COLUMBIA - A farming-rights bill that would give counties limited controls passed a Senate committee Wednesday. But the message to counties is: Zone yourselves and handle the problem that way.

Both advocates and opponents of protecting farm operations from local regulations still were assessing the effect of the bill as amended in two hours of discussion and revision.

"This is something we may be able to tolerate," said Sen. Ray Cleary, R-Murrells Inlet. He was one of five who voted against the bill, along with Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Kingstree. Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach, was absent.

Called "the hog-farm bill" by opponents and "the right-to-farm bill" by supporters, the measure originally was proposed in the House two years ago by Rep. Billy Witherspoon, R-Conway. He said local governments were trying to stop hog farms from locating in their counties and that state regu-
lations were sufficient to protect neighbors and the environment.

The thrust was to forbid local governments from adopting any regulations on agriculture that were stricter than the state's rules.

The proposal was expanded to include poultry and other confined animal-raising operations but did not pass last year. It originated in the Senate this year and included other business and industry regulated by the state, as well as farming operations.

Decried by the cities and counties as an assault on their powers, the bill was supported by the Farm Bureau and related groups as a necessary stopgap in their struggle to survive.

"We're just trying to protect our No. 2 industry in South Carolina," said Sen. Ronnie Cromer, R-Prosperity, who was chairman of the subcommittee that held hearings and revised the bill.

Cromer said the problems occur in many cases because of growth. Subdivisions and stores march out into the countryside and then complain of odors and other offenses coming from farms that were there first, he said.

But Sen. John Matthews, D-
Bowman, said expansions of factory farms into rural areas had caused the problem, and local governments need the powers to protect residents from the operations.

The bill tramples on the rights of rural people who are not farmers and whose lives are disrupted by factory farms, Matthews said.

Sen. Brad Hutto, D-
Orangeburg, said counties can regulate farm locations and distances from other properties in their land-use plans and zoning codes.

"We wouldn't be faced with this problem right now if all 46 counties had zoning," Hutto said.

If they did, farmers would know what to expect and so would people who move into new housing in farming areas, he said.

Sen. Phil Leventis, D-
Sumter, tried twice to pass an amendment requiring the counties to put in land plans and zoning by Jan. 1, 2009.

If they did not, their territory would be subject to state regulations on farming operations, he said.

The zoning requirement would "eviscerate and emasculate" the bill, Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg said.

What did pass was an amendment by Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Isle of Palms, that allows counties or cities to impose setbacks on poultry operations.

It allows setbacks up to 600 feet for small operations, compared with 200 feet in state regulations; and 1,250 feet for large poultry operations, compared with 400 in state rules.

Hogs and other livestock were left out because state rules give them a minimum of 1,250 feet of setback from neighboring property.

Spectators were not sure what to make of the outcome.

"It sounds more focused," said Ann Timberlake, representing the League of Conservation Voters.

Bob Barber, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, and Buddy Jennings, lobbyist for the Farm Bureau, said they were not sure how the change would be received.

Bo Shetterly, a lobbyist for the S.C. Association of Counties, said universal zoning is a way to handle the problem, but some communities do not want to zone and they should be able to deal with local problems in the way they see fit.

The bill goes to the Senate floor with a minority report of opposition attached, meaning it won't be brought up without a special vote.