Legislative Digest: The week's Statehouse news

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Economic development: While Gov. Mark Sanford decided to back off his threats to sue the Legislature over an economic development bill, a government watchdog has not.

Edward Sloan Jr. of Greenville said Wednesday he is suing the Legislature "to defend the Constitution." Sloan's suit charges that the Life Sciences Act violates the state Constitution because the bill deals with more than one subject.

The law was intended to broaden economic development incentives for pharmaceutical companies, but lawmakers tacked on numerous amendments, including a provision to make the University of South Carolina-Sumter a four-year school and create a four-year cooking program at Trident Technical College. House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, and Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said that type of suit likely won't succeed.

Tax plans: State senators were skeptical of Sanford's House-approved plan to reduce the state's income tax in a Senate Finance Committee meeting Tuesday.

Tom Davis, Sanford's co-chief of staff, told the committee lowering the income tax rate to 4.75 percent from 7 percent during the next decade would create jobs and improve the economy. Sen. Linda Short, D-Chester, said she worried that the $1 billion Sanford's plan costs would have an affect on lower income people who usually benefit from state funded programs.

Holley Ulbrich, an economist with Clemson's Strom Thurmond Institute, said the plan needs more work. She said the change should be tied to the rate of inflation plus a percentage point.

Conservation bank: A Senate subcommittee agreed Wednesday to restore funds to the Conservation Bank, which preserves rural landscapes, wetlands and historical sites. The House voted last month to drop funding to $2.5 million from $10 million because of the state's budget problems.

Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Kingstree, proposed restoring full funding to the bank and dedicating half the sale of state-owned lands to the program. The issue now goes to the full Finance Committee.

Party switcher: Dorchester County Democrats are suing state Rep. George Bailey, whose last-minute GOP party switch March 30 scuttled their plans to have a Democrat on the ballot in November.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, could end up keeping Bailey off the ballot altogether because he broke a signed state pledge not to run as a candidate for another party, House Minority Leader James Smith, D-Columbia, said.

But the lawsuit's purpose is to "hold him accountable for his fraudulent conduct and to protect the voters of Dorchester County," Smith said. Democrats must have a candidate on the November ballot, Smith said.

National Guard: South Carolina can expect to lose up to 700 National Guard positions as the U.S. Army increases its forces in Iraq, the head of the state National Guard told a state Senate budget panel Thursday.

Adj. Gen. Stan Spears told a Senate Finance subcommittee of the expected cuts as he discussed state spending on Army and Air Guard operations. The Army says it is working with the National Guard Bureau on a plan that would eliminate thousands of slots that are not currently filled.

Caisson funds: Members of a Senate budget subcommittee said Thursday they would keep the adjutant general's office from losing $100,000 earmarked for a horse-drawn caisson unit used in military, police and state funerals.

Sanford and his predecessor, Gov. Jim Hodges, both have recommended eliminating the $100,000 the state puts into horse feed, transportation and maintenance for the all-volunteer unit. The House eliminated the money in its version of the budget last month.

PSC overhaul: State lawmakers nominated a former Public Service Commission member to lead a panel investigating utility company rate requests. Administrative Law Judge C. Dukes Scott has been nominated to lead an independent investigative staff that will be separate from the PSC.

Legislators created the staff after concerns between contact between commissioners and the companies they regulate. The investigative staff will represent business and consumer interests. Sanford has until May 1 to accept or reject the nomination.

Medicaid drugs: Exempting some drugs from the Medicaid drug list could cost the state up to $8 million, the Health and Human Services Department director said Wednesday.

The House budget added medicine for diabetes, asthma and cancer to the exclusion list, which Health and Human Services chief Robert Kerr said "definitely erodes the savings we could achieve."

The Legislature created a panel last year to decide what drugs Medicaid recipients should get for most illnesses, except for mental conditions, and lawmakers said this panel should be making the exemption decisions, not the House.

Smalls marker: A Senate subcommittee agreed Wednesday to erect a marker on the Statehouse grounds to commemorate Robert Smalls, who served as the state's first black U.S. House member during Reconstruction.

Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Hopkins, said Smalls risked his life for what he believed in and that it was "appropriate for his home state to honor him." Jackson said he pushed for a marker rather than a monument because it's easier to raise money for it.