Staff report
COLUMBIA--The South Carolina Senate voted to postpone further discussions on the primary seat belt bill Tuesday, opting instead to focus energies on a little legislative house cleaning.
Senators approved a measure by Senate Rules Committee Chairman Larry Martin, R-Pickens, to carry the seat belt debate over for one day to take care of the backlog on the Senate calendar.
The calendar is 55 pages long, nearly twice its normal size.
The backup is the result of a six-week deadlock over the issue of creating a primary seat belt law.
South Carolina now has a secondary seat belt law, which allows police to ticket motorists for seat belt violations when they are pulled over for another offense. A primary seat belt law would allow police to stop and ticket a motorist for not wearing a seat belt.
The fine would be $25 and would go up to $40 if a child under age 18 is unrestrained.
Martin said he will poll members of the committee for the rest of the week to see if they are in favor of further postponement.
Supporters of the seat belt legislation went along with the move to free up the calendar.
But they said they will not go along with this legislative maneuver for more than a few days.
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