Ryberg sponsors new seat belt bill

Associated Press

COLUMBIA — Bills on seat belts, school start dates and a casino boat ban are among 225 measures lawmakers prefiled this week for the legislative session that begins next month.

Twenty-one senators are sponsoring a bill that would allow police to issue $25 tickets to drivers and passengers who do not wear seat belts. A stronger seat belt law was hotly debated last year before it died in the Senate.

Current law prevents police from ticketing motorists for most seat belt violations involving drivers 18 and older.

"The system we have now isn't working," said Sen. Greg Ryberg, the bill's lead sponsor and chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. "This bill will save lives and money."

Ryberg, R-Aiken, said he intends to give the bill priority status in early 2005 to get it to the Senate floor quickly.

Another bill deals with setting a later school start date.

The legislation, sponsored by Sens. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, and Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, would require South Carolina schools to start no earlier than Aug. 25.

Most now start earlier than that, some in the first week of August. Horry County schools start later than those in most other districts.

The gradual move to earlier school start dates have cut off August as a traditional summer vacation month for families. School districts began starting earlier to have more time to prepare for performance measurement tests given statewide in the spring.

Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum has said the performance tests could be given later, which should encourage the schools to start later. Tourism leaders, though, say that is not enough, especially now that neighboring North Carolina has ordered its schools to open closer to Labor Day.

Opponents of a state law requiring schools to start later say school schedules are a local matter.

Meanwhile, Democratic Clover Rep. Herb Kirsh again has sponsored a bill banning casino boats. The House has passed the ban several times by wide margins, but it always failed in the Senate.

Federal law, known as the Johnson Act, permits gambling cruises to nowhere but allows individual states to ban them.

Republican Sen. Glenn McConnell opposes a ban on the boats because he says it would affect the major cruise lines that dock in his home city of Charleston.

All legislators can file bills again Dec. 15, and House members may file Dec. 22.

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