Contributed by: Garry
Dear Friends:
The 2009 legislative session has officially adjourned and I wanted to take a moment to update you on some of the victories and challenges of this year.
I think that everyone would agree that times are tough. This legislative session, we had to focus on priorities and make many difficult decisions, just like families and businesses are doing all across our state.
Accomplishments
In the House, we were able to pass many important pieces of legislation this year such as bills increasing the General Reserve Fund, reducing red tape for small businesses, and many others.
These measures all made it through the House, but unfortunately the session ended before the Senate ruled on them. Since this is the first of our two-year session, many of them will remain on the Senate calendar and be taken up in January. In the end, this year’s difficult budget situation and shorter session hampered our efforts to turn some of the House’s accomplishments into laws.
One of the bills that should see action next year is the Voter ID bill, which I believe is a high priority. The Democrats have made many outrageous claims over the last several weeks about what Republican intentions are for that bill. In reality, our intentions are to ensure every voter is registered, every voter votes one time, and every vote is counted. Plain and simple. As close as many of our elections have been, even a handful of fraudulent votes could tip the scales.
While some bills struggled to make it through both houses, I am pleased to report that several of the bills I fought for this year became law. They include
• A pro-life measure requiring a 24-hour reflection period before a woman can obtain an abortion
• A bill that allows secret ballot voting in union matters and protects workers from big-labor bosses
• A provision that will help school districts weather these economic times by undertaking cost-saving measures and increasing fiscal responsibility
• A bill that opens the door for more children in South Carolina to be adopted into loving homes, which could reduce the time a child spends in foster care by up to 12 months.
The budget
The national recession made 2009 a tough session in many ways. As you might expect, the most challenging part of all was developing a state budget that was $1 billion less than last year’s.
I have to be honest in saying I was disappointed in the budget process this year. On Tuesday of budget week, House members were presented with a “compromise” budget by House leadership and were told that we were expected to vote on that budget less than two hours later.
The “compromise” budget process is nowhere to be found in either the House or Senate rules. It involves the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee meeting with the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and deciding the “compromise” behind close doors with their staff.
The “compromise” budget included $348 million in federal stimulus funds called the “budget stabilization” funds along with an additional $48 million in “increased enforcement collections” by the Department of Revenue and an additional $1.38 million in tourism promotion funds to specific groups above and beyond the $13.9 million in funds allocated to the South Carolina Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism.
You and I have been told that this “compromise” budget drastically cuts state spending. The fact is that this budget increases state spending by $730 million. While the General Fund portion of the budget is cut to $5.7 billion the overall budget increases to $20.7 billion from the $19.9 billion in the present budget.
Several of my colleagues and I had teamed up to offer a budget alternative to the “compromise’ budget that we felt met the priorities of our fellow South Carolinians: public safety, education, raising the base student cost to $2,228 as opposed to the Senate budget of $2,028 without the use of federal stimulus funds. The recommendation fully funded the deficits for corrections and juvenile justice without the use of federal stimulus funds, unlike the budget that was adopted. The recommendation increased funding for law enforcement by almost $3 million, and restored funding to prosecution which was cut by $2 million, and again did not use any of the $348 million in federal stimulus funds. Finally, the recommendation included $200 million for payment of debt service.
In addition, we asked our colleagues to take a day and review both proposals thoroughly. I did not like having to vote on such a major issue as the budget for South Carolina without adequate time to review it, and I was certainly not going to force my fellow house members to do the same with our proposal.
While this seemed like a prudent approach, and one that reflected the priorities of South Carolinians, we were voted down by our fellow representatives. While I think that the South Carolina House should take more time in making decisions that spend billions of your hard-earned tax dollars, I do not regret the effort and will continue to fight for the people’s business being done in a more transparent manner. I will also continue to take a stand against a government that will grow government and create new programs that we do not need and can’t afford.
So-called ‘stimulus’ funds
Much debate this year has been over the use of $700 million in federal stimulus funds. Personally, I have been opposed to the stimulus since before it became law, a position shared by the Governor and most Republican legislators. The Governor originally wanted to use the stimulus funds to pay down state debt, but after the White House rejected that plan, he asked the General Assembly to write a budget that directed an equivalent amount of money toward debt, which I strongly supported.
The final version of the budget did not include debt repayment funds, which prompted Gov. Sanford not to seek the money. The S.C. Supreme Court ruled on the matter recently, saying that the S.C. General Assembly can force the Governor to apply for the money as he was directed to do so in the final version of the state budget. So much attention has been given to this issue, but it’s worth noting that the dollars in question represent less than a tenth of the $8 billion South Carolina is receiving.
Cutting government waste, saving cost, and holding the line on taxes
The Republican-led General Assembly made the decision to cut government spending this year instead of raising taxes to address the budget shortfall.
Conservatives in both the House and Senate stood firm and resisted all efforts to raise taxes. A tax increase now, I believe, would further damage our economy and move us farther from recovery. To get back on track, we must focus on job creation, cutting spending, and ensuring fiscal responsibility in state government.
In order to pass a balanced budget without raising taxes, we cut government waste wherever we could, including deep cuts to many state agencies. I am hopeful that these budget cuts will prompt our state agencies to find new ways to increase efficiency and eliminate waste, which will certainly benefit our state long-term.
The House led the way in taking the cuts in the budget, re-evaluating its priorities and finding new ways to save money. In fact, the House reduced its own budget by roughly 20 percent this year. By adjourning early and taking 5 additional furlough weeks, we saved taxpayers over $400,000. We also implemented a hiring freeze, staff furloughs and salary cuts, printing cost reductions, utilization of Internet services, and many other cost saving measures – which reduced operating costs and saved taxpayers more than $1 million. As chair of the House Facilities subcommittee of the Operations & Management committee, I was able to help put many of these cost-cutting measures in place.
June 16
On June 16, we returned to Columbia to address some of the Governor’s vetoes and handle a few other pieces of unfinished business. In total, we overrode vetoes on 10 pieces of legislation including the Payday Lending Bill, which regulates the industry, and the State Ports Authority Bill, which sets qualifications for board members among other provisions. We also passed a bill forming a comprehensive tax study committee, which would examine our entire tax code. I believe that this proposed committee and its work could be highly beneficial to the people and the businesses of our state. The tax commission bill now awaits action by the Governor.
In closing, thank you for the privilege of serving you in Columbia this year. If I can ever be of assistance, or if you have ideas on the issues, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 864-963-0337 or garry@garrysmith.org.
One final note, please mark your calendars for Thursday, June 25. I invite you to join me on that day for our Annual Ice Cream Social and Town Hall Meeting, which will be held from 6-8 p.m. at Heritage Park. I hope to see you there!
My best regards,
Garry Smith
Paid for by Re-elect Garry Smith to the Statehouse
Re-elect Garry Smith to the Statehouse
210 Foxhound Road• Simpsonville, SC 29680
smithg@scstatehouse.net • www.garrysmith.org
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