Posted on Sun, Apr. 02, 2006

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THIS WEEK IN THE LEGISLATURE

Bill alters Sunday sales fees

Larger eateries may pay more for alcohol licenses

By Zane Wilson

The Sun News

COLUMBIA - Smaller restaurants could get a break on their Sunday cocktail sales licenses under a bill introduced last week by Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach.

Larger restaurants could pay more.

The S.C. Hospitality Association is studying the bill and has some concerns, said Tom Sponseller, the association's president.

Currently, all restaurants that have Sunday cocktail sales pay a $3,000 fee for an annual license, or they may pay a $150 fee for each Sunday.

Elliott's bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, sets the fees on a scale based on the seating in the restaurant.

The issue came up during debate on a bill that allows six communities - including Georgetown County - to continue to have Sunday beer and wine sales in stores. The sales were presumed to be allowed under the communities' referendum to permit Sunday cocktail sales in restaurants.

Elliott said it did not seem fair that everyone pays the same fees for the Sunday sales. Businesses are accustomed to paying fees based on size, as they do for business licenses, he said.

The proposed fees would range from a $1,500 fee for restaurants with up to 60 seats to a $5,000 fee for those with more than 181 seats.

"While it sounds good, that it will help the small guy, some people have already expressed concern that some of the highest-volume locations do not have very many seats because they are high-volume, stand-up night club kinds of things," Sponseller said, "

They could get cheaper licenses while having high volumes of sales, Sponseller said. But whether that is anything of lasting concern, the association is not sure yet.

The bill was assigned to a committee for study.

Visitors

Two busloads of kids from Myrtle Beach Primary School visited the Capitol on Thursday. Myrtle Beach City Councilman Mike Chestnut was among the chaperones.

"They're running my legs off," he said while trying to catch up with a group of kids including his own child as they ran to their picnic lunch on the Statehouse grounds.

The children were to visit the State Museum later.

On Tuesday, a Girl Scout troop from North Myrtle Beach that included Hannah Edge, daughter of Rep. Tracy Edge, R-North Myrtle Beach, also visited.

Budget

The House worked on the budget, its primary responsibility under the Constitution, from early Monday to mid-afternoon Thursday. No other business was taken up.

The Senate passed a bill with stronger penalties for child sexual predators, including death for a second offense.

It also passed a bill forbidding schools from opening before the third Monday in August.

A bill providing state protection for isolated wetland stalled Wednesday when Elliott objected to it. That means that to consider it, the Senate must force debate on the bill by a two-thirds vote.

Supporters say they expect to do that after some other matters are disposed of under the forced debate rule, including a bill that forbids cities and counties from adopting regulations on farming that are more restrictive than state rules.

Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, was speaking against the proposal and was holding the floor when the Senate adjourned Thursday.

A Senate subcommittee continued to wrangle with tax-swap proposals and changed its plan of the previous week. The moving target could change again. The proposal for a 1-cent sales tax increase to pay for a larger property tax cut on school operating expenses will come before the full Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday.

Also this week, a House committee will take up a bill sponsored by Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, that would force state Heritage Trust preserves to allow hiking and horse riding. Another committee will consider a bill forbidding Ocean and Coastal Resource Management from imposing further restrictions on activities regulated by the Army Corps of Engineers.