receive a new house district, which will bolster our delegation. South Carolina will also receive another congressional district, which also adds to our Electoral College clout. The reapportionment process is under way and will create what is likely to be seen as some startling changes.

From The House

2011-05-02T07:49:00.002-04:00

There is understandable concern over the legislation put up by Rep. Robert Brown (D-Charleston), which would essentially create a new tax on docks. I have heard from a number of you on this, primarily from friends in Moss Creek Plantation. In my mind, such legislation is DOA. Just as soon as I heard about this profoundly ill-advised measure, we put a stop to it for this year, and probably for many years to come. The issue would have never been given even preliminary consideration if some of our inland colleagues were made aware of the fact that docks are already taxed as part of our property. All of us with docks are painfully aware of the degree that they add to our tax burden. In short, Rep. Brown’s dock tax is not going to happen on my watch. I do, however, appreciate all the calls and emails from my good friends at Moss Creek.

This was crossover week. What this means is that unless a measure is passed in either the house or senate by the end of crossover week, it most likely won’t be taken up by the other chamber before the end of session in June. There are special circumstances when a bill will make the crossover even late in the session. Such was the case for a bill put up by my friend Senator Tom Davis, which would require the federal government to publish, and for us to understand, any strings that are attached to federal dollars coming into South Carolina. It passed the senate on short order and since time was getting short, I had it brought up for unanimous consent to be heard next week. I like the bill, it makes good sense, and I think it is good for the people of the state.

You may remember last year in several columns, I asked you for examples of how state regulations or agency rules cut into productivity without necessarily achieving their intended effect. As always, you were more than forthcoming with story after story. I told you at the time; we were working on streamlining and making more rational the state’s regulatory regime. As a result of your stories, as well as many others from around the state, the leadership of the house, including your representative, included regulatory reform in this session’s agenda. I’m happy to say we are making great progress on this crucial agenda item.

Often when we pass legislation that must be enacted by an executive branch agency; there are aspects of the implementation that are more burdensome or complex than the intent of the legislation. Sometimes there are new fees to cover the cost of implementation that were not envisioned in the original legislation. This is the source of many of the stories we heard from you, which we now are addressing. A bill passed this week will require the General Assembly to take a vote on regulations proposed by South Carolina governmental agencies such as DNR and DHEC, as well as others. This is not to say that these good folks don’t know what they are doing, they are professionals hired to do certain jobs. This measure is simply a mechanism to check that the cost/benefit ratio of regulation is not out of whack. There is also new legislation that does the same thing with new fees. There are, of course, some caveats and exceptions, but in the main, this is a good faith effort to address your concerns with how we at the state do our jobs.

From The House

2011-04-25T07:21:00.002-04:00

For the first time in the nine years I have been your representative, we received less than 100 constituent contacts for the legislative week. I’m fairly certain this has to do with it being a holiday week in both the Christian and Jewish traditions. It is proper, in my view, that these special times be spent with family and loved ones and not so much in political and governmental pursuits.

For those following the golfing tradition, last week was also Heritage week. As always, it was a grand spectacle, with excellent play in a relaxed atmosphere. It is my hope that after such a well-executed event, the next title sponsor will finally step up and commit. In truth, your representative has been working the phones and making the case for the Heritage and the entire Lowcountry experience. We got an amazing amount of national exposure for our gorgeous South Carolina springtime, which I am positive will bring new businesses and new residents to share what we have been given in such abundance. In any case, I will continue to support the continuation of the Heritage by whatever means at my disposal. If we lose this treasure, it will not be for lack of effort.

Bill Wylie was a friend of mine, and a legislator who passed away suddenly last year. One of his last projects was a bill that would give certain investors a nice tax break for supporting job creation in our state. The bill he originally authored has been named the Bill Wylie Entrepreneurship Act of 2011. It passed the house and moves to the Senate Finance Committee this week. This is a particularly nice piece of legislation in that it rewards early investment or “angel” investment in small startup businesses that meet certain criteria. As much as we like BMW and Boeing, the bulk of the new jobs created in our state are going to be small and mid-sized outfits that often can live or die on a well-timed strategic investment. The Bill Wylie Entrepreneurship Act of 2011 encourages that investment.

Incidentally, there is a new company headquartered in old town Bluffton called BottlesUp, which might be a beneficiary of the Bill Wylie legislation, if it passes this session. BottlesUp is the creation of local glass artist Laurel Herter. They are designer water bottles made from recycled glass with silicone rings and lids. They were introduced two weeks ago at the Chicago Home Show to rave reviews and several hundred wholesale orders. Locally, they can be found at Jacob Preston Pottery and Outside Palmetto Bluff. It’s always good to support homegrown products and homegrown jobs.

Continuing in the glass vein, the South Carolina Incandescent Light Bulb Freedom Act, or H.3735, was given second reading in the house. Simply put, we just don’t want the federal government regulating what we can and cannot do with light bulbs. This may seem like something of a symbolic issue, but there are folks who just don’t care for the illumination cast by the newer compact fluorescent bulbs, and they feel, justifiably, that the feds are once again overreaching.

I’ll have more to say on both the Point of Sale legislation and the Amazon Sales Tax conundrum in a future column. The former is hotly controversial and the latter is kind of awkward for Amazon supporters who seem to want to have it both ways when it comes to local legislation. No one ever said that making the sausage is pretty.

From The House

2011-04-18T16:18:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

The General Assembly is on furlough this week and many of your senators and representatives will be on Hilton Head Island for the Heritage Golf Tournament.

It is our time to shine as many of our visitors will enjoy the golf and the festivities, but also tour the mainland and all that we have to offer this side of the ICW. Please be helpful and patient with those who may not know their way around.

Remember they are here to enjoy what we often take for granted. They are also leaving us a gigantic financial windfall — something around $80 million in direct and indirect benefit.

With regard to my efforts to save this showcase event, we in the House have come up with a plan that may well see a vote next week or soon thereafter. We are first going to continue our work with Commerce, Parks Recreation and Tourism, the Governor’s Office, the Heritage Foundation, as well as all stakeholder groups. We are beating the bushes hard to find a proper sponsor.

As late as Wednesday night, I spent hours with Duane Parrish, director of PRT talking about possible scenarios. We both have generated leads for Commerce, as well as Gov. Nikki Haley. The obvious preferred solution is to find a sponsor in the private sector. However, failing that, the financial contingency plan is quite simple from the state’s viewpoint. We will simply reinvest part of our revenue from the Heritage back into a fund to provide the necessary time to find a sponsor. This assumes the town of Hilton Head and Beaufort County also come forward with their committed funding.

I continue to hear from all sides of this issue and will continue to take comments for as long as you have them. Philosophical reservations notwithstanding, I don’t think anyone will convince me to abandon my efforts to preserve this showcase event. Even if we discount the direct economic benefit (which is considerable), or the jobs created and preserved by the Heritage, there is simply no more effective vehicle for us to show the world a sampling of the many features of our magnificent Lowcountry. The intangibles are over the moon. Who knows how many new residents, full- and part-time, are moving to Beaufort County because of the arresting visuals they see during the televised portions of this golf event?

On the education front, I want to give all you dedicated school teachers a heads-up on what you will read in the latest issue of “Member Matters,” the newsletter of the S.C. Education Association. The head lobbyist, Jackie Hicks, had some pretty harsh things to say about your representative and several of my colleagues on the Ways and Means subcommittee. We are described as “bullying” and employing “verbally violent attacks” against those giving testimony on our school choice bill.

In my view, those characterizations are exaggerated beyond any reasonable standard of accuracy. Having said that, the topic is one that seems to excite the emotions of those on both sides of this important issue. If you want to discuss this matter, please call or come by the office. I think you will find the real story is immeasurably more benign than what was reported by the lobbyist.

Finally, please visit the new gathering place at St. Joseph’s Park in the heart of the Promenade. It is the community project of the Leadership Bluffton/Hilton Head class of 2011. They did a superb job.

Golf Cart Bill to Senate

2011-04-11T11:14:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

Last week, we handled 578 constituent contacts, which may be a new record for us. As always, I am grateful for your suggestions, your comments, and even your criticism. As long as our back and forth is active, your wisdom has a clear channel to Columbia. As I continue up the legislative ladder, your voice has more and more influence. Let me hear you.

A fair number of those constituent contacts were kind words regarding my recent op-ed in the “other paper”. My preferred venue is, of course, this space. However, my school choice bill was unfairly assailed in the Island Packet in an op-ed by a lobbyist for an organization of school boards, and I responded. It just didn’t make sense to allow intentional distortion and mischaracterization of a good bill to go unchallenged. Apparently, many of you agreed.

Speaking of good bills, our Golf Cart Bill passed the house and is on the way to the senate. I say “our bill” because in the three years since this bill was originally brought up, your input has been pivotal in refining this measure into its current form. The current law states that properly equipped and insured golf carts are allowed on certain roads for a distance of two miles from the owner’s driveway. The original version amended the law to allow two miles of travel from the gate of the property. With additional input, primarily from Sun City and Belfair, the recently passed house version has language that allows travel from any gate of the property. This is important because the back gates of many plantations are near commercial clusters that house needed services and are within the prescribed range.

Another feature of the new law applies to barrier islands of a certain size, which exactly fit Daufuskie Island. While our Daufuskie friends have been using golf carts since there were golf carts, they were not within a legal framework that would keep them from getting sideways with their insurance carriers. In fact, much of the value in this new bill has to do with staying on the right side of the insurance companies. This is why your representative has worked not only with the law enforcement side on this matter, but also with the Department of Insurance. Now, if the senate will do the right thing, many more folks can use non-polluting, convenient golf carts for shopping, doctor visits etc.

Also, under the new bill, an adventurous entrepreneur could even rent golf carts on Daufuskie Island, which would have a tremendous effect on the success of the growing number of shops and galleries on the island. This is a perfect example of how talking with your representative and sharing your good ideas can make for more responsive, more appropriate, and more commonsense government.

In that same vein, I had a great conversation with my good friends Capt. Fred Mix and David Harter, among others, about the Cobia Program. This program is only one of the many great things the Waddell Center does for us. It has a huge economic impact while helping to keep our rivers and estuaries clean and productive. Once again, this is government that is responsive, appropriate, and commonsense.

Finally, want to welcome Dr. Michael Campbell and his crew to the Promenade. As planned, local medical services that most folks in Old Town and surrounding neighborhoods can access either by golf cart or a short walk. How great is that?

Some equality returns to education funding

2011-03-28T13:33:00.000-04:00

Bluffton Today

Traditionally, the first half of a legislative term is taken up with the budget. We are at that halfway point and the budget is complete. In the spirit of March Madness, we will structure this column as something of a “halftime report”.
The budget process, always competitive, was particularly fierce this year. After several down years and fairly drastic cuts, we were faced with delivering a spending plan without the extensive federal aid that somewhat softened the austerity in past years. Your representative and the Beaufort County delegation played a major role in the crafting of the document, and were successful in thwarting attempts to reinstitute parts of the older spending regime whereby we were disadvantaged, particularly in educational allocation. Not only did we increase overall education support, we placed Beaufort County in a position to get back more of what we send to Columbia for schools. To be clear, we are still a donor county, but our donor status is not nearly as egregious as in recent years. Even the casual observer couldn’t help but notice that your delegation has “raised its game”.
Even though we cut the overall balanced budget a staggering 4% after years of deep cuts, we managed to not only increase education, but we also protected core functions such as healthcare and law enforcement. We consolidated numerous agencies and realized savings by reducing overlaps and redundancies. We also moved the five divisions of the Budget and Control Board to a new Department of Administration.
One of the areas where I played a pivotal role, from a strategic subcommittee of Ways and Means, was in the renewed emphasis on job training and recruitment of businesses and industries to hire those trained workers. I will continue to make certain that we increase our efforts to link the required skills needed by business and industry with the training available in our vocational and community colleges.
In addition to strong budget work, we passed a resolution giving the voters the right to decide if the governor and the lieutenant governor should run on the same ticket, and whether the state superintendent of education should be appointed rather than elected. If approved by the senate, you will get the chance to decide these questions during the 2012 election.
Risking a failure of modesty, I want to say that the home team played a great first half. We put together a sound game plan and stuck with it. We played tenacious defense when required, and put up a lot of points. The second half will see a lot more individual effort as each member has projects to accomplish, but I am confident the teamwork and discipline we have developed will remain a dominant feature of our game.
Returning to local matters, I want to welcome Dr. Katherine Darling and the Darling Eye Center to Doctor’s Row in the Promenade and Old Town Bluffton. Dr. Darling has already become a member and contributor to the Old Town Merchant’s Society and looks to add greatly to the convenience and amenity of those living in the Old Town area. There is much to be said for having doctors within walking distance of home. In fact, if we walked to more of our appointments, fewer of those appointments would be with the doctor.

House completes budget on time

2011-03-21T17:22:00.002-04:00

We finished the budget in record time. At least it was considerably faster than at any time in my legislative experience. I believe this was due mainly to the fact that we did such painstakingly detailed work in our committees and subcommittees, there was not that much to hash out in full debate.

We were able, as I related in previous columns, to fund a little more for schools and health and human services, as well as lessen the impact on many agencies by realigning and consolidating their functions to preserve critical staff and organizational memory.

Perhaps the best encapsulation of the most recent budget process came from Majority Leader Kenny Bingham in the final Ways and Means budget report: “This is the best budget we could put forward this year. We cut government but protected essential services by finding new efficiencies. We cut government jobs, and funded programs to create new jobs. This is a conservative budget we can be proud of.”
Two areas I’m sure to hear from you on are the arts and ETV. With regard to the arts, our area is a perfect example of a thriving arts community that seems to be flourishing with little or no help from the government. If I am mistaken, I want to hear from you. As for ETV, their mission will carry on with more of a market-based structure.

One of the pleasant surprises of this budget season is how quickly your delegation has come together into a cohesive and disciplined force on the floor of the house. There were a number of instances where legislative moves that would have disadvantaged our area were turned back as I challenged the member at the podium as Reps. Erickson and Patrick quickly rallied support among our friends. For example, there was a move by a group of smaller counties and municipalities to give themselves an unfair and disproportionate share of “Aid to Subdivisions.” That is money collected by the state and returned to counties, cities and towns according to census data. The folks from areas that have lost population sought to “soften the blow” by getting back much more than they were due. A quick and disciplined response from your delegation, in concert with our friends from Charleston, made short work of the measure.

Over the next few weeks, especially after I get more feedback from you, I’ll have more to say about the budget.

I want to congratulate Paulie’s Pizza and the entire Carrabba family for the tremendous award they received recently at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. The hometown Bluffton team won in the Best Traditional Pizza category against the best pie makers in the country. I know these folks, and they are fine people with a great business and a customer-centered attitude. They are located in Berkeley Place, near the Sea Turtle Cinema. It’s now official: the best pizza in the country is made in Bluffton.

You know, I constantly beat the drum for economic development in our state, county and district. We have had some good success with larger companies like CareCore, but frequently we overlook the economic impact of smaller, often family owned businesses. Paulie’s is a great example of how you build a business. Old Town Bluffton and the Promenade are areas where small businesses, many of them sole proprietorships, are doing well, creating jobs, and raising our economic numbers as well as our quality of life. Sometimes, we just need to celebrate our successes.

Budget balancing will require cuts

2011-03-07T09:00:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

Much has been reported in the last few weeks about budget deficits in the various states around the nation. We have seen some pretty outlandish political stunts committed all across the political spectrum. In South Carolina, by contrast, the last election provided us in the legislature with a set of marching orders that were clear and unambiguous. We were to close our deficits by reducing spending and reining in the size and scope of government. My colleagues and I on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee have done what was required. The budget is scheduled for debate Monday, March 14, on the floor of the House.

I urge you to watch on SCETV. There was a new USA Today Gallup poll released last week that found our state right in the mainstream of sentiment regarding how to deal with our financial situation. In the Southeast, most folks want state deficits eliminated, not with new taxes, but by reducing or eliminating government programs, especially those perceived as wasteful or not absolutely necessary. What we in the House have done is to prioritize spending, protect core government services, and cut the size of government.

Needless to say, I was surprised at a significant minority of the flurry of e-mails responding to last week’s column either questioning the numbers or the necessity of our proposed budget solutions. I must remind those folks that we are not the federal Congress with the power to print more dollars to sustain our credit card lifestyle. While we may, at the state level, create a small degree of budgetary elasticity by the tricks of accounting and manipulating the various trust funds, we are in the third year of 20 percent-plus budget reductions.

That elasticity was used up years ago. Our income is now completely driving our expenditure. You elected me to not only represent your wisdom and ideas in the statehouse, but also to be a responsible adult when it comes to saying “No” to that which we can no longer afford.

The overwhelming majority of you run your households and your businesses that way and now your state also runs that way. So be it. It should be noted that during all this cutting and realigning, we were able to increase the base student investment, the amount we give the local school districts, by 10.5 percent. We did this, in part, by consolidating many of the functions and agencies of state government. We cut waste from the Department of Education based on recommendations by Dr. Mick Zais, the new state superintendent. We combined the Department of Corrections with the Department of Probation, Pardon and Parole. The Arts Commission and the State Museum were moved to Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

And Consumer Affairs is now where it should always have been, under the Secretary of State. Associated legislation ordering these consolidations is now with my friend Rep. Jim Harrison, chairman of House Judiciary Committee. Chairman Harrison and I consulted during the entire budget writing process, and will continue as we move it through the process. Many of you have called about the Heritage bill I submitted.

Please go to scgov.net, pull up my name and read it. Currently, the bill contains only info on the fiscal impact of the tournament. If the governor cannot fulfill her pledge to locate a sponsor for the Heritage, we must have a contingency plan. In this regard, my job is to educate my colleagues, and perhaps some of you, on the essential difference between a subsidy and an investment.

Health, Human Services sees reduction in Fraud

2011-02-28T07:58:00.002-05:00

The final phase of the budget is the time when constituent service is almost non-stop. We had 417 contacts this week, which is very near to an all time record. In the last five or six years, we have grown from around a hundred calls, emails, and letters a week to an average of between three and four hundred. While this is a fairly dramatic escalation in our workload, I didn’t get into politics because I thought it was effortless.

On the contrary, the reason I produce this column is to try and get you, the resident voter, to be more involved in the affairs of your district and your state. As your representative, I simply must hear from you regularly and in some detail if I am to place your ideas before the General Assembly. My colleagues at the statehouse, especially the ones I like and admire, are downright envious at the level of constituent involvement that 417 contacts represent.

Another reason I need to have extensive idea exchange with you is that a portion of what you read in the various media is incomplete or without proper context. It’s not that the newspapers, magazines and the radio producers are bad people or don’t do a good job-- often they are good people and they usually do a pretty fair job. It is because much of what we do is so detailed, so freighted with tradition or history, or (I’m embarrassed to admit) sometimes so seemingly irrational, that I can best explain it to you on the phone, or by email, or preferably when you come by the office and we chat about it. Consequently, the more I hear from you, the better job I can do.

Since much of what you wanted to hear about this week was concerning Health and Human Services, let me talk numbers. The Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) had a final budget forecast of $5,913,933,851, less the transfer of the tax relief fund of $545,000,000, leaving us $5,368,000,000, more or less. Out of that, the Capital Reserve Fund is $110,000,000 and the Contingency Reserve Fund is $71,000,000 with a BEA adjustment to around $68,000,000.

That makes the top line somewhere north of $5 billion. My subcommittee of Ways and Means is requesting Health and Human Services receive roughly $1.1 billion in state general appropriations, which is an increase of $435,000,000 over the current appropriation. The HHS top line number is reduced by annualizations and the $227,000,000 deficit from last year and around $4.5 million in IT expenditures required by the feds. We were then able to add nearly $90 million through a huge number of reforms in cash flow management, procurement savings, implementation of prior authorization for certain drugs, aggressive managed care capitations, as well as much more aggressive enforcement of fraud and abuse collections. Much of the credit for these innovations and administrative adjustments goes to Tony Keck, the new head of HHS about whom I wrote some time ago.

The fraud and abuse saving may be even higher if a measure put in by your representative becomes law. It mandates the prominent placement of a fraud hotline number where WIC vouchers and food stamps are used. If you see fraud or abuse, use the number. More times than not, the infraction is about evolving regulations, but oversight is certainly a deterrent to abuse.

Sorry about all the numbers. I look at them every day and they still make my head hurt.

Budget cutting has human cost

2011-02-21T07:59:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

As the budget portion of the legislative session is winding down, we are hearing from quite a number of you; specifically, 412 contacts last week. With significantly fewer dollars to spend, local recipients of state funding are justifiably concerned over what they may expect in the next fiscal year. My friend Jeannie Owens at Hope Haven of the Lowcountry, The Children’s Advocacy, and Rape Crisis Center makes a very compelling case for being held harmless in the current round of budgeting.

The same is true for the folks at Health and Human Services, our hardworking school boards, as well as the Medicaid administrators. We get that the needs are serious and growing. We also get that when you only have a set amount of resources, without recourse to deficit spending, sometimes even the most worthy features of our system will be diminished. I am painfully aware that there are human consequences to what we do here. Maybe some can look at this process as some kind of bookkeeping exercise, but your representative is not one of them.

I know that three speech therapy sessions a week for an autistic child makes for more progress than only one session. I know that enough proper catheters and pressure bandages for the bed-bound Medicaid patient are crucial for any kind of quality of life. I get it. What I also know is that I can’t let the saddening particulars of retrenchment blind me to the absolute necessity of organizing our finances to do the most with what we have, while at the same time working on reforming and reorganizing our system to provide more efficient and cost-effective service to those that depend on us.

There is some good news on the Education Finance Act (EFA) front, particularly with regard to the “taxpayers ability to pay” feature that has essentially cut Beaufort County out for so long. I have been able to shepherd a package of changes to the EFA through subcommittee and full committee to a point where we have a very good shot at repatriating a fair number of school tax dollars back to Beaufort County schools, both charter and traditional. Right now, we are looking at an additional $3 million to $7 million in taxes coming back to our schools.

Admittedly, even the higher number is not a large percentage of our current school expenditure. It is, however, a start. It is also a precedent-setting change that we can build on. It is also something that your representative and your delegation have pledged to accomplish. It is a significant and important aspect of our donor status relative to other counties that must be reversed in the interest of parity and fairness. I was pleased to receive visits to the State House from Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka, Councilman Oliver Brown and Bluffton Town Manager Anthony Barrett.

We also had a contingent from Hilton Head Island including Councilman George Williams, Councilwoman Kim Likens and Hilton Head Town Manager Steve Riley. The conversation was productive and had to do largely with those many issues that two municipalities as closely associated as Bluffton and Hilton Head seem to produce.

One topic of interest was the future of the Heritage, and what role, if any, there might be for the state in preserving this critical job-creating, tourism dynamo. There are a few Heritage pots boiling, and I will report as soon as there is anything promising.

Constituents provide legislative insight

2011-02-14T09:07:00.003-05:00

Bluffton Today

We are still working on our backlog of constituent contacts from last week, in addition to the 412 new calls we had this week. While the bulk of our e-mail challenges both here and in Columbia have been sorted out, we appreciate your patience in allowing us to catch up. Kathy and Mary handle the office and communications duties during session, and really do an outstanding job, often under less than ideal circumstances.

They have my constant and heartfelt gratitude. I had the pleasure of speaking with the Bluffton Tea Party folks last Monday evening and it was truly a great time for me. These good people were kind enough to rearrange their meeting date and time to accommodate my Columbia schedule. They also had a big turnout even though the weather was awful.

As usual, I left knowing a lot more than when I arrived. The Tea Party movement, as many of you know, is about being involved in our government on a meaningful level, and supporting necessary change to the status quo. The reason I get along so well with the Tea Party folks is that I have been asking for voter involvement in government since the day I was first elected. I have been successful in Columbia because so many of you have aided me with your ideas, your criticism, and your active involvement in this partnership.

The first Tea Party event I attended had several speeches urging us to “take our country back.” Indeed, my political career has been almost entirely about making sure the people in “We the People” have a real and influential voice in state government. Judging from what I heard last Monday night, the Bluffton Tea Party gets it.

My only political strategy is to tap the collective wisdom of the voters of District 118, organize that wisdom into a coherent message and take it to Columbia. If even a fraction of my colleagues trusted their constituents enough to do the same, I’ll wager we would be cutting taxes rather than cutting benefits to the disabled and laying off teachers and prison guards.

Since I’m already on the soapbox, I might as well get some other stuff out in the open. This has to do with a constitutional amendment we put before you last November that you approved by more than 4 to 1.

The amendment required that all votes on whether an industry or shop would bring in a union would be done by secret ballot. In my view, this is pretty simple stuff. The secret ballot is a cornerstone of the democratic process. It essentially means the powerful cannot intimidate the individual in matters involving majority rule.

Several weeks ago, the powerful federal government, in the form of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) threatened to sue the state if the amendment is enacted. While the issue is not quite as simple as that, the matter is of such importance I believe we should welcome the prospect of defending the principle in court. Today is, of course, Valentine’s Day.

For all you fellas who might have forgotten, this is a belated heads up. So, in the interest of forming a more perfect union, and to secure your domestic tranquility, let me urge up to get the flowers and candy before any real damage is done.

Time to defend Waddell again

2011-02-07T09:47:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

With all that happened this week in Columbia, as well as the topics broached in last week’s column, we had a record number of constituent contacts.

Unfortunately, we had e-mail problems both in Bluffton and at the Statehouse, so we couldn’t get a precise count. Those e-mail problems also made for difficulty in getting back to you on your questions or responding to your contributions. Some e-mail came in duplicate or triplicate while some didn’t make it at all. We will, as always, work through this and get back to you. If you don’t hear from me within a reasonable time, please resend your traffic.

It is crucial we remain in good contact. For any difficulty you may have experienced, we apologize. Each session, there are always new challenges to confront, a few new faces in the seats, different staff with the new governor or cabinet secretaries. Each session, I am also called on to defend our Waddell Mariculture Center. Good times or not so good times, there is always a move to eliminate this state-supported jewel from the budget, or somehow make its mission appear less valuable than other installations.

A couple of times, we had the Coastal Caucus down to the Mariculture Center for our annual meeting, which always takes the pressure off. When Al Stokes and his crew have an opportunity to explain their mission to my legislative colleagues, how a very modest state investment is so handsomely returned, the Coastal Caucus folks always support me as I make the case for the center. Unfortunately, this new session brings a new threat to the Waddell Mariculture Center, along with what is left of our Department of Natural Resources.

S.407 is a bill making its way through the senate that would take a portion of fees collected for fishing licenses and transferring those dollars to welfare, prisons and education. Supporters of this ill-conceived measure promise to restore the funding to DNR after the financial emergency, but you and I know that once the shift is made, those dollars are gone forever.

Fishing licenses are a user fee that supports a thriving industry in the Lowcountry. We expect those fees to go to enforcing the rules of fisheries management and supporting those programs that enhance the commercial and recreational fishing business. Diverting those user fees to other needs, regardless of seriousness, is something I will oppose with all that I am able to muster.

I am convinced that an already barebones Department of Natural Resources will not survive the diversion of even a portion of its funding. Al Stokes and the Waddell Mariculture Center have for years been doing world-class research and industry support on a tiny state appropriation, a few grants and contributions from the public. In better times, we will be able to enhance their funding so they can do some of the deferred maintenance that has essentially been accomplished with baling wire and duct tape.

Friends, the Heritage is in jeopardy, Hunting Island is eroding away, renourishment dollars for Hilton Head beaches are becoming even more scarce, and the Chambers of Commerce are working harder and harder to simply stay even with our tourism competitors. Can we afford to now allow our natural resources to be diminished for lack of even a modicum of professional management and support? I say NO, this will not happen on my watch.

I-Traffic speed control serves valuable function

2011-01-31T09:48:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

I had the honor of speaking before the Sun City Republican Club, along with my friend, Senator Tom Davis. I always relish the opportunity to speak at Sun City because it’s like homecoming for me.

Many of the folks have been friends and supporters since my first run for office almost a decade ago. They are the source of many of the good ideas that I have been able to turn into common sense regulation, as well as traffic infrastructure. Last week’s speaking engagement was so much fun it gave a new meaning to Republican “Party.”

In all seriousness, Tom and I gave our updates and spoke on what we hoped to accomplish during the current session. The questions, as always, were right on the mark. As usual, I came away with more than I was able to impart. We are so fortunate to have this community of engaged and informed older residents who are willing to actively participate in the political affairs of our region. Also, without the political clubs in Sun City, being a politician in the Lowcountry wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. Thanks, friends.

One of the contentious issues to arise early in the session has to do with the I-Traffic regime sponsored and operated by the Town of Ridgeland. There has been a lot written about the situation, but most of the commentary has been incomplete, at best. My initial take on the matter was to oppose what I viewed as something of an automated speed trap. After visiting with the mayor of Ridgeland and having a tour of the site, I changed my mind. There is some merit in what they are doing. If nothing else, they are having a positive affect on the number of traffic accidents and fatalities in their area of operation.

Consequently, when my delegation colleague Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, put up legislation to legalize and support the I-Traffic Ridgeland regime, both your representative and Rep. Andy Patrick, R-Hilton Head, were happy to co-sponsor. The legislation makes practical good sense and will get a fair hearing in the house.

It also has almost no chance of passage. There is a bill in the senate that is directly opposed to the Erickson bill that is unlikely to pass as well.

We will, however, have an opportunity to debate before the house, another issue where we in the Lowcountry are not allocated our fair share of state resources. In this case, we are chronically short of S.C. Highway Patrol coverage. This is important because the I-95 corridor in the southern part of the state is, and long has been, among the most dangerous in the country. Our highway patrol personnel are highly trained, effective law enforcement officers, but we just don’t have enough along our portion of I-95.

Once again, we in the Lowcountry might as well be on the dark side of the moon as far as our being allocated state resources, regardless of our well-documented needs. We contribute much more than our share and receive much less than we need. The I-Traffic Ridgeland situation is their creative attempt to make the road safer and to reduce their costs in dealing with the consequences.

Somewhere in our legislative debate of this matter, I think we can combine the best features of the I-Traffic technology with more SCHP involvement, to reduce the carnage and the dollar costs, and restore a modicum of parity with other regions of the state.

Obviously, this is a complex issue and I need to hear from more of you.

Budget solutions may lie in outside ideas

2011-01-24T08:30:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

Last week we had weather issues and ceremonial obligations, not to mention a few organizational problems. This week we got down to the hard work of getting our arms around this budget.

The numbers we are looking at currently are discouraging, but most of the trends are positive. Revenue is down but is making a comeback. We also have to fill holes that last year’s budget took care of with onetime monies and federal stimulus dollars. That was particularly true with Health and Human Services and Education aspects of the spending plan.

Consequently, we continue to take testimony from agency heads, educational leaders, state hospital representatives, and just about everyone with an interest in the budget, including a great number of you.

In contrast to last year, when we basically just cut everything that could not be absolutely justified, this year’s more refined effort will lean more toward rearranging and changing our priorities within those areas where we have any discretion whatsoever.

As you know, in the off-season, your representative and many others try to attend legislative conferences where we can exchange ideas and strategies with lawmakers from other states. We are always on the lookout for ideas that will allow us to do what we need to do more efficiently and with less burden to the taxpayer. If they have a better way to deliver speech therapy services in Iowa, I want to use it here as well. If design/build roads are a success in Oregon, I want to know how they did it. This type of idea sharing will play a large role in our process this year.

Another way we get fresh ideas into our system is to bring new people into positions of influence in our state. Such is the case for the new nominee for the head of Health and Human Services, Tony Keck. Hailing from Louisiana, Tony is already deeply engaged in his departmental budget despite the fact he has yet to be confirmed by the legislature. After seeing Tony in action last Tuesday morning, I’m confident his confirmation is a safe bet.

One of the many impressive things about Mr. Keck is the fact that he didn’t ask for more money for his department, he asked for greater flexibility in allocating his resources. He also had a number of ideas that had been implemented successfully in Louisiana, which seemed a good fit for our circumstances. As a matter of fact, some of his cost-saving suggestions bear more than a passing similarity with aspects of what our hometown heroes, CareCore, are doing on a national level.

As much as I don’t like having to deal with the fallout from the Great Recession, the necessity to economize forces us to employ something like a natural selection of ideas to carry on our core functions. The spur of necessity requires that we be more open to new thinking and possibly to come out of this hard time as a more efficient and more humane state government. Having new, smart contributors like Tony Keck is also a big plus as well.

I want to apologize to all of you e-mailing me at my statehouse address whose communications were kicked back. Server problems once again. Please resend. We need to hear from you. This “natural selection” of ideas works best with a large pool of potentially great solutions.

Bill drafted to reform Education Finance Act

2011-01-17T08:50:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

First week back was shortened and modified by the inauguration of constitutional officers, as well as the weather. The speaker was prudent in delaying the start of proceedings until later in each day as there was a fair amount of snow and ice still on the ground, making getting around somewhat treacherous.

One feature of the first week which was not truncated was a mammoth six-hour Ways and Means Committee meeting. We heard testimony from a number of folks representing different departments and study groups, mostly trying to put the best face on grim news.

Since this is the first week of a new session that seems likely to be dominated by the necessity to fit the needs of the state into a dramatically smaller fiscal box, the Ways and Means Committee is starting early and will focus hard on making our downsizing as painless as possible.

One small bit of good news is that a sub-committee of Ways and Means is already drafting legislation to change the Education Finance Act (EFA). At first blush, this proposal would increase the number of dollars repatriated to Beaufort County something like $4 million to $7 million per year over what we
received for the last several years, which was zero dollars.

This is due to the flawed formulas in the EFA, about which you have heard me rail on any number of occasions. As the economy has deteriorated, the formulas have been skewed so that more counties have been cut out of significant school funding, which has made their lawmakers somewhat more sympathetic to our predicament in Beaufort County.

Unfortunately, the situation with the EFA also involves other issues having to do with certain counties having multiple school districts within their counties. For example, Spartanburg County has seven school districts, whereas we have a single district but serve roughly the same number of students.

I won’t say that this is gaming the system, but it does have that effect. If it was up to me, we would divide the number of school dollars by the number of public school students, assign each student a share, and have those funds follow the child. While that approach is somewhat simplistic, it may be a good starting point.

It is certainly preferable to the unmanageable complexity we have created with our current system. For the present, your delegation will strive for parity in funding, with an eye toward ultimately reforming the system as part of a more comprehensive overhaul of general taxation.

Two of the buzzwords we are hearing now are “transparency” and “efficiency.” In most of what we do, the latter is impossible without the former being in place. If we can’t get a good read on what the different universities are doing with their tax dollars, we certainly can’t make too much progress on the efficiency front.

Other initiatives we are likely to see in this session are a revamp of the S.C. Taxpayers Bill of Rights as well as a move toward legislative oversight of new regulations put forward by unelected officials of state agencies.

We may also be looking seriously at shortening the session, which is something I have heard from more than a few of you on the home front.

Legislature prepares to suit up

2011-01-10T09:40:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

Tuesday, Jan. 11, is the constitutionally mandated opening day for the next session of the South Carolina General Assembly. Your Beaufort County delegation is ready to suit up and advance your legislative agenda. We have heard from you on any number of issues and are prepared to do what’s necessary to have an outstanding and productive session.

Much of the groundwork has been done so we can see real progress on the education funding front. While some of the local particulars are being sorted out in Rep. Shannon Erickson’s fact finding committee, we understand the broad outlines of what needs to happen for Beaufort County and other fast growing counties to receive a fair share of state education dollars.

One of the first matters we will tackle has to do with new beach setback lines and other regulations from the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). While I endorse the policy of retreating from the ocean as far as general development regulations are concerned, I also believe we need to recognize the concerns of property owners whose rights are threatened by portions of the new regulation. I would prefer to hash these matters out in a legislative context among all the parties in the spirit of goodwill, rather than leave it to the courts.

A number of the many calls and e-mails we got this week had to do with the beach renourishment check that was presented a few weeks ago by your representative and Rep. Andy Patrick to the leaders of the town of Hilton Head. After all, $1 million is a lot of money, especially as we are still in a recession-driven fiscal emergency. Even though those dollars are a direct benefit to our area, it was heartening to hear folks ask where the funding came from, how did we get it and is that the best use for the money at this time. Those are serious, legitimate questions that deserve an answer. Here’s the story:

A little over two years ago, in the process of doing research on another aspect of the budget, I found the dollars in a beach renourishment superfund that had been spent down to around $1.6 million. These reserve funds are customarily distributed on a rotating basis, and upon further research, I found we were long overdue to receive a share of the reserve. It seems a former house member had hidden the funds with an eye toward double dipping for his district. After completing my investigation, I met with officials from the town of Hilton Head, primarily former Mayor Tom Peeples and Town Manager Steve Riley to see if we could secure these dollars and how would it coordinate with their capital projects schedule. After more than two years of attentive and painstaking work and nearly 20 meetings with DHEC, the town and other interested parties, the check was presented.

When you read in the paper that a $1 million went to put sand on the beach at Hilton Head Island, you only got the culmination of a long and surprisingly complex story. As to whether it is the right place and time to invest those dollars on beach sand, I say absolutely it is. The role that tourism plays in our local economy cannot be overstated. If all my personal investments paid off as handsomely as placing sand on Hilton Head beaches, I would be playing bridge with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

Committee will eye education funding

2011-01-03T07:28:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

The number of constituent contacts moved up last week into the 300-plus area for the shortened week. If you called and I was a little slow getting back to you, I apologize. As I mentioned in the last column, we were short-handed and did the best we could.

Having said that, it was extremely gratifying to hear from all the Marine Corp supporters on the car tag issue. We are moving ahead with good support on that.

We are also moving ahead with the Golf Cart Bill. Much of the opposition we received on this measure last session was simply a matter of misinformation, which we are working hard to correct. Part of our effort is to enlist support from both law enforcement and the insurance industry, which appears to be falling into place.

This legislation has obvious value for folks out in Sun City, and especially for golf cart owners on remote barrier islands such as Daufuskie Island.

As more people discover that golf carts are an excellent way to get around Old Town Bluffton or Wilson Village at Palmetto Bluff, I believe we may have to take a more comprehensive look at the place these vehicles have in our communities. I see my friends Doug and Jean Corkern, usually with grandchildren in tow, easing their cart around old town fairly often. It’s a nice way to socialize and enjoy our great little town.

There is a delegation matter having to do with our education information task force that needs some clarification. This is a study group that I, as Beaufort County Delegation chairman, put into place at the request of Rep. Shannon Erickson (R-Beaufort).

I have asked Rep. Andy Patrick (RHilton Head) and Rep. Curtis Brantley (D-Jasper County) to serve on the task force with Rep. Erickson as chair. Their mandate is to place on the table all the features of the present system of funding Beaufort County public schools. This, of course, will involve extensive input from County Council, as well as both the school board and school district.

Ideally, we should prepare a joint meeting, with appropriate public comment, between all the stakeholders so that everything is out in the open and open for discussion. This effort is, first and foremost, about making sure that all the pertinent information is gathered in one place and that differences in the various processes of the stakeholding organizations don’t hinder proper communication.

This is a complex undertaking and we have no illusions about coming up with immediate, comprehensive answers to the questions of funding equity among the counties, or efficiency of outcomes for dollar spent. This is just about basic information.

For example, state education funding is not directed simply by the Education Finance Act, although the EFA formulas are a consideration. There are also requirements articulated under the Education Improvement Act, Education Accountability Act, the S.C. Education Lottery, and Act 388, as well as various federal mandates. This complexity has resulted from a well-intentioned but piecemeal approach to improving our public schools. In my view, we need a top to bottom review of not only taxation related to education but taxation in general. However, since education is close to half of what we do at the state, it’s certainly a good place to start. To that end, Chairman Erickson has indicated she plans to commence on Jan. 6.

Pre-filed bills help get the year started

2010-12-27T09:16:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

Finally, we seemed to have gotten our collective minds off politics and the upcoming legislative session and onto this great holiday season. I say this because we processed a mere 103 constituent contacts last week. After being in the multiple hundreds of calls for months, it was a little unsettling to get only a hundred calls. It would seem that most of us are out in the community shopping, socializing, and celebrating the season, not to mention the return of seasonal weather. Good for us.

We will be running a four-day schedule this week, giving Kathy and Mary a little time to prepare for the New Year events. We will be in the office from Monday through Thursday with business as usual.

Our delegation has been busy prefiling bills and getting ready to hit the ground running on the second Tuesday of the new year. We are introducing several economic packages that range from efforts to secure the Heritage Golf Classic to issues dealing with the port situation on the Savannah River.

One of things we are introducing that is a direct result of your input has to do with the “Semper Fi” license tags we want to create. We have a tremendous Marine Corp presence in Beaufort County with the recruit depot at Parris Island and the Marine Corp Air Station. In addition to the active duty component, there are also a huge number of military retirees in our area. I take a great deal of satisfaction in recognizing the military contribution to not only the security of our nation but to the economy of our county and our region.

Another of the initiatives I plan to continue in the next session has to do with some of the language or features in the South Carolina code of laws. There are certain aspects of the code that are outmoded or useless, and some that are no longer representative of our political culture. These need to be excised so that our laws are not constrained by the superfluous or bloated by some of the nonsense that may have been on the books for a hundred years. This is the legislative equivalent of former NYC Mayor Giuliani’s norm setting “broken windows” policy.

In a small housekeeping matter, a certain number of the calls we have received over the last month or so have had to do with property tax assessment, specifically the difference between the 4% and 6% assessment levels. This is an important matter, which must be seriously addressed, but unfortunately, it is a county matter. The good news is that there is an assessor’s office in the county complex on the Bluffton Parkway. The office is staffed by knowledgeable folks, eager to assist you.
Finally, both Sheriff Tanner and Bluffton Police Chief McAllister will have every available officer on the road for the upcoming New Year’s celebration. If you are tempted to drink and drive, please reconsider. Better yet, have a non-drinking, designated driver that will make all the transportation decisions for your party. There are grave consequences for DUI in our state, as well there should be. So please be responsible in your celebrations and join us for a brighter, more prosperous New Year.

Beach renourishment returns investment

2010-12-20T09:53:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

First thing, on behalf of Mary and me, along with our great kids, Shelby and Cole, I want to extend to everyone in House District 118 of Bluffton and Beaufort County a very merry Christmas.

This is truly a time of family and friends, as well as a time to celebrate the reason for the season. Thanks for all the cards, letters, calls, e-mails, and especially the cookies we received over the past couple of weeks.

Our children are home from school and I imagine that many of your children are home as well. As we all make the rounds of holiday parties, please be careful and responsible with alcohol. As parents, we all know the anxiety and subdued panic of hearing the sirens on the road while our children are out attending holiday functions. Please insist on a designated driver when you travel to and from your celebrations, if there is a possibility that alcohol will be served.

My friend Eileen Brenner and her husband Milton invited me to speak to the Sun City branch of the AARP last week. It was a good group of folks and we had a fun time. I’m always a little surprised at how the range of activities at Sun City seems to keep the residents in good shape and involved in the affairs of the community.

It is heartening that older folks still have interests and concerns that extend far beyond that which only directly affects them. Tomorrow, Rep. Andy Patrick and I will meet with officials from the town of Hilton Head and officially present them with a check for $1 million to go toward their upcoming beach renourishment project. These dollars represent an investment that not only provides an outstanding amenity for our residents but also draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to Beaufort County each year. The return on investment of these dollars is huge.

There is also a certain satisfaction in repatriating these tax dollars back to Beaufort County. As a representative of a perennial donor county, one of my primary legislative agenda items is to work toward that day when we in Beaufort County get a dollar in value returned to us for each dollar we send to Columbia in taxation. We are still a long way off, but that million dollars is a good start.

This past week I also helped cut the ribbon with Mayor Pro Tempore Hamilton of the town of Bluffton for the new improvements to the Oyster Factory Park in Old Town Bluffton. I was able, along with Oyster Factory operators Larry and Tina Toomer, to secure a $50,000 grant to aid in the project, along with money from Beaufort County and the town of Bluffton.

Walking around town last week, there were a ton of visitors, but also a great number of locals, apparently exercising that “buy local” ethos. The point is this: these local businesses are your friends and neighbors.
Support them. For additional info go to: www.bschool.com/blog/2010/12-reasons-to-shop-local/

Shop local: keep dollars at home, not in Third World

2010-12-13T08:40:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

I got a lot of good feedback on last week’s column, especially concerning the “shop local” part. When you shop with a local merchant, your dollars stay home and circulate in the community, lifting a lot of local boats. When you shop at the chain stores and the big box places, those dollars end up leaving almost immediately, usually coming to rest in China, Indonesia, Taiwan or South Korea.

It makes sense to keep our dollars home as much as we can. I’m also working to repatriate even more of our dollars that left here for Columbia, but that’s another story. Speaking of local value, we have a couple of excellent institutions of higher learning in the University of South Carolina Beaufort and the Technical College of the Lowcountry.

I was recently a visitor at TCL, in the government class of my friend Bob Dixon. Bob is a brilliant fellow who is a semi-retired professor, teaching government and history at TCL. While his students are preparing for success in their work lives, he is helping make sure they have the context and information to be successful in their citizenship obligations as well. If the quality of their questions is any indication, he is doing a great job of preparing his students for what lies ahead.

We are fortunate to have these two post-secondary institutions in our neighborhood. Not only do local folks have the opportunity to continue their education without leaving home, they also have a choice between two excellent, cost-effective alternatives. One is slanted toward academics while the other is more focused on job training and work skills. What they have in common is they provide an entire spectrum of education and training opportunity for young people, and not-so-young people, to get what they need to be successful contributors in our local economic and civic life.

Also of local interest, I have been working with the S.C. Department of Commerce and the Governor’s Office in pursuing dollars from the Renaissance Community Development Block Grant Program.

I am pleased to announce that the Town of Bluffton will receive a Village Renaissance Grant of $500,000. These funds are targeted at the Buck Island/Simmonsville Road area of Bluffton and will be used for sidewalks, drainage, water and sewer. As of this writing, I have instructed the Department of Commerce and the grants administration to forward the grant agreement to the Town of Bluffton for execution.

The importance of this is two-fold: the infrastructure improvements will likely make this area much more attractive for business development and job creation. Secondly, the drainage and sewer improvements should take some runoff pressure off our waterways, further enhancing our quality of life and recreation opportunities. Also, there are a lot of good people living in this community that have been waiting patiently for these basic improvements to their neighborhood.

These Community Development grants are one of the ways we return your tax dollars back to you. We are working hard to repatriate many more of these dollars, especially education dollars, back to Beaufort County as we prepare for the upcoming session.

I am optimistic, especially with the new configuration of the delegation, that we can build on our successes and ultimately reach parity in education and infrastructure funding with the rest of the state.

Blufftonians help each other get by

2010-12-06T08:55:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

While I’m continuing to craft our legislative agenda for the upcoming session, today’s is going to be a little different than my usual column. Every once in a while, we need to look around our community and recognize some of the things that make Bluffton special and especially endearing, as well as some of the good people who have recently joined us and are making a positive contribution. I also want to recognize a recently departed friend.

If you haven’t met Josh and Gabby at Cork’s Wine Bar in the Promenade, you should make an effort to stop by. The atmosphere is nice and the food and drink are exceptional. Josh and Gabby have also become involved members of the business community, hosting the most recent meeting of the Bluffton Old Town Merchant’s Society.

They have been instrumental in helping the May River Theater get past a small recession-related rough spot by hosting fundraisers and events for that iconic cultural institution. As you know, Bluffton folks like to have a good time while they take care of each other. Josh and Gabby and Cork’s have done more than their share to help that along.

For the Christmas season, the good folks at Cork’s are also organizing a coat drive for our neighbors who are not well equipped for the Bluffton winter. This recent cold snap should be a reminder that if you have a coat or two that you haven’t worn in a while, drop them by Cork’s. You might even want to consider purchasing and contributing a new coat. Someone would certainly appreciate it.

Mary and I are dedicated practitioners of the “Shop Local” ethos. In preparation for our holiday decoration, Mary went to the Garden Gate to purchase our tree and wreath from proprietor Margie Fox. Not only is the Garden Gate a beautiful shop, Margie is a local treasure. Aside from being a generous source of garden knowledge, she is also an enthusiastic promoter of Bluffton. Margie is also a dependable mainstay of the Bluffton Old Town Merchant’s Society and a shiny flowerpot full of positive energy. Go by her place on the east side of the Promenade; she will make your day.

I also had the honor and privilege of dedicating the bridge over Heyward Cove to my good friend, the late Councilman Tommy Heyward. I want to thank Joanie Heyward and the entire Heyward clan for not only sharing Tommy with us, but the dedication as well. We thank Father Owens for his good words, along with the many Blufftonians that came to remember our one-of-a-kind Tommy. It is appropriate that we dedicate a bridge to Tommy Heyward, as he was truly a bridge between the old Bluffton and the new Bluffton.

The community spirit of the bridge dedication carried over to the tree lightings at Town Hall, the Promenade and Buckwalter Place. These fine events were followed the next day by the latest, and arguably the best iteration of the Bluffton Christmas Parade. If there is one event that seems to capture the essence of our little town, it is the Christmas parade. From the old days of Mayor George Heyward (in Buzzard costume) riding atop the town garbage truck, to the ladies’ drill teams, to the precision of military bands — the parade seems to capture it all. This place will change you. Must be something in the water.

Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, represents District 118 in the South Carolina House of Representatives. He can be reached through his Web site at www.herbkersman. com or by telephone at 757-7900.

Delegation to meet Tuesday on Hilton Head

2010-11-29T07:57:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

It was a shortened week in the office, but amazingly enough we are still right at record level of constituent contacts. Kathy and I came in on Friday to try and catch up but if we don’t get back to you immediately, please cut us some holiday slack.

Also, I want to remind you of the Legislative Delegation meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the council chambers of Hilton Head Island Town Hall. We had a little mix up in last week’s column that directed you to the Chamber of Commerce Complex. Although the Chambers of Commerce of both Hilton Head Island and Beaufort will certainly be in attendance, the meeting will be at Town Hall. This is part of our policy of rotating the delegation meetings around the district so that attendees will not always be geographically inconvenienced. It should be a good meeting and I hope to see a number of you there.

We have had more than a few deep talks in the past week regarding the budget, especially after Dr. Gillespie’s sobering presentation to the Ways and Means Committee on behalf of the Budget and Control Board. It’s going to be another tough year, essentially as many of the downward trends in revenue and employment, while currently stabilizing, are still below what we require for either a balanced budget or full employment.

As far as revenue is concerned, we are seeing the slightest upturn in the numbers, although I would not call it a trend just yet. Unlike the federal budget, we don’t get to run a deficit and simply print more money. There is, however, a certain elasticity in our budget process that allows us to run a sort of de facto deficit by utilizing a number of trust funds and rainy day accounts to keep funding core functions of the state. Unfortunately, we have pretty much used up that elasticity and need to start making whole those trust funds and accounts. Consequently, even after we start to show real revenue growth, we will still likely be cutting areas of the budget.

The job situation is more complex. The first of this year we stopped losing jobs, but have not established much momentum in gaining new jobs. In June of 2007, we peaked at 1,970,000 jobs, and bottomed in January 2010 at around 1,783,000 jobs, a loss of around 187,000 jobs. That’s nearly 1 in 10 jobs lost in a state with higher-than-average unemployment in the best of times.

I guess this takes us back to my near obsession with jobs. You hear it from me over and over. Sound education — rational tax and regulatory policy — and transportation, utility and information infrastructure are all required to create and support good jobs, recession or no recession. That’s how I see our primary function in Columbia.

The holiday, by all accounts from around the community, was superb. Grown children and grandchildren came for family Thanksgiving. Turkeys with Bluffton oyster dressing were prepared and gratefully eaten, often to excess. Naps were taken and football was watched. These ceremonies were all undertaken with gratitude. My personal thanksgiving, however, is today, the Nov. 29. This is the day, 24 years ago; that my lovely Mary and I began our married life together. Inexplicably, each year is better than the last.

Area may get a fair share of road money

2010-11-22T10:00:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

I spent a good deal of time in Columbia last week getting things situated for our “mini-session.” There were a few agenda items but mostly it was committee assignments and some housekeeping matters.

Your representative was returned to Ways and Means, which was no surprise. We were pleased that our new colleague, Andy Patrick, from Hilton Head Island, was able to skip ahead a few paces and be placed on the Education Committee, which is a boost to this area.

Andy was able to secure this key assignment because he is an impressive fellow and has been introduced to a number of members who look forward to working with him. Just as former Rep. Joanne Gilham was able to smooth my way into leadership, your representative and other delegation members have been diligent in seeing that Andy will hit the ground running.

Andy and I have shared a pretty fair amount of travel time recently, with a lot of opportunity to exchange ideas on any number of legislative matters. On education, we are in perfect agreement that public education is not only a crucial family matter, but also an extremely important feature of economic development. Just as we invest in ports and roads, we need to invest in improving our state’s educational outcomes at all levels. Since Andy has a house full of young children, I’m pretty sure he will view his committee responsibilities with a fatherly seriousness.

We heard a budget forecast from Dr. Gillespie of the Budget and Control Board, which was predictably grim. The recession still has large portions of the state in a firm grip and we should tailor our expectations accordingly. The one relatively bright spot in his presentation had to do with tourism, particularly along the coast. In fact, we are pretty much holding the rest of the state above water, so to speak. This has potentially profound implications for how we allocate our increasingly scarce resources.

Let me explain: Historically, our state has invested transportation dollars according to population, as opposed to usage. Consequently, the more populous parts of the state have newer and less crowded roads than we have in the more visitor-intensive areas.

That’s just the way it was. As tourism is increasing seen as our primary engine of solvency, it makes sense to invest in what is working. This is something the Coastal Caucus and your delegation have been working on for years with little to show. This may be about to change.

Finally we had an excellent report from the director of our Education Lottery, my friend Paula Harper Bethea. Not only is our lottery doing very well compared to other state lotteries, we are spending much less than our competitors on advertising and administration. While the parallels with other agencies are not perfect, there is merit in seeing how administration costs can be reduced while productivity is maximized.

If there are things that Paula is doing with the lottery that could provide models for other agencies, we certainly need to take a close look. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes it takes a series of austere budgets for us to see clearly what the true cost of government is. Don’t forget, we have a Beaufort County Legislative Delegation meeting Nov. 30 at the Chamber of Commerce complex on Hilton Head Island.

Special thanks to those who help make column successful

2010-11-15T08:12:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

The number of constituent contacts seems to rise each week and this week was no exception. Much of the increase, in my view, is attributable to the fact that I am able to reach out to you on a weekly basis with this column. Every Monday, you hear from me, and the rest of the week, I hear from you. I try to explain the issues we are facing, and you let me know, usually in no uncertain terms, what needs to be done. For a lot of years, we’ve made a pretty good team.

The production of this column, usually around 600 words, is a serious and complex undertaking that involves several drafts and the good efforts of a lot of folks. Once a year, I try to produce a column that recognizes the work of those folks, and also tries to express my appreciation for their contributions. This is that column.

As always, my first and highest expression of gratitude is to my wife and life partner, Mary. Her support and encouragement is the foundation of any success, political or otherwise, that I might have achieved. I get a lot of credit that rightfully should go to her, but most of you already know that.

The calls and contacts generated by the column are usually fielded by my office manager, Kathy. She accurately and politely directs you to the appropriate government offices that will take care of your problem, unless we can handle it in house. She sees that documents left for me are placed in my hand, as well as makes sure that I don’t procrastinate in addressing any action they might require. She is hardworking and efficient, and somehow always manages to be pleasant about it.

I also want to thank my friends at the Legislative Audit and Legislative Research offices. They help make the information you read in the column as up-to-date and accurate as possible. They also research legislation in other states that may help me in crafting my bills or commenting on other bills.

The first draft of each column is dictated to Word Processing at the State House. Vivian and all her colleagues do a great job of transcribing and distributing my words down the line. One of those people down the line is my friend, Jacob Preston, whose grammatical polish keeps things between the rhetorical ditches. And my pal, Ken George, among other things, makes certain each column is properly archived on the website.

I am also thankful that Bluffton Today has created a stable of writers and columnists that approach life in our little corner of the Lowcountry from so many different points of view. They host a lively and entertaining conversation in print each week. Most of the political and cultural spectrum is represented, and disagreement, with a few exceptions, is handled without resort to boorishness.

Finally, I want to thank you the readers for your attention and fair treatment. When I make a mistake, I hear about it. When I get it right, I also hear from you. When I ask for your help, I can always count on hearing the wisdom of a good cross section of the community. You help me be a better, more effective representative. Thank you.

Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, represents District 118 in the South Carolina House of Representatives. He can be reached through his Web site at www.herbkersman.com or by telephone at 757-7900 or at (803) 734-3063 at his office at 308-B Blatt Building in Columbia. He is assigned to the Ways and Means and the Rules committees.

Governing decisions are not always easy

2010-11-08T07:52:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

Like most of you, I am relieved that the elections are mostly complete. I am also gratified that the general outcome has increased the number of elected officials that agree in the main with my political worldview.

By all indications, we are looking to have government at all levels that is trending toward making itself smaller, more nimble, and, at least theoretically, more responsive to the will of the people. As an experienced elected official, I am aware that there is often some discrepancy between the language and activity of campaigning and the often grindingly difficult activity of governing.

Being a good politician as well as a decent person is to realize that, unlike the campaign, decisions in governing are rarely as simple and as well defined as we would like. Sometimes, there are no good choices. Is it better in a devastated economy to cut mental health services or education? Ideology is no guide, so you just do the best you can and hope you did the right thing. The clarity of this campaign season is about to become the irreducible complexity of legislating the greater good.

One of my ways of dealing with the complexity is to return to our foundational documents to help sort through these things. For getting to the point in the fewest words, there is no better document than the Declaration of Independence. There is language in the Declaration that talks about governments “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” That consent was not given in the 18th century so that it might remain in perpetuity. On the contrary, consent must be renewed and refreshed frequently and in response to the challenges of the day.

Last week, the governed refreshed their consent, as well as appointed the agents of their government. I am humbled and honored to again be your representative in the South Carolina House of Representatives.

Besides a new governor and several new constitutional officers, the Beaufort County Delegation has a new member in Andy Patrick, representing District 123 on Hilton Head Island. He joins your representative, our Sen. Tom Davis, and Rep. Shannon Erickson in standing for the bulk of Beaufort County. Our delegation also includes Reps. Kenneth Hodges and Curtis Brantley, as well as Sen. Clementa Pinckney in representing a small but significant portion of Beaufort County.

By most metrics, this delegation is something of a dream team. We have the experience, the mental horsepower and the creativity to be a force in the General Assembly, especially as we combine with the Coastal Caucus. This is particularly important going into a session where our budgets are still challenged by recession and halting and uneven recovery. While there are pockets of job growth and business expansion, such as we have talked about in Bluffton, the region and the state as a whole are still languishing. The very uneven nature of the recovery will create immense difficulty in pulling together a coherent budget that will recognize the varying degrees of need.

In closing, I want to thank you for your continued support and confidence. Almost 450 of you either called or e-mailed last week. For this, I am grateful as well. You help me demonstrate why they call it the House of Representatives.

Old Town is still region’s economic bright spot.

2010-11-01T08:35:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

Thanks for all the good calls last week regarding the “Going to the Dogs” oyster roast fundraiser. Keep it on your calendar. I am sure the Boeke’s and Brook’s Bed and Biscuit would appreciate all the help they can get. These are good folks that are doing good work for our animal companions and friends.

Speaking of good folks, there are a pair of wonderful schoolteachers who are opening a children’s bookstore in Bluffton. The store is called Booksalicious and it is unlike any business I have seen. It is located near Cork’s in the Promenade and will feature readings and story times and a host of events that will excite the young ones with the love of reading. Booksalicious should be opening as you read this and would be a great place to take your kids or grandchildren. It is also a testament to the strong local retail economy that an independent bookseller would choose this time and this place to open a store.

Last weekend, we had the 6th Annual Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival. It is put on by Bluffton Rotary and is always well run and a big hit with visitors and locals alike. All the reports I have heard were of great sales, not only for the exhibitors, but local merchants as well. It seems that Old Town Bluffton continues to be the economic bright spot of the region.

There is seemingly the perfect mixture of activity and laidbackness (maybe that’s a word), a solid arts community, great restaurants, and a presentable road infrastructure. There is even a rumor that appropriate signage is about to occur so that visitors can find their way around to all the areas surrounding Calhoun Street and the businesses located there.

Even as the recent election campaigns have raged on, I have been preparing for the next session. One of the things I am working on is my Red Tape Reduction Initiative. This is a project that I have been pushing for nearly 10 years. Each year, we get something through the House that somehow founders in the Senate. It’s frustrating, but much of what I hear from you in business is how you are being red taped to death by the various levels of government.

This year, with pro-business Senators Tom Davis (R-Beaufort) and Clementa Pinckney (D-Jasper County), I believe we will pass meaningful legislation that will offer some relief to businesses from the more egregious forms of red tape. Well, tomorrow is election day.

I know many of you have already voted and that’s great. However, recent elections have been marked by disappointing turnout, especially among young folks and those somewhat new to the area, excluding Sun City. Make sure you check the papers for where your precinct votes. I know there has been some confusion in the past on this, but it’s better now.

Seriously, I want to urge you to get out and exercise your right to vote. If you are not interested in voting, then don’t complain that government doesn’t pay attention to you. In truth, it is you who is not paying attention to government, and that rarely leads to good outcomes. What usually leads to good outcomes is an educated, informed, and participatory electorate. Voting is the most basic and important form of participation. See you at the polls.

Keep those cards and letters coming

2010-10-25T08:14:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

After something of a relative lull in our constituent contacts, last week’s total was 472. What this means is that our average for the last six months or so has risen from around 350 to well over 450 calls and e-mails. The bulk of this communication is vital to my preparing and executing a proper legislative agenda for District 118, Beaufort County and South Carolina. I appreciate it and I am grateful for your support and confidence.

Unfortunately, with the dramatic increase in our constituent contacts, it is difficult for me to chat about the ups and downs of the upcoming election. As much as I love to talk politics, right now I simply must attend to the people’s business. The New Year and the new session is right around the corner and historically speaking, the delegation that prepares the most effectively is the most successful in representing the interests of their constituents.

If you want to know my favorites in the election, you just have to look at the Beaufort County Delegation to see examples of whom I support. That candidate is a small-government fiscal conservative, who is pro-business, pro-education, and proenvironment, with a passion for using the tools of government to create the economic climate where job creation is a necessary consequence of a growing, prosperous community. Each member of your delegation, including presumptive Dist. 123 Rep. Andy Patrick, fits that bill. The second Tuesday of the New Year will likely find many more folks in the General Assembly who look like your delegation.

Speaking of the presumptive Dist. 123 representative, I had the opportunity last week to ride to Columbia and back with Andy Patrick. We had five hours drive time and used the time to strategize on things that need to happen for the benefit of this end of the state and particularly Beaufort County. Andy and I are in near perfect agreement on the need to keep open communication with Congressman Joe Wilson’s office, as well as the various mayors and their councils, and the county councils and their leadership. Most importantly, we need to keep open the lines of communication with you, the voter-taxpayer-resident. Andy is a superb addition to the team.

I want you to mark your calendar for 5 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 20. There is an oyster roast to benefit Brooke Haven Animal Rescue at the home of my neighbors, Dick and Lynn Boeke at 159 Gascoigne Bluff Road in Gascoigne Bluff, just down Highway 46 from old town Bluffton. Tickets are $50 and the event will include a raffle and live music, not to mention Bluffton oysters and a fabulous spread. Brook Haven is celebrating 10 years of animal rescue and is located at Brook’s Bed and Biscuit, near my good friend and fair-priced vet, Ben Parker, in Westbury Park off Buck Island Road.

Brooke Fisher, Karen Bresseler and Dalia Lowler founded Brook Haven Animal Rescue in 2009 and have fostered and adopted many, many dogs and cats over the years. They are a 501(c)(3) charity, so your contributions are tax deductible. Make your check out to Brook’s Haven. I know you all enjoyed the Bluffton Arts & Seafood Festival last week. I’ll have a few more comments on this excellent event next week.

Economic prospects are looking better

2010-10-18T08:08:00.003-04:00

Bluffton Today

We did have quite a few contacts this week, down a bit from last week. I attribute the falloff to the fact that most folks now understand that school issues are handled by the school board and not your state representative. I am fully engaged in education business but more from a funding and coordination standpoint.

We continue to meet with the Lowcountry Economic Network and executive director Kim Statler. Our immediate economic prospects in the Lowcountry are rising, especially when we look at help wanted ads in this paper and others in the neighborhood. My interviews around Greater Bluffton with business people generally confirm an upward trend in employment. I know this is cold comfort to those of you without jobs. My message to you is that we are looking up economically and to not become discouraged. We were the last to feel the impact of the great recession and we are among the first to see the beginnings of renewed prosperity.

One of the potential solutions to our employment situation may be found in a new business just opened in Old Town Bluffton. It is called the Bluffton Business Club and is the idea of Shelley Hodges and the West family, locals all. It is a non-profit outfit that allows new and incubating businesses to start off many of their office functions at a very low cost. They are located off Goethe Rd. in a new building close to the Calhoun Street Promenade. Stop in for a cup of coffee and have a chat with these bright young folks. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

A number of you called this week in some distress over the fact that Hardeeville is continuing to annex land in Beaufort County. There is reason to be concerned, especially given the informative and to-the-point op-ed recently released by Hardeeville Mayor Bostick. This is the very outcome I was trying to avoid as we negotiated the Sembler matter. The Hardeeville and Jasper County folks are simply desperate for jobs and they are going to do whatever it takes, wise or unwise, to produce some level of employment. My effort was to recognize their concerns, as well as give Beaufort County some role in their process. The unfortunate outcome is they feel, with some justification, that we are burdening them with our environmental standards while blocking their job creation efforts. Their response is to annex more businesses away from Beaufort County. This is obviously not a preferred outcome.

My annexation reform package continues to make the rounds from Coastal Conservation League, to the various counties and municipalities. It will be prefiled after the reviews are in. The answer to our common problems is not further abuse of the annexation statutes, but true intergovernmental cooperation based on a modicum of mutual respect. This was the intent of the Priority Investment Act. Unfortunately, with no enforcement power, the PIA is something of a courtesy rather than a mandate.

Finally, one of the themes of the campaign season is transparency. While there has never been any suggestion that my legislative finances are questionable, I will post all my income and expenditures that are derived from taxpayer dollars on my web site in the near future. I doubt that such disclosure will become law any time soon, but I would prefer to be open in all matters involving the people’s money.

Education important to job Development

2010-09-20T18:01:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today
Our mail registered a significant uptick the last three weeks as I passed along some of the things we have been doing on the jobs front here in South Carolina, with an emphasis on the Lowcountry. As always, I commend Kim Statler and her crew at the Lowcountry Economic Network for all the great things they are pursuing.

I also need to thank Anna Cauthen and Matt Green for the invitation to Coffee Talk last week. We had around 25 young businesspeople at the Downtown Deli for a fun, productive event. It is always a pleasant surprise when I get to see and hear from the intelligent and creative folks in our up-and-coming business community. The very fact that they are working so hard sometimes means that we don’t get to hear from them as much as we ideally should. There is no age limit on good ideas.

Continuing somewhat indirectly in the jobs vein that I have followed for the last three weeks, I need to reference last week’s column in Bluffton Today by State Education Superintendent Jim Rex. In the piece, Mr. Rex gave us an overview of his recommendations to Gov. Sanford for the 2011-12 budget. He correctly pointed out that our teachers have not had a cost of living raise for three years, they also have 3000 to 4000 fewer colleagues sharing their work load, and are looking at something like 78,000 mandatory furlough days in the next year which amounts to a $20 million pay cut. They have significantly more students per teacher, and are using increasingly outdated textbooks and software.

Furthermore, Mr. Rex will recommend $40 million to help revamp our oldest-in-the-country school bus system. This is not only about the safety of our children, it is about the disruption that late or broken down buses cause in the school day, not to mention parental anxiety.

What I didn’t hear from Mr. Rex was how many administrators have lost their jobs or been given mandatory furloughs. In my time in Columbia, I have seen the Dept of Education grow tremendously with various specialists of one sort or another. The implication is that administrators somehow make the front-line teachers more effective or more efficient. If that were truly the case, the proliferation of administrators would certainly be reflected in dramatic improvement in our national rankings or test scores.

My thinking on this is we need to pay our teachers a respectable, predictable wage. They are worth it. You have heard me say many times that school funding priorities should focus in the classroom and decrease as we move further up the ladder. If my thinking on this is wrong, tell me why.

If we are going to have public school buses, let’s not have the oldest, most worn out units in the country. This, in my view, is a false economy. If there is a better way to handle school transportation, let’s hear it.

When I am in talks with companies about locating in South Carolina, I always like to talk about our tax structure, our right-to-work laws, good climate, and improving port system. What I least like to talk about is education. Unfortunately, business folks that are looking to ask employees to relocate to our state are more than a little interested in our school systems. When I have to say some school systems are excellent and some are not, my sales pitch tends to lose momentum.

Friends, one way or another, we are going to have to deal with this issue. I am open for ideas. Let me hear from you.

Economic development creates spinoff effect

2010-09-13T08:14:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

I’d like to conclude my comments
begun several weeks ago on the Coastal
Caucus meetings in Myrtle Beach. There
is little doubt that bringing Boeing to the
Charleston area was the culmination of
years of serious preparation and conversation
among ahost of parties, both
inside and outside government.

The economic benefits of the plant
are impressive, but for me the spinoff
affect is where much of the enduring
gains will be found. The fact is that 91
percent of the components of the airliners
assembled in Charleston are from
South Carolina firms.

Some of these businesses were already here and
tooled up for Boeing, while many others
located here, bought property, built buildings
and hired local folks to work for them.

The skills and the capacities involved in
these Boeing-related suppliers are now the basis
for attracting other manufacturers to our area.

The new businesses need facilities,
vehicles, consulting services, computers,
office furniture and a whole gamut
of goods and services that will further
stimulate our economy.

The intangibles that come from this
general feeling of renewed prosperity
are also certainly a factor in our
conversations with potential additions
to the business community. Success
begets success. This is why your representative
invests so much time and
energy working with Kim Statler and
the Lowcountry Economic Network.

Each time we bring a CareCore to
Bluffton, or a Boeing to Charleston, or
even a BMW to the Upstate, we expand
our foundation to support further
successes.

As chairman of the Economic Development
Subcommittee of Ways and Means, these are
stories I enjoy sharing second look at South Carolina.

As we look further downstream to
the Jasper Port and all the potential
spinoff that will entail, we can begin
to see the outline of a more balanced,
less visitor-based economy.

While tourism is certainly a productive
economic engine, having all our
eggs in that fragile basket sometimes
keeps me up nights. Witness the recent
disaster visited upon our friends along
the Gulf Coast.

Even over the holiday, I heard from
many of you — almost 300 of you, in
fact. While I will never take for granted
the excellent level of communication I
have with you, it is particularly important
at this time.

I am working with Chairman
Weston Newton and County Council,
along with the municipalities, in putting
together our legislative agenda for
the next session of the General Assembly.

We are discussing, along with
County Councilman Jerry Stewart,
what needs to be done to keep S.C. 170
safely passable until it is widened. We
are looking at the transportation issues
on Daufuskie Island.

This place is such a gem and could
be enjoyed by many more folks if getting
to and from the island was not so
problematic. I am also hearing from
many of you about the current limitations
on golf cart travel. That measure
will be reintroduced on the first day of
session.

Finally, let’s take afew moments at
the end of summer, before all the festivals
and holidays that come along with
the cooler weather of Fall, to simply
take stock of all the good things that
are happening, especially in Bluffton.

By most reports, business in the
shops, galleries and restaurants of old
town is booming. We survived the road
construction and traffic is certainly
manageable for the time being.

Now might be a perfect time to
adopt that attitude of gratitude that
seems to deepen our appreciation
of the good times as well as fortify us.

Business climate key for Boeing

2010-09-06T09:53:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

I want to continue with my comments, begun in last week’s column, on the Coastal Caucus meeting in Myrtle Beach. In addition to the discussion of the “retreat” policy and the nexus between our natural resources and tourism, the Coastal Caucus meeting also included agenda items concerning jobs, education funding and my red-tape-reduction initiative.

The jobs feature was particularly informative and effective as we had a number of Boeing executives in attendance. Since I knew a fair number of the aircraft folks from our time negotiating the agreement to bring the new manufacturing facility to the Charleston area, I had hours of social time/informal meetings with a number of these good people. My being a licensed pilot didn’t hurt either. What I really wanted to know was what was it that turned the tide in our favor relative to our competitors in getting this airliner assembly complex in our state.

In the dozen or so conversations I had with various Boeing leaders, there were a number of themes that seemed to predominate. First, we welcomed them. We made it clear that we wanted to do business with them for the long term and were serious about creating a mutually beneficial working relationship.

Second, we demonstrated our seriousness by creating an incentive package that spoke to their needs without giving away the farm.

And third, we are a right-to-work state. This was important to them in light of some of their recent labor problems. As a legislator interested in quality jobs finding their way to our state and our area, the feedback was absolutely invaluable. Interestingly, a good part of my red-tape-reduction initiative came out of conversations, not only with Boeing executives, but also with other business people interested in relocating here. For a lot of folks, being excused from a load of bureaucratic complexity is all the incentive they need to look closely at South Carolina. Another extremely productive agenda item in Myrtle Beach was finally addressing school funding inequity.

I will be a primary sponsor of an initiative, along with many sponsoring members of both the Coastal and Republican Caucuses, to rationalize how the dollars from the 71 pots of education money in Columbia find its way to the classroom to meet the needs of individual students in our system. The various pots will be consolidated and the dollars will follow the student through the system. There will be additions.

l weighting for poverty in this formula, which is appropriate. A new feature will be that there will also be weighting for gifted and talented students as well. Ideally, the remediation needs of some students will no longer eliminate the resources for the cultivation of the faster advancing students. More on this as it comes forward.

Continuing in education, I met Mick Zais, former president of Newberry College, who is running for state superintendent of education. I have followed his work at Newberry, and it is pretty impressive. It is almost like a quieter, less flamboyant version of Lee Iacocca and Chrysler. Mick Zais has a military background and some interesting ideas how we might transform our education system.

Maybe I was impressed with him because we share some of those same ideas. We also share a sense of urgency in raising that particular bar.

Coastline retreat vital to economy

2010-08-30T08:42:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

A couple of weeks ago, I referenced a report commissioned by the state that had to do with the future of coastal South Carolina. The report was a reprise of an earlier manifesto that was a grand master plan to retreat from the ocean’s edge.

In the intervening decades, the “retreat” policy is in shambles — a result of court rulings, development patterns that depend on subsidized flood insurance, and regulatory factors that avoided political battles. The recent report is a testament to the fact that ignoring problems does not make them go away.

Most of my time last week was spent in Myrtle Beach in consultation with members of the Coastal Caucus and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

We wrestled with many of the issues that are going to need solution in the very near term. Some of these matters have to do with where the setback lines need to be drawn, and by extension, what are the reasonable, rational and enforceable criteria for drawing those lines. A number of our neighbors from Fripp Island all the way to South Beach in Sea Pines have more than a passing interest in what eventually is decided.

The other major topic of consideration was tourism, particularly coastal tourism. Most observers think that we received a bump in visitor numbers from the distress in the Gulf. The stats are not in yet but the educated speculation seems to indicate we benefited to a measurable degree from the oilrig disaster. How do we protect ourselves from environmental degradation that would place us next year, or the year after, in the position of our friends along the northern Gulf of Mexico?

In Beaufort County, we are also facing the very real possibility that the Heritage golf tournament could disappear, along with tens of millions of dollars in potential business activity, millions of dollars in state and local revenues, and even millions of dollars in charitable contributions.

In my view, the loss of a flagship tourism generator like the Heritage is certainly not a tragedy of the magnitude of the Gulf oil spill, but the economic consequences for our area could be very similar.

Throughout my business life, one of the guiding axioms of success has been this: Don’t let the struggle to attract new customers interfere with good service to your current patrons. Tourism is the economic lifeblood of the South Carolina economy. We cannot let that escape our constant attention. No matter how hard I try to attract new businesses to our state, I always know that what supports the bulk of our families is tourism. It just so happens that “clean and green” also makes us more attractive to a large spectrum of companies looking to relocate.

In this time of retrenchment when there are some folks who want to redefine the core functions of state government to maintaining “minimally adequate” education and passable roads, I believe we need to take a longer view. My conversations this last week were heartening in the sense that most of the members understand that we are in a temporary fiscal bind, but the key is to plan for a sound recovery by cutting judiciously, with an eye toward increased efficiency and productivity.

We may ultimately have some success at having development retreat from the ocean, especially in recognition of the massive cost associated with sustaining the unsustainable. We cannot, in my view, retreat from our responsibility to protect and preserve those natural features that support both our economy and quality of life.

Coastal management issues pose dilemma

2010-08-23T08:22:00.003-04:00

Bluffton Today

Many thanks to all who called in about last week’s column on the shellfish harvesting reclassification of the headwaters of our May River. Your concerns mirror my own on this extremely important issue. I was more than a little dumbfounded by the fact that this paper, as well as its competitor, did not deem the reclassification newsworthy as of this writing (Friday evening.) Perhaps this is merely a reflection of the fact that August is often vacation time and all the reporters were out of town. Ideally, the weekend editions will see this oversight corrected.

The local job situation was front and center at the recent Lowcountry Regional Jobs Summit, held at the University of South Carolina Hilton Head Gateway Campus. My friend Paula Harper Bethea moderated this excellent event. The first day was pretty much a definition of the problem, while the second involved a batch of potential ways we can build and diversify our economy. Many thanks to Paula for a great effort, and to the Coalition for Jobs for putting this event together.

One of the things driving the extraordinary number of calls to my office has to do with a recently released study commissioned by the state that looked at the future of coastal South Carolina. There are some issues articulated in the study that, as always, have to do with the delicate balance between the needs of coastal management and property rights. There are thorny issues all the way from Fripp Island to South Beach on Hilton Head Island, such as setbacks from the critical line and what are the proper criteria for drawing the critical line. There are also matters relating to inland waters, such as the May and Okatie Rivers that will need to be hashed out.

These are matters of great interest to me, as well as the Coastal Caucus, and will be the subject of hearings and workshops in the fall. For decades, the state has mandated a building retreat from the edge of the ocean. This is in recognition of the fact that barrier islands are part of a dynamic process that moves the beach in response to forces beyond our control. Twenty years ago the issue was often expressed as response to littoral currents and sand migration. Today, there are issues of rising sea levels and possible impacts of climate change. We cannot afford to armor the entire coastline to counter these forces. Neither can we simply ignore those that have legally built in areas that are not sustainable without some sort of renourishment or armoring to protect their homes and investments. How to work through these dilemmas will be one of the profound challenges of our generation. For the present time, please continue to call in, email, or write your thoughts on how these issues need to be approached. I can do a better job of representing all of us if I have a good feel for the spectrum of opinion on these difficult issues.

Finally, I want to congratulate Beaufort County Council Chairman Weston Newton for his election to a leadership post on the South Carolina Association of Counties Board of Directors. Weston is one of the hardest working elected officials I know, and the list of his accomplishments is long and distinguished. It is time he and they are recognized.

Closed oyster beds a wake-up call

2010-08-16T10:01:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

This morning as you sip your coffee and read your favorite paper, there are meetings in progress that have to do with the health of our precious May River.

My friends Larry and Tina Toomer, owners and operators of the Bluffton Oyster Company, are meeting with environmental sanitation staff from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The 950-plus acres of headwaters of the May River are being closed to oyster harvesting for the 2010-11 season because of unacceptable fecal coliform levels. This area was classified as conditional last year, but increasing pollution has made that classification unsupportable going forward.

Later today, DHEC staffers will also meet with Kim Jones and other town of Bluffton officials, as well as Dan Ahern of the Beaufort County Stormwater Utility.

The explanation that I have been given for this reclassification has to do with “cumulative impacts” that make the headwaters fecal coliform readings too high even when there is not a rain event that might stir up the pollution from the bottom.

While this is not good news, it must be said that the sampling will continue and there is a possibility that the three-year rolling average that necessitated this reclassification is reversible if we can get a grip on the cumulative impacts that are diminishing our river. I want to say unequivocally that Larry and Tina’s oysters from the Bluffton Oyster Company are still the best in the country.

They are harvested from waters well removed from the reclassified areas and will remain available and of excellent quality for the foreseeable future. My office will continue to serve as a catalyst for interaction and communication between the town, county and state jurisdictions.

This water quality issue is not a problem without a solution.

On the contrary, all the jurisdictions are modifying their particular regulatory regimes in light of newer science that strongly suggests that naturally occurring organisms such a fecals are controlled fairly effectively by the salinity of an estuarine system.

Unfortunately, as we build more roads and houses and shopping centers with more impervious surfaces, the water that should filter into the earth is running off into the creeks and rivers, making them less salty and less able to naturally clean themselves.

My personal understanding of this matter is the reason that my last project, the Promenade in Old Town Bluffton, retains all its stormwater on the property, stored underground in large perforated pipes until it seeps into the ground. I believe that eventually, we will have to take our regulation, especially in the Lowcountry, in that direction. In the meantime, let this reclassification serve as a wake-up call for our community.

We must reduce or mitigate impervious surfaces wherever possible.

The rain that flows off your roof or driveway does not just disappear without impact. It is one of those “cumulative impacts” mentioned above. Kim Jones, natural resources planner for the town of Bluffton, has gotten a grant to support conservation projects in our area.

One of those projects that we can all consider is installing rain barrels and rain gardens to infiltrate water back into the earth.

Go by and see Paige Camp’s compound on Calhoun Street. She has several rain barrels integrated into her landscaping. It’s beautiful. Our potter, Jacob Preston, is renovating his home and studio on Church Street with at least 1,200 gallons of rainwater storage capacity and a plan to flush the toilets in his house and studio from that supply as well as support raised-bed gardens.

You will hear more from me on this crucial issue as we get into the fall.

Lawmakers assess financial reality

2010-08-09T09:09:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

The state of South Carolina was fortunate to host the Southeast Legislative Conference in Charleston last week. We had a good showing of legislators from around the region trying to glean some new ideas on how to make dollars go further and make taxation more equitable and less onerous for both taxpayers and collectors.

Having been to a number of these events over the years, I was a little surprised at how much distress there is out there. I know we have had a couple of bad years in which we have essentially had to cut far beyond the fat in our budget. Apparently, some of our neighbors are in worse shape than we are. This is, of course, small comfort, as we look at some of our financial realities in the near term. I believe we are on the upswing economically, but there is a significant lag before that is reflected in ameaningful gain in revenue.

The conference was agreat time to network with our-of-state colleagues but also a good time to introduce presumptive Hilton Head legislator Andy Patrick to his potential new friends around the state. Andy is a quick study and I look forward to having him join our delegation. We have the personnel and the skill-sets to have the most effective delegation in the state. I’m really looking forward to getting back up to Columbia after the first of the year.

Tomorrow and Wednesday the Coalition for Jobs is hosting the Lowcountry Jobs Summit at the University of South Carolina- Hilton Head Gateway Campus. This summit is the beginning of a conversation on how the economy is impacting the residents of our area and how local governments can become more business friendly and encourage more job growth. This conversation will very likely have some similarities with weekly talks held between your state representative and Beaufort County Councilman Jerry Stewart.

While we in Beaufort County have been spared much of the absolute worst of the recession, we have been profoundly diminished nonetheless. Unlike some parts of our state, Beaufort County has powerful economic development tools that need to be deployed with new commitment. One of those tools is the Lowcountry Economic Network, a group of forward-looking business and government leaders charged with bringing good jobs and clean industry to the Lowcountry area.

As these things sometimes work out, my friend Jerry Stewart was recently elected the chairman of the board of the Lowcountry Economic Network. Great expectations are appropriate.

Sen. Tom Davis and I had the pleasure of sharing the dais for the monthly meeting of the Greater Island Committee over on Hilton Head Island. There was a lot of material to cover as the next session will be important for many reasons, not the least of which will be a new governor and several new faces in the General Assembly. The presentations were well received and I got to see and chat with a lot of old friends. And the Greater Island Committee membership knows a little more about the working of the state than they did before the meeting.

In the office, we are maintaining a high level of constituent contacts —almost 400 last week. I’m trying to balance the higher levels of contact with staff vacations. Consequently, for the next couple of weeks, please be patient if you call and don’t get an immediate response. I have the best staff around and need to take care of them.

State’s business climate improving

2010-08-02T09:20:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

The response to the last couple of columns has been tremendous. We are running something like 75 constituent contacts above the weekly average of 350-plus calls, letters or e-mails. Many of these calls included good ideas and productive suggestions from you on matters that make adifference to all of us.

This is in stark contrast to what I am hearing from many of my colleagues in the General Assembly, in that when many of them get feedback from constituents, it is mainly complaints. It makes a tremendous difference in my effectiveness that I have weekly input that is largely productive and adds to the body of ideas in play, and not simply negativity or expressions of frustration. For this, I thank you.

I am in e-mail contact with my pal, Jeff Fulghum, as he makes his way to Afghanistan for another deployment. We recently learned that a Bluffton homeboy, Garratt Boggs, has been wounded in Afghanistan and is currently recuperating at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Garratt grew up on Myrtle Island, graduating Hilton Head High in 1986, and USC Columbia in 1991. Our thoughts and prayers are with Specialist Boggs. We are again reminded that the cost of freedom is always high.

On June 23 of this year, Gov. Mark Sanford signed the Economic Development Competitiveness Act and the business climate in our state immediately became significantly better. The legislation provides, among other things, that a corporation establishing a national headquarters in our state, adding at least 50 new employees performing corporate headquarters related functions, will be exempt from state corporate income tax for 10 years. CareCore, in Bluffton, is an immediate beneficiary of this far-reaching program.

The legislation also revises provisions for fee in lieu of property tax agreements that have been on the wish list of the Lowcountry Economic Roundtable for some time. This one provision that will likely make the difference in several pending negotiations for local business relocations. There is also an incentive program for smaller businesses that want to expand in our area.

The legislation also expands incentives for “life science facilities” as well as companies that want to manufacture solar energy technology, wind turbines, advanced ion or other battery technology for alternative motor vehicles. This is done through the S.C. Renewable Energy Tax Incentive Program, a flexible and forward-looking entity that should go along way toward making our state a player in new, cutting edge industries.

The idea here is to pull in the high-tech industry, which is generally higher paying and more stable than much of our more traditional tourism and retirement-related job base. This is not to say we are moving away from hospitality and tourism as economic drivers, we simply need to diversify and deepen our economy. With proper incentives and management, the newer industries, being more environmentally sensitive, should serve to create local jobs as more companies move south to enjoy our good weather and great natural amenities.

What we are attempting to do with the Economic Development Competitiveness Act is to create an attractive business climate through tax incentives and thoughtful, enlightened regulation, that will build upon our educated workforce, transportation infrastructure, and great cultural and natural resources to encourage clean, forward looking businesses to take agood look at South Carolina.

Off season a chance to cut future deals

2010-07-26T07:44:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

The session is long over and we are, legislatively speaking, on vacation. This may be so for the rank and file, but for the leadership, including your representative, we are hard at it. Even though some of the details of this year’s budget are not yet finalized, we are already getting things rolling for next year.

To that end, Ihave met with the chairman of Ways and Means, as well as most of the other chairmen, trying to get good visibility on our financial priorities for the upcoming session.

This is also the time when I can make a little progress in building a foundation on which our delegation can support financial reforms that will reduce our donor status among the counties of our state. In fact, between sessions is the only time when we can operate without the day-to-day political pressure that has members interested mainly in appearing to protect the singular interests of their constituencies. During the off-season, there is more time to discuss the bigger picture and maybe strike a few bargains that will yield mutual benefits after the first of the year.

One of those areas of bigger picture consideration has to do with the revised and revived Sembler matter. The momentary defeat of the development incentives that the Jasper County leadership tried to put together to create jobs in the eastern portion of Hardeeville had the unfortunate effect of taking away the environmental, workforce and oversight features that might have made that project somewhat more palatable when it does eventually come on line. Some version of the Sembler project will be built, and it will be built and operated in a manner that satisfies the Jasper County standards, such as they are. Senator Pinckney and his crew are adamant they will create jobs for their folks one way or another.

I was a tad uncomfortable with all the ill-advised and unwarranted triumphalism that my friends at the Coastal Conservation League exhibited after the incentives measure was not passed in the closing hours of the last session. This whole notion of “we win, you lose” is particularly inappropriate when we are dealing with our next county over neighbors. After all, these are the folks that we will be working with for years to come on issues that are vital to both our counties, such as roads and port construction.

It is prudent to remember that all our rivers make up in Jasper County. All our roads pass through Jasper County before they reach us. We have regional concerns that will have to be tackled with mutual respect if we are to have any chance at success.

Obviously, I will continue to engage with my friends in the leadership of Jasper County. I will continue to push for enlightened, sustainable, and economically prudent environmental regulation. I will also continue to push for local and legal workers to build and staff any development in the area. I will also help our friends and colleagues understand that doing the right thing now is the productive thing for the long haul. What I will not do is demand that they do it our way or we will block their efforts. After all, our record in these matters is not without blemish.

Briefly, Many thanks to Marilyn Caperillian for her good work on the Beaufort County Election Commission. We made real progress on hard issues. Iknow that her replacement, Norma Stewart, will do an equally fine job.

Weather, hurricane season heating up

2010-07-19T10:07:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

We have arrived at the hot part of summer in the Lowcountry. Maybe I have reached that age where one doesn’t seem to handle the heat as well as in the younger days. I don’t know. I do know that the river is calling me loud and clear these days and the appropriate response is to crank the boat and head for the sandbar with a cold watermelon and perhaps an adult beverage.

We were on the river last week and I happened to see my friend David Rosenblum and his wife Catherine, along with a boatload of children. David is home from Afghanistan for acouple of weeks and making the most of family time. If you see David or Catherine, please make certain you tell them how much we appreciate the sacrifices their family is making for all of us.

We are officially in hurricane season and I have been renewing all my contacts that will be vital if we find ourselves in a weather related emergency. To that end, I had a meeting last week with Congressman Joe Wilson and Butch Wallace about FEMA and what we might do to more closely link our planning with that of the feds. As we talked about the details of the Bluffton plan, Rep. Wilson assured me that he would be sure the federal government was ready and will do all they can.

There was also a great meeting with Tammy Malone and Frank Hodge from the town of Bluffton concerning possibly relocating town headquarters in the event of an emergency. They will not only want to make arrangements for their own people, but also those that might be here from FEMA and related agencies. Now is the time to get all the particulars ironed out so we aren’t making crucial decisions on the fly.

I have a meeting scheduled with Beaufort County Council Chairman Weston Newton and his emergency management director, William Wynn. Director Wynn is an old hand at this sort of thing but we still want to go through the exercise nonetheless.

In a somewhat related matter, I had along talk with Wanda Crotwell and Earl Hunter, the director of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, on a different kind of emergency response. They assured me that in the very unlikely event that oil from the Gulf of Mexico well blowout makes its way around the Florida peninsula and into the Gulf Stream, they have a solid plan to bring immense resources to bear in protecting our fragile coastline.

Of necessity, such a plan is short on detail and long on flexibility, as we can’t know how this thing might occur until it occurs. Right now, the odds that the resources will be activated are vanishingly small, but the necessity for planning is very real and very urgent.

At the risk of sounding like your mama and not your state representative, I want to urge each of you to make a household plan—just in case. Know where you will go, perhaps where you will meet family members. Think about prescription medications that might be needed, as well as how you will arrange for your pets. The last minute is not the time to be getting this all together.

Last year I reminded you of these very same things. Next year, there is a pretty good chance that I will do it again. Part of living in the Lowcountry is being smart about hurricanes.

He says ... Department of Workforce improves jobless system

2010-07-12T13:58:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

Today I want to complete my remarks, begun last week in this space, on the reform of the Employment Security Commission (ESC) and the creation of the Department of Workforce.

First, allow me to express my gratitude to my good friend, Professor Bob Dickson, over at the Technical College of the Lowcountry, for the opportunity to speak with his government class. They were energetic, attentive and inquisitive and listened politely to my prepared remarks before making me earn my lunch with a raft of great questions.

Since they were in government class, it shouldn’t have been too surprising that the questions were well formed and spoke to the pressing issues of the day, as well as a few that were on larger, more general topics. I think I did pretty well, but as usual, I learned more than I imparted.

It is particularly valuable for me to hear the concerns of those just entering the job market, especially as we have just been through one of the toughest economic downturns in recent memory. These folks don’t want the government to take care of them, but if they have unemployment insurance through the state, they have every right to expect that it be run efficiently and fairly if they have occasion to use that insurance. That is precisely why we in the General Assembly passed a general reform measure creating a new Department of Workforce to mandate efficiency and fairness for those seeking unemployment benefits, especially since they and their employers have paid for that coverage.

After years of uncertainty and confusion at the ESC, the new Department of Workforce provides clear solvency targets for the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund (UITF) used to provide the benefits paid to the unemployed. It establishes new requirements for the contributions that the state’s employers make to the fund. It is something of abalancing act to anticipate exactly the level of funding we will need to take care of our financial obligations in this area. We certainly don’t want to take dollars from employers that could be used to create more jobs or create growth. By the same token, we can’t find ourselves in the position of having made promises we can’t keep to those who may have lost jobs.

With this in mind, the legislation establishes requirements for the Department of Workforce to calculate an annual contribution rate for each qualified employer that is based on aranking system which divides the employers into 20 benefit ratio classes, and any county in which the UITF is not solid, the state will impose a surcharge on all employers to pay interest on the outstanding debt. The estimated amount of interest to be paid in the year will be divided by the estimated tax role for the calendar year. All of this will be amatter of public record.

There is also an incident monitoring system whereby we can get a better idea of who is being discharged and why. The new system design is more rational, keeps better records, and should provide better service. It should also inspire more confidence in the state’s ability to do a creditably job in an area that had much room for improvement.

Unemployment compensation under new microscope

2010-07-05T08:38:00.003-04:00

Bluffton Today

Last Tuesday was the final, final day of session. The day was mostly about vetoes, but also the beginning of ascertaining the impact of what happened and what didn’t happen this session.

Some folks like to measure our productivity by the number of bills passed from January to June. I am not one of those folks. In fact, I hope to prefile legislation that will amend our process so that each potential law we consider does not have to be contained in two bills. This is part of my ongoing “red tape reduction” campaign.

One of the things demonstrated by our many furloughs this session is that we can get just as much work done in many fewer days if we are focused and disciplined. Any suggestions in this area would be greatly appreciated.

One of our legitimate accomplishments is the reform of the Employment Security Commission. This was a troubled agency for years but managed to drag itself along pretty much on inertia and ageneral disinclination toward change among many members of the General Assembly. We all heard the reports of problems with under and overpayment of unemployment compensation as well as failure to apply for federal dollars to supplement and extend the benefits to our unemployed workers. There were also alarming stories of people abusing the system by intentionally getting fired for misbehavior and still collecting unemployment benefits.

In this case it was deemed more desirable to abolish the agency and reconstitute its functions in a new format. The solution was H.3442, which I strongly supported. The new creation, signed into law 30 March 2010, is the Department of Workforce, a cabinet level agency with an array of employment related responsibilities. Among other things, this department assumes the role of administering the unemployment compensation program, as well as arbitrating certain kinds of disputes that arise under this regime. The legislation also creates the Work Force Initiative of the Economic Development and Research Committee to review and make recommendations regarding steps that should be taken to improve the economy of the state, the employment of South Carolinians and restores a greater amount of financial security to the citizens of the state.

The legislation also goes into some detail as to what sorts of misconduct leading to termination that might also make one ineligible for unemployment benefits.

Misconduct includes such activities as assault or battery on a fellow employee or customer, abuse of a patient or child under professional care, willful and reckless damage to employee property in excess of $50, theft of items valued in excess of $50, failure to comply with applicable state and federal drug and alcohol testing, the consumption of alcohol or being drunk on the job in violation of written work place policy and regulations, insubordination, or willful neglect of duty.

It should be clear that we must give each worker in our state some level of job security, but also be equally adamant that those seeking to abuse the system will not be rewarded for bad behavior. For me, it was pretty much a matter of common sense, but even common sense needs to be articulated in unambiguous language if we are to avoid endless and frivolous litigation.

Next week, more on ESC reform as well as campaign disclosure legislation signed by the governor.

Electorate rejects ‘business as usual’

2010-06-28T12:58:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

I’m going to postpone my analysis of the recent session for aweek or so. Instead, what I’d like to do is offer a few comments on the primary elections.

First off, its pretty clear that business-as-usual is not what South Carolinians want. In general terms, we can say that the election punished incumbents that were seen, correctly or incorrectly, as not being serious enough about reducing the size and scope of government. While I will personally miss some of the members not returning to the House, I am elated that the electorate is seemingly moving in my philosophical direction, and bringing some new people to the Republican Party.

One of the few potential bright spots in our dismal economic circumstance is that “hard times” makes reform much easier. It exposes the weaknesses in our process that seem to generate policies that leave us vulnerable to the cyclical nature of the overall economy, especially with our poorly diversified regional economy.

As I reported last week, we have cut the budget almost 30 percent in the last two years from $7 billion to $5 billion. While this is aconsiderable achievement, it does not excuse your representative or your Beaufort County delegation from our commitment to repatriate more of the dollars we currently send to Columbia back to our neighborhoods to fund our schools, fix our roads, or protect our rivers. In truth, as the budgetary pie gets smaller, the competition for our fair share becomes increasingly fierce. The next couple of years are going to be a serious test for the delegation. I am confident that we will rise to the challenge.

Much of my confidence is due to the fact that my friend Andy Patrick is the presumptive winner of the House District 123 seat, representing Hilton Head Island. Andy conducted a brilliant, positive, idea-driven campaign and will be a strong member of the delegation. Senator Davis, Representative Erickson and I have already introduced Andy to many of the key people in the General Assembly, particularly folks in the Coastal Caucus.

Our part of the Lowcountry sends buckets of money to Columbia, but much of the distribution of those dollars is based on population, of which we are relatively short. The only way we can compete is to have a coherent, disciplined delegation that is able to bring focused pressure on the challenges we face. It is better to have a big hammer pounding on the system rather than have several little hammers chipping around the edges. With our current lineup, I think we have every reason to be confident that we will make progress on our key issue, which is getting better return on our tax dollars.

As always, I am indebted to you, the residents and voters of Beaufort County and District 118 for your constant input into the political process. Even with the runoff this last week, we still managed to field more than 400 constituent contacts. That kind of robust communication, especially combined with the helpful new addition to the delegation, certainly bodes well for our chances in the next session. Then again, that’s why we call it the House of Representatives.

Budget reflects our core values

2010-06-21T08:04:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

As promised, I want to make a few comments on the 2010-2011 budget. How we collect and spend the people’s money to do the people’s business is the most important criterion by which we in the General Assembly must be judged. Regardless of what you hear from any lawmaker, myself included, concerning political or economic philosophy, it is the budget that says what we truly believe. In a universe of potential expenditure, the budget speaks plainly of what we value.
In lean times, that which is valued least is the first to be jettisoned, while those things defined as “core functions” are preserved, even if they are diminished. In especially lean times, such as we are currently experiencing, even core functions are subject to evaluation. For example, in education, we always show a bias for the classroom teacher over the administrator, even though both are integral to the efficiency and integrity of education. In this, I believe we accurately reflect the priorities of those we represent.
Interestingly, there is a political movement gaining a foothold in our electoral process that demands, among other things, government that is smaller both in size and scope, that takes and uses fewer of our dollars while addressing those core functions realistically and effectively. I would suggest that at least in South Carolina, we in the General Assembly have more than anticipated those demands and produced truth-telling budgets to back it up.
Witness the fact that in the last two years, we have slashed spending from nearly $7 billion to less than $5 billion-- nearly a 30% decrease in the size of state government. There have been no general tax increases and this year there were no fee increases. Even with these draconian cuts, we have managed to fund what we believe are the core functions of government: education; law enforcement; and healthcare.
Even with this level of austerity, there are things that we think will create further cuts in future years. One of the more powerful cost cutting tools is requiring state agencies to begin with zero-based budgets next year. The potential results of this proviso are huge.
This is not to say that everyone was on board with these necessary budget cuts. In fact, if we total up all the proposed spending increases for this year alone, they come to an astounding $7 billion in spending increases. This would have returned school property taxes on homes, increased sales tax, as well as resulted in dramatic escalation of a variety of fees. Fortunately, the dominant political and economic philosophy in the House of Representatives and certainly within the Ways and Means Committee is some version of fiscal conservatism. While all fiscal conservatives don’t march in lockstep, we have a general agreement on what are indeed the core functions of government, and what is the bare minimum needed to keep the lights on. This year, I can say we tested those limits.
Next week, I will explain the dynamic that finally ended the current iteration of the Sembler matter. In weeks to come, I will also try to flesh out the implications of what passed this session and what we might be looking at next time around.

Editorial writers don’t get reality

2010-06-14T08:47:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

Some of you may have noticed that after years of eating my lunch at every opportunity, the editorial board of “the other paper” seems to be warming to my legislative style. While they didn’t actually apologize for their often ill considered disappointment with me, their editorial of last Sunday was almost an admission that South Carolina politics is often about delaying or blocking the truly harmful, while engineering the opportunities to get some positive things done.

This is a fact that is simply the background radiation in Columbia. If they prefer to call it setting the legislative bar pretty low, or bemoan the fact that this simply might reflect the current community standard, so be it.

It also reflects the different worldviews that come with our respective jobs. An editorial writer can assume we live in a rational world and that good intentions will reap good results. They can conveniently overlook the fact that our state has historical and structural issues that seem to require we overcome a lot of foolishness before we even get to address the pressing issues of the day.

There is a facile tendency among some editorial writers to choose good guys and bad guys based on what would be if this were the best of all worlds. Consequently, when the clipping service comes around with a batch of editorials or political articles, especially during session, we’ll take a break and have a good laugh. Honestly, it’s often like the reality on the ground is being shoehorned into a framework of opinion that simply won’t fit.

My job, as I see it, is to represent the interests of my constituents as effectively as possible. We are a representative body with rules and protocols that shape how things are done. One member is as effective as his or her network of relationships allow. My effectiveness is based on my relationships and the ground upon which those relationships are built is jobs.

Everyone in the General Assembly knows what gets my attention: jobs. Constant readers of this column know my position on the primacy of meaningful employment. The pursuit of good jobs for District 118 and Beaufort County is also the filter that helps to make sense of the legislative noise.

This noise is the product of constant negotiation and shifting pools of alliances. The interests of the coastal areas are often in opposition to the inland counties. The Upstate has different priorities than the Lowcountry. The rich counties see things differently than the poorer counties. The Democratic caucus and the Republican caucus rarely move in concert. Overlay that with members who want to move up the food chain and need to stand out with an issue that they push, even if it is less important to the general welfare than other issues. I think you get the picture.

It is not the best of all worlds.

It is not particularly rational and certainly does not seem to be particularly coherent, at least to the uninitiated. It is a competitive mingling of all the economic, political and doctrinal elements of our state. As inefficient as it seems, we eventually sort out what is important, what we can agree on, what we can pay for, and who gets the credit. That is what becomes law.

Next week, commentary on the budget: what we did and didn’t do.

Cost of crime lab will pay dividends

2010-05-24T09:18:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

This week I had an excellent talk with Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner. One of the items up for discussion was the opening of the new crime lab a couple of weeks ago.

Not only is this a state-of-the-art forensics and DNA facility, it was produced in an amazingly short time for a comparatively modest outlay of dollars.

The sheriff and I agree that the cost/benefit analysis for this law enforcement tool is such that the citizens of Beaufort County bought a ton of security and crime prevention for a pound of expenditure.

Sheriff Tanner and Solicitor Duffy Stone no longer have to wait in line for crucial forensic analysis work at the SLED lab in Columbia. We can expect their efficiency, which is already high, to take asignificant bump up when this lab comes on line in July.

The progression of this lab project from idea to operational unit is a great example of why Tanner has a statewide reputation as an elected official who gets things done. From eight years on the Judiciary Committee, I know for a fact that our sheriff is the standard against which most law enforcement officers are measured in South Carolina.

One of my first major legislative initiatives many years ago, which resulted in the Fender Bender Law, was at the urging of Sheriff Tanner. He is still the levelheaded voice of reason whenever the delegation considers law enforcement matters.

I had the pleasure of speaking to the Forum Club over at Sun City last week. What a great group. The dialogue and interaction with these folks is always a lot of fun for me. They pay attention to what’s going on and aren’t shy about contributing ideas on how things might be done better or more efficiently, or more cost effectively. I get more good, solid ideas from Sun City folks in one speaking engagement than most of my colleagues get from constituents in an entire year. Come to think of it, isn’t that what representative democracy is supposed to be about. Ideally, we are not just talking about the “consent of the governed” but also the active, enthusiastic participation of the governed.

Last week, I had agood talk with my pal Buck Limehouse, secretary of the state Department of Transportation. He will be coming for avisit in the very near future to help sort out some of our lingering transportation issues. One might reasonably ask why we are even talking about roads in view of the budget catastrophe we are currently experiencing. The answer is that many of our road projects are at least partially funded already, and what we need is coordination with SCDOT. At any rate, we will be discussing the entrance to St. Gregory the Great, medians going into Hilton Head, as well as some traffic calming and parking issues along S.C. 46 and S.C. 170.

My experience is that a site visit with the fellow in charge is worth about six months of e- mails and phone calls to those further down the food chain.

Finally, if you sent me an email last week and I didn’t get back to you right away, it’s because we had another glitch in the e-mail system in Columbia. I estimate we lost around 100 emails. My communication with you is aseriously big deal and any time it’s interrupted, I’m more than a little concerned. Please resend those e-mails and I will be right back to you.

Cigarette tax a tough choice

2010-05-17T10:47:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

This week you certainly got your money’s worth from this legislator. The session is winding down and things have to get finished. Those of us who know and understand the rules and how the process works are the folks that get things done.

One of the things we accomplished this week was the override of governor’s veto of the increase of the cigarette tax. At 57 cents apack, we are now pretty much at the regional average, but significantly under the national average. It was interesting that the debate on the floor was almost exactly as I anticipated a few weeks ago in one of my “inside baseball” civics lessons.

A 50-cent increase was what was doable, perhaps not optimal, but possible. The only arguments on the floor in favor of sustaining the veto were ideological or process related, with little reference to the merits of the debate.

There is little doubt that even amodest tax increase will deter asignificant number of kids from taking up smoking. No one argues that there are health costs related to smoking, much of which falls upon the state, especially if those health costs are generated by citizens of lesser means. The revenue from the tax will be put into an account until next year. When we get good metrics on the amounts and rate of flow, we will apply the dollars toward health care and Medicaid. There is some conversation that education and law enforcement will also see some of this revenue, but that currently seems unlikely.

It’s been almost 10 years since the effort to raise this tax got started. We mostly agreed that it needed to be done, but it just got waylaid by one thing or another each time we were close. Given the fact that this long-fought battle is won (at least for now), I should feel better about it than I do. The tax certainly meets the criteria for qualifying as a“user fee” in that costs associated with the use of tobacco products are being paid by those using the product. I get that. The truth is that I just don’t like the idea of raising taxes even when I know it’s the proper thing to do. My legislative responsibility tells me it should have been done years ago, but my gut resists.

Fortunately, we didn’t have much time to indulge in a lot of introspection, as there were deals to make and votes to whip. One was the Daufuskie and Sun City golf cart bill, which was almost down for the count. We revived that measure, got it passed in the House in record time and we are now looking for a Senate bill to bobtail. If we are successful with this bill, Mary and I might purchase that golf cart we’ve been thinking about.

Finally, the Jasper delegation made amove to bring forward a Sembler bill without environmental, workforce or oversight protections onto the floor of the House. It will be a race to see which bill finishes, and I really appreciate all I’ve been hearing from you on this. Sometimes, politics is not so much about making the best choices as it is about pursuing the least bad option. I will keep you posted on how this shakes out.

Bill Herbkersman ,R-Bluffton, represents District 118 in the South Carolina House of Representatives. He can be reached through his Website at www.herbkersman.com or by telephone at 757-7900

Lawmakers respect local legislation

2010-05-10T08:35:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

It was great to see so many of you out for the Bluffton Village Festival. We had a nearly perfect day, and as of this writing, a perfect evening. The many thousands of shoppers and strollers are now the many hundreds of revelers at the Promenade enjoying the after party. Is it any wonder that Bluffton is booming?
More seriously, my column of last week was prescient in noting that the Jasper County leadership will not be deterred from creating employment in their region. As expected, Rep. Curtis Brantley has introduced a new Sembler bill, which strips out all the protections your representative worked so diligently to add to the older legislation. The new bill is local legislation, an important fact, and was motivated in part by the beating I have been taking in the local press and what that might imply for the current bill’s chances. It is unfortunate that provincial editorial boards sometimes fixate on the process rather than the probable outcomes of legislation. In this case, we may very well find ourselves with all the potential downside of the Sembler deal, with none of the protections that might have limited much of the damage.
I will, of course, continue to work with Rep. Brantley to amend his bill to include the aforementioned protections. They not only benefit us, they also protect the long-term interests of the citizens of Jasper County as well.
It is important to note that the new bill is a local bill, and as such is almost immune from contest. It is rare that one delegation will oppose the local legislation of another. It is something of a necessary evil in the General Assembly that we pass things of local or regional concern such as TIF Districts or various taxing entities as state law, even as the SC Constitution (Articles III and VIII) would seem to disallow this. In practice, what may be absolutely essential for Greenville might not be productive in the Lowcountry. What might be essential for our sea oats may not make sense for the Reedy River. For good or ill, artful wording of local legislation satisfies the letter of the constitution, even if it deflects the intent.
What this means is that if the recently amended Sembler bill, with my subcommittee’s protections, is defeated in conference, the new Brantley bill will most likely pass, minus the protections. If any member of our delegation causes the Brantley local bill to fail, our delegation will be subject to unspecific but eventual certain retaliation. Perhaps the next time we need a modest change to the Dept. of Commerce definition of “corporate headquarters” so that a company like CareCore will be able to relocate to Bluffton, we will be inexplicably blocked. Or if we finally get the state real estate organization to support a local option real estate transfer fee for high growth counties and we inexplicably don’t have the votes for our local bill, we will understand that custom in the legislature is taken very seriously.
It also means that I will probably continue to disappoint elements of the press on this issue. If that disappointment is the cost of aggressively protecting the interests of my constituents in this challenging situation, so be it.
Next week: more civics lessons.

Sembler legislation could be much worse

2010-05-03T22:49:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

As mentioned in last week’s column, the Sembler deal returned from the Senate and spent a day in the House Economic Development Subcommittee, which I chair, and emerged with exactly the three changes I promised.

The bill includes the environmental component that essentially mirrors the highly regarded Beaufort County Stormwater Management Ordinance. This feature will provide meaningful protection for the headwaters of the already impaired Okatie River regardless of what final configuration the Okatie Crossing project assumes. I am indebted to the Coastal Conservation League for their invaluable work on this part of the bill.

The second addition that came out of subcommittee is the local labor standards part of the deal. Some of the final language is being completed on this because as the bill transitioned in the Senate from a state incentive to local incentive format, the negotiations returned to the local entities: Hardeeville, Jasper County and the developer.

Unfortunately, if you read the article in one of our local news outlets, it was made to seem as though we rolled over and a lobbyist for Sembler wrote the agreement. Not remotely true. It was simply that the locals were back in charge.

The last change to the bill was the addition of an oversight committee to make certain that all agreed criteria are met before incentives are paid. This process will be ongoing for the life of the project, which is estimated at 30 years.

The evolution of this bill points to both strong and weak points in our legislative process.

The strength of our system is exemplified by the good work of Sen. Tom Davis in taking a House bill that had state tax incentives to support a local retail project and using the Senate process to modify the bill into a local option sales tax supporting local incentives for a local project. In my view, the three additional stipulations will make the bill, if passed in conference, a presentable piece of legislation — not great but not catastrophic.

The weakness of our system, of course, is made vivid by the fact that we essentially think we have to buy jobs for our citizens. Having said that, jobs are jobs, and they are necessary.

The one thing in this dynamic that did not change is the commitment of the Jasper County leadership to secure decent employment for their folks. Sen. Clementa Pinckney, Rep. Curtis Brantley and Rep. Kenneth Hodges, along with Mayor Bronco Bostick, are solid public servants and they are going to do what is necessary to create jobs. In fact, if the state sanctioned version of the Sembler bill is defeated, or sidetracked, there will be a local bill that will create a local option sales tax that will fund incentives for Sembler, or whomever will develop the Okatie Crossing site. Rep. Brantley was good enough to show me an outline of the bill.

If it comes to that, what will change? First of all, the environmental standards will revert to the Jasper County standards, such as they are. There will be no oversight committee, with no Beaufort County participation. We will witness and be affected by a project over which we have no effective control. Our aversion to a flawed process will have given us what we least desire.

Moving on with a cigarette tax

2010-04-26T21:16:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

After agreat relaxing week at the Heritage, it was back to the hard slog in Columbia. Before I get into the politics, allow me to comment on some of the nicer aspects of being your legislator, even during this time of brutal austerity.

One of the most pleasant parts of my job is hosting our visitors, and we had several this week. There was agreat group up from Sun City. As always, they were well informed, had good questions, and made certain I understood what were the important issues in their neighborhood. I enjoyed and appreciated the visit.

We also had anice visit from my friend Ella Wyman and her boyfriend, Patrick Parker, who was Jasper County’s “senator for a day.”

Ella is the beautiful daughter of long-time family friends, Ed and Angela Wyman. I met her the day she was born and have been more impressed with her every day. She is very smart and focused and we expect great things from her.

The cigarette tax is in its final negotiations and I predict we will ultimately get a levy of between 30 cents and 50 cents per pack. As Chief Whip of the Republican Caucus, I am in the discussions of how this thing is going to play out.

Today, I get to share with you some “inside baseball” stuff on the complex dynamic behind this measure.

We have been close to enacting this fair and necessary tax for some time. Up until now, there has always been some extraneous issue introduced that allowed the governor’s vetoes to be sustained. In truth, it’s been apretty cynical delaying of the inevitable. The voters want this, both houses of the legislature want this and now we have to be satisfied with half aloaf in order to get any kind of tax.

The discussion is not about passing the bill; it will pass. What we are discussing is how we override the governor’s veto. The calculus is this: if the tax is from 30 cents to 50 cents, we have the votes to override. From 50 cents to adollar a pack, the override votes are questionable. Thus, half aloaf.

Next year we will have adifferent governor with perhaps a keener appreciation of the necessity and the propriety of this tax. Then we complete the cigarette tax to a reasonable level where it will temporarily sustain our Medicaid obligation until the level of smoking is reduced by the tax.

Ideally, we will see a health benefit from that reduction, but I am under no illusion that the cigarette tax alone will eliminate the scourge of smoking from our state. At the least we should have this “user fee” to offset the cost of the effects of smoking.

This week I am bringing the Sembler matter before my Economic Development Subcommittee. There are three considerations driving what we will explore. The first is the environmental aspect of the project.

Regardless of what you may have read in other media outlets, that has always been my primary concern. The second consideration is local jobs. And the third is the creation of a commission or process by which the first two considerations are overseen and assured for the life of the project. It’s as simple as that.

Bring charity raffles into the sunshine

2010-04-19T08:51:00.001-04:00

Thanks to the many who called about last week’s column on NASA and the American “can do” spirit. I was surprised to learn there were so many NASA retirees in the area, as well as folks who routinely follow space launches. I do appreciate your kind words.

The Senate has run into some problems with the budget. It seems there may be some accounting miscommunication between different segments of the state government that will make the final budget even more austere. I would like to postpone my budget commentary until we have more visibility on that emerging situation.

Instead, there are a couple of things I want to discuss that have a very local application. The first has to do with golf carts as a form of everyday transportation. There is a bill introduced that would change some of the current limitations on how far from home one may venture in a golf cart, the so called “two-mile rule”. Simply stated, you can legally travel up to two miles from your home or place of business in your golf cart if it is road equipped, you have liability insurance, and you stay on secondary roads. Unfortunately, you can eat up those two miles in Sun City before you even get to the gate-- same over on Daufuskie Island.
What we have introduced is a measure that would, among other things, begin the mileage count at the end of the commons area, usually the property gate. This would open up much more of the shopping area around Sun City and allow Daufuskie Islanders to legally venture much further down the road before the long arm of the state tags you as a misdemeanor outlaw. With the push for cleaner transportation, it would seem that this would be one of those “no-brainers”. However, I anticipate we will run into opposition from areas of the state where the golf cart is not as appreciated as it is in the Lowcountry.

The second thing I want to report is some progress on the effort to bring charity raffles into the sunshine of 21st century legality. We will have a constitutional amendment or question that will reflect whether the people want to have permission to hold charity raffles or the legal ability to have a friendly poker game in their home for the entertainment of friends. This is a matter that my subcommittee has been working on for some time. We have heard from law enforcement, charitable organizations, and a fair number of people who just feel it’s silly to be unable to have a social poker game in their home because of a two hundred year old law. Again, another seeming “no-brainer”.

In conclusion, I just want to comment on the Heritage (it was great). I also want to comment on the blossoming of business in Old Town Bluffton. Even before the streetscape was complete, it seemed that visitors were flocking to the art venues and the great restaurants in the Calhoun Street, Promenade, and May River Road areas.

Now that spring is here, its almost like every day is a parade. It certainly appears that all the hard work and planning is coming to fruition.
Last Thursday, we had not only the very well attended Farmer’s Market, we had hundreds of patriotic Americans attending an old fashioned political camp meeting at the park in the Promenade. Whether you were in Old Town Bluffton for yellow crookneck squash or impassioned speeches, we all had a great time and we all got along just fine. At the end of the day, isn’t that what we all want?

Shuttle blasts off in ‘can-do’ spirit

2010-04-12T15:00:00.002-04:00

Bluffton Today

Since we are expecting the budget back from the Senate very soon, I will wait until next week to continue my analysis of that important document. It will also give some time for us in the House to review the Senate version and decide what we are likely to agree on and what may need negotiation.

I was with my extended family down in Florida for Easter break and we literally had a “blast.” In addition to my wife, Mary, and our children, there was my mom as well as assorted brothers and their families.

We also had the pleasure of having with us Mary’s parents, the Kinzer’s from Moss Creek.

We had such agreat time; we decided to stay over through Monday so as to witness the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was an early morning launch and unbelievably spectacular. We were on the beach about 70 miles north of Cape Canaveral. The dark morning was clear and we could easily observe the International Space Station for 15 minutes before liftoff. We saw the brilliant light of blastoff and then felt the tremendous sonic boom. This was followed by the sound of clapping all up and down the beach as spectators acknowledged one of the last night launches before the shuttle program is completed in the near future.

We were, of course, awed and amazed and not alittle proud at witnessing such an impressive display of American technological superiority. In addition, our family also includes one of the early NASA engineers, my father-in-law, John Kinzer. John was one of those “can do” fellows with the flat-top haircuts and the slide rules that made President Kennedy’s pledge to go to the moon a reality. John’s stories of how the space program overcame long odds to put the United States at the forefront of space exploration certainly made our appreciation of what we saw last Monday all the more profound.

In truth, the more I thought about it, the more proud and patriotic I felt. The era of the early space program, the 1960s and 1970s, was also the time when the building of the interstate highway system was under way. Americans were united in that “can-do” spirit and there was seemingly nothing we couldn’t accomplish.

There are those that say we can no longer summon the national will to meet the great challenges of our day. They say we are too divided and too short-sighted even to attempt what John Kinzer and his compatriots accomplished so fearlessly. I am not one of those people.

We, as Americans, have had some tough times recently, but our history is that after adversity we always come back tougher and better, stronger and more resilient. To me, it’s as clear and as brilliant as a night liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

This is Heritage week and we will see many of you at our showcase event. It is the time for Beaufort County to shine in front of an international audience. Our visitors are not only here to see some fantastic golf, they are here to see the gorgeous Lowcountry in all its springtime glory. A little patience and a lot of smiles will make certain we all have alovely week.

Sembler bill continues with lawmaking process

2010-04-05T14:47:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

The Sembler deal continues to meander through the legislative process. It is considerably different than when it emerged from the House. This is the way these things happen and the current iteration is not a surprise to this representative.

While it may appear to the casual observer of the Beaufort County delegation that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, in truth, that appearance is misleading.

The present form of the Sembler deal has Jasper County being allowed to tax itself to help the developer offset infrastructure costs. To most folks, this is a fair compromise, which has the added advantage of allowing the local municipality a stake in the outcome of the project. Instead of the state putting up the investment while the city of Hardeeville looks to be the primary beneficiary, the town now has some “skin” in the game.

While there is likely to be additional change to the final agreement, there are a few constants that will remain as far as I am concerned. One is the environmental component of the project. You may remember some time ago I asked to see the stormwater management plan being put together by the developer. Sembler was very forthcoming with the initial plan and I was able to run it by several experts, who, like me, were pleasantly surprised by the plan.

I was less impressed with our ability to compel the developer to execute the plan and follow through on the prescribed maintenance in the out years of the project. I knew, however, that the Senate would make changes to the overall deal and we would get another cut at this before the dirt started moving.

The second part of the matter on which I am focused is jobs — local jobs. If this project ever gets to the execution stage, I want to see local bulldozers and dump trucks out there doing the site prep. I want to see local carpenters and roofers and sheetrockers working in and on the buildings. This is before any of the local sales staff is hired or trained. By local, I mean businesses and residents from Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton counties.

As chairman of the Economic Development Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, any deal that emerges from the Senate will come before my panel for approval. Before any approval is given, there will be ironclad stipulations covering both environmental and workforce aspects of the project that will define what needs to happen until the expiration of the incentives.

In all probability, there will be an appointed board, representing all parties to the agreement, which will certify the stipulations are met before each incentive payment is made.

I want to say a few words on the Higher Education, Technology and Cultural Subcommittee portion of the budget. The total general fund base reduction to these folks is almost $86 million. The Commission on Higher Education was cut $1.6 million. Their task is to investigate the manner in which institutions are using LIFE and Palmetto Fellows scholarships and enhancements, which are stipends for selected science and math majors. The state library received a $1.5 million base reduction.

All told, reductions to higher education, technical education and related areas was around 21 percent. For good or ill, these cuts were wholly offset by federal funds, which are likely nonrecurring. We have made it clear to all institutions that these are non-recurring dollars and to plan accordingly.

Next week, more budget details. Enjoy this gorgeous Lowcountry spring.

Working for transparency

2010-03-29T09:12:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

One of the things that seems to bother people who keep up with what their elected officials are up to is this idea of anonymous voting. A big part of understanding whether you are getting good service from your senator or representative, is knowing how they vote on different matters — especially matters that involve revenue.

I was a forceful co-sponsor of a bill (H.3047) that passed the house last week that spoke directly to those concerns. In fact, the bill has been around for some time and was not that popular with members who were used to getting things done without having to make too many explanations.

Your representative is not only a member of the Ways and Means Committee but also a ranking member of the Rules Committee. Anticipating a certain amount of resistance to this level of transparency, last year we instituted a rule in the House that stipulated that any bill on the contested calendar or involving revenue would require a roll call vote for passage.

H.3047 is a modest blow for greater transparency in that it essentially formalizes and strengthens the intent of the actions of the Rules Committee. My belief is that if you can’t do the people’s business in the light of day, perhaps you should reconsider your tenure, be it on a POA board, town council, State House or White House.

One of the reasons I do this column is that I want to explain to you not only how I vote, but also why I vote a certain way. Perhaps most importantly, I want to make clear also what certain bills are about and what they mean.

You may have noticed that some bills have names that are not exactly what they are about. My favorite example is the Education Finance Act (EFA), which is generally about financing education, just not in Beaufort County.

Over the next several weeks, I will be going over the budget bill. It will take some time because this thing is simply massive. In an effort to break it down into manageable pieces, I requested staff to summarize and highlight the major features of the bill. The summary is 33 pages. I want you to stay with me on this, if for no other reason than it’s your money and you need to know what is being done with it.

Some quick previews: the total revenue available was just over $5 billion; $55 million went into the capital reserve, $23 million went into debt service, and the Department of Corrections deficit required $50 million. We used federal stabilization funds to meet our match for Medicaid. The state Department of Education received a base reduction of $4 million, while the EFA was reduced by $84 million, which is not a reduction for us since we get nothing from the EFA. The S.C. Charter School Districts received $700 in EFA funding for each student and the department received an additional $900,000 for transportation costs. The Education Department also received $662,000 to purchase new textbooks and other resources for career and technology education.

The National Board Incentives are closed to new applicants as of July 1. Those teachers already certified will continue to receive the stipend for the remainder of their contract. There is currently a new incentive program in the works. So teachers, we appreciate what you are doing, we just have to find a better way to show it.

Bills are shot down in the wee hours

2010-03-22T10:21:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

Last week’s column ended with a pledge to protect and preserve those aspects of the state budget that were favorable to Beaufort County and District 118. I’m happy to say we kept the promise but the effort involved was more than anyone could have anticipated.

The last day of budget debate began for me at a whip meeting at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and extended until 8 a.m. the following morning. Being chief whip and having my colleague and seatmate, Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, as a whip proved invaluable as more and more amendments came forward, especially in the early hours of Thursday morning. Since there were no breaks, one of us was always stationed so that we could see the information and the amendments as they were going. As whips we are entitled to monitor the proceedings and alert the caucus as to what might be up for vote.

One of the more egregious amendments was put up by Rep. Ted Vick, D-Chesterfield, which essentially created a state property tax for existing homes valued at more than $200,000. The lion’s share of these dollars would be from the coastal region and at least 40 percent coming from Beaufort County. By Representative Vick’s own estimate, that would raise the average property tax in Beaufort County by $2,000 to $3,000. This foolishness was put up around 4:30 a.m. Thursday and promptly voted down. There were Democratic amendments to repeal tax credits for making homes more hurricane resistant, for energy saving appliances, and the installation of solar panels to reduce reliance on foreign oil. There was even a move to strip out the tax incentives for a company that will manufacture wind turbine parts in the Charleston area. All were voted down.

It made me wonder if the Education Finance Act (EFA) formulas that have essentially denied Beaufort County schools any state funding were passed in the middle of the night back in the mid-1990s.

Perhaps the most curious assault on our interests came from Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington. You may recall from my March 8 column that there is a proviso in the budget that allows the Heritage Foundation to be the beneficiary of excess lending capacity in one of the state self-insurance funds. It is unlikely to be invoked but the measure is a backstop to protect an important driver of the local economy. While I am confident the Heritage Golf Tournament will find appropriate sponsorship, the loan guarantee is a clear signal of public sector commitment to the ongoing success of the event.

Representative Haley, also a candidate for governor, roundly attacked the loan guarantee as taking money from schools and folks with disabilities and a bad thing to do in a down economy. Under questioning from your representative that unfortunately turned rather heated, Representative Haley revealed not only a lack of understanding of the function of the Insurance Reserve Fund (she confused it with another entity), she was unaware of the tens of millions of dollars of direct state revenue from the Heritage, not to mention the comparable indirect dollars going into state coffers. Even after it was laid out for her, she couldn’t seem to understand that tourism pays for a lot of schools (except ours) and supports a lot disabled citizens.

Fortunately, the House of Representatives understood what Representative Haley did not, which is that the Heritage is a jewel of South Carolina tourism. Her measure was rejected by a wide, bipartisan margin.

I will elaborate in an op-ed later this week.

It’s hard to make cuts when everything needs more money

2010-03-15T08:42:00.001-04:00

Bluffton Today

We continue to work the budget and try to salvage some level of reasonable continuity in the functions of the state. The current scarcity of dollars makes for mostly hard decisions. We are going over the particulars of the requests of each department in excruciating detail hoping to leave the most essential capabilities intact while paring the less essential.

This is the most difficult part of my job and possibly the most important.

We heard from nearly 400 of you in the last week, largely on budgetary matters. A significant portion of those calls and emails concerned what many perceive as a disproportionate hit to the finances of the Disability and Special Needs Department in comparison to education and some other areas. I am acutely aware that some programs, especially those programs for autistic and other special-needs children, require a certain continuity of care if the participants are to improve.

Part of my effort on behalf of these threatened programs is to constantly research the federal budget for areas where we might take our dollars and match them to U.S. Health and Human Services’ grants, thereby providing at least a floor under the level of care required by our most vulnerable.

I may have located an extra $200 million from the federal government that we must dedicate to autistic and other special-needs populations. I am on this one.

There is currently a proposal on the table to raise the cigarette tax a very modest 30 cents per pack. Other proposals seek higher taxes on cigarettes, which would then be dedicated to a variety of worthy purposes. If cigarette taxes were simply another pot of money to feed the machinery of the state, I probably could not support such a proposal.

The idea that we can tax ourselves out of a recession doesn’t hold much favor with me. However, my belief is that the cigarette tax is in truth a user fee, which should be dedicated to addressing the health consequences of those who smoke. We should raise the cigarette tax to a meaningful level and use those dollars to fund our match to the federal Medicaid program, especially since the poor are disproportionately smokers and diminished accordingly by its damage.

The added benefit to this would be that over time the cost per pack increase would reduce the number of people who choose to smoke, primarily young people who have generally less discretionary income. We would collect less money for Medicaid but our costs would also be lower.

Another area we are exploring is reducing education costs by limiting the number of school districts in the state. The overhead associated with having multiple school districts in a county is essentially taking money out of the classroom. Zero-based budgeting from the classroom up is, for me, one of the answers to the school funding conundrum. We should direct resources first to the classroom and teachers first, and then our money should make its way up to the higher echelons of administration.

I have been actively seeking support for this common-sense approach from the South Carolina Education Association. So far, I have been disappointed.

Next week, it’s more budget Monday through Friday. I will be there for every minute of it, not only to do what’s right for the state, but also to protect Beaufort County and District 118 in preserving what we have.

State won’t let the Heritage fold without a sponsor

2010-03-08T09:36:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

Before I get into the topic for this week, I want to recognize some good folks from Bluffton. Larry and Judith Hughes have given exceptional service in a number of civic capacities in Bluffton and Beaufort County over the years. They were up in Columbia last week on behalf of the Clemson Extension Service, with which they have a long and productive history. Always good to see Larry and Judith.

I want to give you the facts with regard to the Heritage Classic Foundation and a bill put before the Ways and Means Committee at my request by a friend of Beaufort County, Rep. Brian White from Anderson.

By proviso, the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (PRT) may access the borrowing capacity of the Insurance Reserve Fund to create, if needed, a $10 million revolving line of credit to insure the viability of the Heritage Golf Tournament.

This capability is a backstop to protect one of our state’s high-producing assets in case the recession runs on longer than anticipated. It provides the Heritage Classic Foundation and the PGA greater flexibility in securing appropriate corporate sponsorship after the current sponsor’s commitment expires after 2011. To be sure, the likelihood that we will need to create this line of credit is almost vanishingly remote, but the economic importance to our community and region of this event is so profound we must have a plan in place to address even an unlikely contingency.

To put some numbers on this, let me distill a study done by PRT and Clemson University in 2006. The numbers are pretty impressive. The total direct expenditures by non-resident spectators of the Heritage were just under $70 million, for a total impact to the local economy of around $80 million. There were 1,250 jobs directly attributable to the tournament, with presumably several multiples of that in ancillary and supporting businesses. The state revenue from the tournament was around $6 million, not counting what came indirectly from ancillary and supporting businesses.

In addition, the Heritage is the grandest, most effective and most efficient vehicle for showing off our incredible Lowcountry to, literally, the rest of the world. It multiplies the impact of all our other marketing to a degree that almost defies quantification.

Needless to say, I was more than a little surprised at the pushback on this. As a businessman, the idea of leaving our highest performing asset uninsured or without a hedge is somewhere between imprudent and unthinkable. My original idea was to tap 30 percent to 50 percent of the direct state revenue on the tournament to maintain and insure the viability of the asset. That will be a fight for next year.

In summary, we have inserted a proviso into the budget that will allow PRT, under certain circumstances, to extend a line of credit to support the viability of the Heritage golf tournament. This is not a line item. It takes no dollars from education or Disability and Special Needs. It is simply a contingency plan to protect one of the big engines of out local and state economy.

If you are unsure how this works, please call or e-mail and I will be glad to share details. As with most of my legislative agenda, it is about jobs, the economy and keeping more of our tax dollars in the Lowcountry.

Polite persistence pays off with stormwater fix

2010-03-01T09:48:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

Today’s column is dedicated to one of our local residents named Rick McCollough, from Sun City. Rick is a good guy and afriend of mine, but he is also acommunity-spirited citizen who, when confronted with apotentially catastrophic situation, chose to fix the bad situation rather than sit back and complain about it.

The story of McCollough and his colleagues on the Phase Five Lagoon Committee is almost aparable of persistence, prudent marshalling of neighborhood resources and strategic involvement of sympathetic and effective governmental representatives and functionaries.

When it became apparent that the stormwater management system for the neighborhoods in Phase Five of Sun City was neither operating properly nor constructed to the specifications permitted by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, in 2005 McCollough helped put together a committee to petition the developer, Pulte/Del Webb, to make the appropriate corrections to bring the system into regulatory compliance, as well as into proper working order.

Rick was elected chairman of the committee and dedicated three years of effort in organizing the neighborhoods, using largely in-house expertise, and persuading the developer to do the right thing.

None of the tasks were easy, but failure to address the problems would have quickly expanded both the scope of the deficiency and potential costs of the remedy.

Stormwater management, especially in the Lowcountry, is vitally important for several reasons. First, runoff from development is the primary cause of pollution in our estuarine rivers. Secondly, runoff that doesn’t run off is called floodwater and flooding is dangerous and damaging.

The proper way to engineer stormwater runoff is using Best Management Practices (BMPs). One of the popular BMPs is asystem of lagoons or retention ponds. When ponds are not up to standard, however, they degrade our rivers and cannot protect our neighborhoods from flooding when we get extraordinary rainfall.

Rick and the Phase Five Committee documented the problem, enlisted DHEC to verify the lagoons were not up to the permitted standards and persuaded the developer to do the right thing. To its credit, when Pulte understood the gravity of the matter, it worked with the committee and paid to have the work done.

Pulte’s reputation was protected and the Sun City Community Association was spared the expense, around $500 per rooftop, of making the repairs.

Your representative was privileged to work with this fine group of folks in the capacity of facilitator and encouraging advisor. My 20 to 25 hours of phone calls and meetings over the course of the project pales in comparison to the literally hundreds of hours put in by Rick and members of the committee.

If you want to learn more about this inspiring story, go to www.myschh. com/lagoons and read the details. In addition, if you live in one of the Phase Five neighborhoods, go to the site and copy completion documents from the engineers and DHEC. They will be useful if you want to sell your property.

Also, Rick has also offered his phone number, 705-1919, if you have questions or concerns. I would suggest you call and simply say “thanks” for a job well done.

We also need to commend this paper for its handling of this story: no victim; no villain —just accurate and timely news. It’s an increasing rare commodity and I, for one, appreciate it.

Tax penalties based on average wealth is unfair

2010-02-22T08:52:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

We had something of a calm spell this week as far as calls and e-mails on local issues are concerned. This is probably for the best as we had a pretty intense week of working over bills in committee, especially those related to jobs and job recruitment.

One bill in particular, H4478, received a lot of attention as it will potentially become an allencompassing job enticement act that will describe how we recruit companies from small engineering shops all the way up the scale to the next Boeing or BMW. As we arrived at Section 16 of the bill, there was language that raised big red flags for me. The cost/ benefit aspect of this bill was based on an area’s “ability to pay” as opposed to more rational or equitable criteria such as average weekly wage.

If this sounds familiar, it is because this same language is found in the Education Finance Act of 1977, which has bedeviled Beaufort County’s financial relationship with the state in paying for public education. The intent of the act was to equalize the burden of school finance among the various counties of the state. It is not unreasonable that more prosperous counties might pay a somewhat larger proportion than poorer counties to support the public schools. Unfortunately, the part of the act called “the Index of Taxpaying Ability” has evolved over the years to the point where we in Beaufort County have found the portion of state dollars returned to us has dwindled to effectively nothing. I have a hard time believing that was the intent of the legislation. Unfortunately, the “ability to pay” criterion is not isolated to education.

Needless to say, your representative took serious exception to Section 16 of H4478. In fact, after 45 minutes of discussion in Ways and Means, it was decided to omit the section completely. I am always a little surprised to have to explain to my legislative colleagues about the wealth distribution in Beaufort County. There are certainly a number of wealthy folks in our county, and they contribute a great deal to the community. However, the overwhelming majority of residents in our area are middle class working families, retirees, and active military. To give us a tax penalty based on an average wealth is simply unfair. If Bill Gates happens to attend the sold-out performance of May River Theater’s “Pal Joey,” then each person in the auditorium would be worth over $100 million on average. That’s an extreme example, but that is often the perception we are facing.

On a positive note, H4478 does include a tax credit for solar electric generation and high efficiency equipment. I will keep an eye on those features and keep working them forward.

The budget gets started this morning and I will be in Columbia five days this week. As we dissect the budget, I always pay attention to how each piece will affect Beaufort County, District 118, and also what might be called the greater good. In all my years of work in the legislature, there has rarely if ever been a sliver of daylight separating those three constituencies.

Hilton Head must win ‘marketing arms race’

2010-02-15T08:23:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

Thomas Viljack is a friend of mine. He is also a builder and developer who has done a number of interesting projects around Old Town Bluffton. Thomas is also from a military family and is always informed on armed forces issues. Recently, he brought to my attention a matter involving apparent mistreatment by the federal judiciary of a group of Navy Seals. While I rarely get involved in federal issues, this one seemed so patently unfair it must be an exception.

Since our community is privileged to be home to many veterans and active duty service men and women, silence on this matter would be insulting. Consequently, I invited Thomas to Columbia, we wrote a resolution in support of our Navy Seals and placed it before the General Assembly, where it passed unanimously and expeditiously in both the House and Senate and is on the way to Washington. I have personally sent copies to Congressman Wilson as well as Sens. Graham and DeMint.

There is currently a misperception that your representative is trying to raise your taxes, specifically the sales tax, from 7 percent to 8 percent. This is not true. I am not trying to raise your taxes. I cannot state it more plainly than that.

What I have done is this: I have entered a bill on behalf of the town of Hilton Head Island and the Hilton Head Island/Bluffton Chamber of Commerce to allow Hilton Head to have a local option sales tax. What does this mean? If the measure passes the Legislature and is signed by the governor, then Hilton Head may hold a referendum to decide whether the voters wish to impose upon themselves an additional penny sales tax in addition to the 7 percent already levied.

The reason the town and the chamber have asked for this local option sales tax has to do with the fact that the future prosperity of Hilton Head and surrounding communities is tied to the number and quality of visitors to our part of the Lowcountry.

For years, competing resort areas have dedicated marketing dollars at levels that literally dwarf what the local chamber can raise and spend. The fact that the Hilton Head area has managed to maintain its market share is largely a testament to the excellence of the product we have, and to the extraordinary effectiveness of the Hilton Head Island/ Bluffton Chamber of Commerce. Bill Miles and his cadre have done great things with comparatively modest resources. It is no surprise that they are perennially rated either the top chamber in the country or among the top three in the country.

However, all of our principal competitors have raised the stakes with massive infusions of marketing resources. There is something of a marketing arms race among destinations around the world. This comes at a time of vulnerability for us as our flagship promotional event, the Heritage, is facing sponsorship questions. Also, many of the resort communities on the island are maturing into buildout and are therefore marketing less aggressively.

Considering these challenges, it is not surprising that those entrusted with the future prosperity of the Hilton Head area would look seriously at whatever might be added to their defensive arsenal. A local option sales tax is one possible weapon.

Consistent with the tenets of home rule, this tax will be only happen with the consent of the governed. I’ll have more on this as it develops.

Increased need, decreasing money adds up to nothing but worry

2010-02-08T09:23:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

It was another tough week for the budget as South Carolina tries to recover.

The Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) has forecast another quarter of stagnation, which means the cuts we originally made and the latest cuts we are so carefully trying to scalpel in are not going to balance the ledger. We now must look at essential agencies of the state and the invaluable people that make them function, and find ways for these folks to carry on with less funding. On paper, it looks fairly simple. In reality, each of these decisions has consequences in the lives of real people, many of whom don’t have alot of options left.

One of the local service providers I am trying to help weather the storm is Hope Haven, the rape crisis center in Beaufort County. I have been on the phone with my friend, Jeannie Owens, volunteer coordinator at Hope Haven, as well as board member Kim Statler.

They are seeing a huge increase in their directly provided services and are exploring every avenue to remain fully operational. You may not know much about Hope Haven, but sometimes they provide the only personal contact arape victim has as they navigate the whole medical and legal process following the assault. You can be sure I will go to the mat for these good people.

Part of the downward spiral we are confronting is that social service providers are being cut right at the moment they are seeing a dramatically increased need. Sustained high unemployment leads to more problems with alcohol and drug abuse, which has behavioral consequences across the board. One of those behavioral consequences is violence against women, including rape. Witness the huge jump in calls to Hope Haven.

This illustrates one of the reasons I am so determined to attract and protect jobs in our area. This is not about ideology or any abstract notion of economics. It is based on the hard fact that adecent level of employment makes for stronger families, stronger neighborhoods and fewer calls to law enforcement and to frontline social service providers.

In many ways, we in Beaufort County are fortunate in that our economy has astrong tourism component. While the number and duration of visits to Beaufort County is down, and our building trades are really hurting, there are many communities in our region that are simply flat-lining.

Finally, we got 460-plus calls and emails last week, mostly on the Sembler matter. Interestingly, only two of those calls had to do with my “butt kickin’” by the editorial board of “the other paper.”

Of the two, one was a lady from Hilton Head wanting incentives for the mall in her neighborhood, and the other was from a retired legislator offering to write an op-ed protesting the fairness of the editorial. I passed on both.

For more information on my position, go to my Web site, www.Herbkersman.com, and read my last few columns.

After research, Sembler’s mall plans look pretty good

2010-02-01T08:52:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

Last week, in this space, I promised to offer a definitive stance on the incentive package for the 280-acre commercial project located on the Beaufort and Jasper county line off S.C. 170, currently being readied for development by the Sembler Co.

There is a division in our community regarding whether this large mall development is appropriate for its proposed location, whether it is too close to the already impaired Okatie River, and, finally, whether it is proper to offer state economic development incentives for a retail development as opposed to an industrial concern such as Boeing or BMW.

In truth, I have struggled with some aspects of this matter, in that it seemed to place into conflict my two bedrock political priorities: a clean, healthy environment and jobs to support Lowcountry families.

In my column Jan. 18, I wrote about the “competing narratives” concerning the so-called “megamall.” I also reported that last April I voted to expand the criteria for economic development incentives, opening the door for the Sembler tax rebates now under scrutiny.

In fact, I sponsored the amendment that created the expansion of what was an acceptable project for state support.

Admittedly, I voted, along with a majority of our delegation, for a jobs bill without being fully aware of some of the particulars that would flow from our actions. I was fully aware, however, that we were in a serious recession with a real unemployment rate of around 15 to 18 percent, and jobs were high on my priority list.

In the Jan. 18 column, it was made clear that I was “gravely concerned” about 280 acres of rooftops and parking lots creating runoff potentially flowing to the Okatie. I still am.

However, while these are all important concerns, I have also been doing my homework. I have digested the Sembler stormwater plan, as well as consulted with a variety of independent engineers. The consensus is that the developer has come up with a very good, forward-looking plan that does not further burden the Okatie.

Furthermore, I have personal assurances from Sembler management that the plan will be executed and tweaked where necessary. They have also committed to abide by the rigorous Beaufort County stormwater ordinance. If they fall short of the mark, I promise that the state will engage them with serious and aggressive oversight.

With a certain comfort level on the environmental side, I am heartened by the number of jobs we will likely see in a matter of months, as the site prep and infrastructure work begins in earnest. This will be followed by the operational jobs that will increase with the completion of each additional phase. Since the incentives are tied to employment numbers, I am pretty confident that Sembler will make a diligent effort to get up to speed sooner rather than later.

Finally, after having visited a flagship Sembler property in Florida, I see the potential for positive and even transformational growth in an area that has historically been left behind. While there may still be questions about whether economic incentives for this kind of job creation are appropriate, in my view repatriating your state tax dollars to our area not only creates these needed jobs, but also a regional amenity, and is essentially our own, homegrown stimulus package.

Friends, I am convinced that this is a good deal for all concerned.

Having said that, your representative will still follow the Reagan mantra: Trust but verify.

All Sembler questions will be answered next week, but so far, so good

2010-01-25T08:58:00.001-05:00

Bluffton Today

After a tough week in Columbia, it is a relief to have some good news for our area. The Beaufort-Jasper- Hampton Comprehensive Health Services Center in Ridgeland is the beneficiary of a lot of hard work that your representative and your delegation put in last year on the state facilities improvement program.

We brought home (I like to call it “repatriating”) more than 8 million of your dollars to refit this highly and efficiently utilized facility. This will broaden the community health outreach to some of our most vulnerable citizens, especially in these tough times. In addition, the return on the investment of these dollars is huge in economic terms as well as the quality of life of those served.

The repatriation of these dollars is one of the reasons I worked so diligently to be assigned to the Ways and Means Committee. Our needs across the board are receiving a much fairer hearing since this assignment.

I met last week with my friend, Jerry Stewart, the Sun City representative on the Beaufort County Council. We both have been hearing a great deal from you on the Sembler matter. Being in the development business, I am more than passing familiar with what separates the outfits we want to work in our neighborhoods, and those that we might want to discourage.

In the Lowcountry, the first thing I look for is a solid stormwater management plan. What I try to encourage is that projects keep all their runoff on their site. When they tell me that’s impossible, it’s a red flag. I know it to be possible, because that is what we did at the Promenade, my last project in Old Town Bluffton.

I asked for and received the Sembler stormwater plan last week and have been going over it, as well as sharing it with folks whose opinions I value in these things. So far, I’m pretty impressed. They have seen the latest Colleton-Okatie studies and are making a good effort to respect the sanctity of this natural treasure.

Incidentally, I also requested the stormwater plan for the redo of the Tanger outlet off U.S. 278 in Bluffton. So far, they have not made it available, but hope to in the near future. You may remember there were some problems with the original Tanger construction relative to Sawmill Creek, which is a tributary of the Colleton-Okatie. Beaufort County, however, currently has a much more effective oversight than when the original outlet was built.

In truth, my decision on the incentive package for Sembler will depend a great deal on how they present it to County Council this week. Whether Chairman Newton and his council colleagues are either more or less adamantly opposed to the project after the presentation will certainly make a difference to me. In the meantime, I plan to make a visit (on my own dime) to one of the Sembler flagship properties in Orlando this weekend. Seeing what they have done there will help me understand what they can potentially do here. One way or other, next Monday in this space you will hear something definitive from me.

One aspect of the extended conversations I have had with numerous Sembler officials has to do with a potential relationship between the developer and the S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation folks. Providing employment opportunities for workers helped by the state rehab effort is certainly not going to turn the debate, but it may give us an idea of whom we are dealing with.

He says ... The future of Bluffton’s health care is nearly here

2010-01-11T10:07:00.002-05:00

Bluffton Today

We had a total of just under 375 constituent contacts for last week, which is right about average for us these days.

The phones are up and working, thanks to some good work by our friends at Hargray. There was apparently some confusion as to why we were down for those several days. It was not due to any deficiencies in the service or the system provided by Hargray Communications. Our problems were due entirely to chaos and confusion brought about by moving our office and all the accumulated stuff that is now necessary to the functioning of a modern legislative operation. I regret any misunderstanding that might have been caused by comments made in this column.

Constant readers know that I am not shy about candid assessments of the performance of companies, other politicians or opinion leaders whose work, in my view, falls short of the mark. I also try to give credit where credit is due.

Speaking of local business, there is a new skilled nursing facility about to open in Bluffton on S.C. 170 just south of Sun City. The facility is built and run by NHC Healthcare and according to regional VP Sonny Kinney, it will provide short-term physical rehabilitation or extended care for physical or cognitive difficulties for 120 patients in its current facility. They anticipate hiring between 130 and 140 folks, most from the Bluffton area. Future plans for their campus call for construction of an assisted-living facility and an inpatient hospice, as well as a fourth unit to complement and complete the current installation.

The community open house for this new skilled nursing facility is set for this Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. and the ribbon cutting to take place around 5. With the demographics of District 118 leaning somewhat toward the older side, I am pleased to have this new business in our neighborhood, not to mention the 100-plus jobs. Try to make it out for the event and introduce yourself to administrator Wade Taylor and take a look at the future of Bluffton health care.

Well, friends, it’s showtime tomorrow in Columbia with the convening of the current session of the General Assembly. The offseason has been extremely busy for me as well as other members of your Beaufort County delegation. Aside from the challenges presented by the budget and the economy, we are determined to achieve funding equity for our local schools, close the loopholes in our environmental protections, and at least make a good beginning on the monumental task of reforming the state’s finances.

In fact, we have a lengthy list of things that need to be addressed and acted upon. This is not just an agenda that I made up, or we came up with in the Coastal Caucus, or the party caucus — it is your agenda. Those 300 to 400 constituent contacts per week that we have week in and week out all year are where this agenda comes from. You speak, I listen, and your voice is heard in Columbia. The higher your representative goes up the seniority ladder and the more coherent and organized your delegation, the loader your voice.

That’s why they call it the House of Representatives.