House Rural Caucus examines issues in state's poorest counties

COLUMBIA -- The revived House Rural Caucus has a bipartisan group of state lawmakers working to boost economic growth in the state's poorest counties.

Reps. Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, and Jay Lucas, R-Hartsville, recently helped reorganize the group of 65 representatives after it had been dormant for years.

"This is a legislative group that decided rural South Carolina hasn't been getting our fair share when it comes to economic development," Ott said.

The group on its own constitutes more than a majority of the House's 124 members, meaning if its members vote as a bloc, it can single-handedly adopt legislation.

And its first effort is the rural infrastructure bank bill.

Details of the plan still are being finalized, but Ott and Lucas said the bill would pool the state's resources now designated for rural development of water and sewer projects and add some new money, for a total of about $35 million to $40 million. Ott and Lucas declined to discuss where the money comes from.

Lucas said, rural communities often have water and sewer authorities that only can afford to address infrastructure needs piece by piece. He thinks water and sewer projects are essential to attract new industry.

"All of us (rural lawmakers) have stories about industry we've lost because we couldn't put (water and sewer) lines to a building," Lucas said. "There's just no money for them."

Much of what the state does now to help rural communities is through the Department of Commerce. The state agency has several different programs to help the 23 designated rural counties out of the state's 46, said Maceo Nance, the department's director of community and rural development.

Some attention is on water and sewer development, and some is aimed at "assisting those communities to have something to sell to companies that they would be interested in," Nance said, "whether that be an industrial park or speculative building."

Ott and Lucas are careful not to criticize Commerce's efforts for rural South Carolina, but both want to see more attention to the infrastructure needs.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said he wants to see more specifics on the proposed legislation from Ott and Lucas, such as the cost to the state. But Wilkins said "the idea of banding together to get more bang for your buck is very worthy and should be done."

Gov. Mark Sanford's spokesman said the governor will want to discuss the plan with Commerce Secretary Bob Faith before taking a position. Sanford "has asked Secretary Faith to make rural economic development a priority," his spokesman Will Folks said.

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