HOUSE OKS MONEY FOR ETHICS FILING

The House voted Tuesday to give the State Ethics Commission the money it needs to create an Internet-based system for lawmakers to report their campaign financing.

The state budget bill as unanimously approved by the House includes $318,000 for the commission. The system was fully funded thanks to an amendment introduced by Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Anderson.

The budget as approved earlier by the Ways and Means Committee only provided $150,000 for the commission.

In the Senate, which must also approve the money, a Finance subcommittee has already agreed to fund the new system.

Gov. Mark Sanford, too, supports the plan, and included $300,000 for it in his executive budget proposal released earlier this year.

Lawmakers agreed in 2003 to require the Ethics Commission to create the electronic filing system, but have as yet failed to fund it.

COASTAL RESEARCH

Lawmakers have approved $5 million in funding for a coastal research lab near Georgetown that would expand work and almost double the existing facility.

Clemson University scientists have been studying at the facility for 40 years, but a recent surge in development along the coast has made the need for research even greater.

The director of the Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science said the growth is creating changes in water quality and quantity, wildlife habitat and forest productivity.

“Our current facility restricts our ability to meet current research needs and to house visiting scientists and graduate students,” said institute director George Askew said. “It also limits our ability to provide the outreach programs that are needed in the coastal region.”

The funding approval came in the state’s $5.8 billion budget, which the House passed with an unanimous vote Tuesday.

“I’m just thrilled,” said Rep. Vida Miller, D-Georgetown. “This information will be sought out throughout the East Coast.”

The center is located at the 17,500-acre research reserve Hobcaw Barony, one of the few undeveloped tracts on the Waccamaw Neck.

Hobcaw Barony is operated by the nonprofit Belle W. Baruch Foundation for research by the state’s colleges. In addition to Clemson scientists, the property also hosts the University of South Carolina’s marine lab.

Clemson has asked for the money for at least two years without success.

Georgetown resident Betsy Brabson said scientists at the facility have provided information and support as she studies an invasive beach vitex plant that has overtaken dunes and squeezed out other plants.

“They do so much work over there that nobody knows,” Brabson said. “We’re just so lucky that it is right next door.”

Aaron Gould Sheinin, The Associated Press