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Article published Mar 23, 2003
House majority shouldn't use power to stifle reasonable debate

The S.C. House approved a Medicaid restructuring bill last week that members didn't have time to review or discuss and which should have included an increase in the cigarette tax.
House members who are not part of the Republican power structure in the House had precious little opportunity to impact the bill.
The bill represents a significant restructuring of state government. It would combine some state health agencies and place them in the governor's Cabinet.
The bill also provides funds for Medicaid by restructuring the bonds the state issued to get its hands on money from the tobacco settlement sooner.
The bill is more than 40 pages long.
And lawmakers were not able to get a
copy of it until Thursday, the same day it came up for debate and a vote. That means lawmakers who were not involved in
creating the bill didn't even have time to read it.
Democrats in the House are justifiably angry. They wanted a chance to examine the restructuring of the state agencies. They wanted a chance to study the refinancing of the bonds to fund Medicaid. And they wanted a chance to discuss raising the cigarette tax.
Republicans took control of the House, the Senate and the Governor's Office in last year's election. They should not use that majority power to cut alternative views from the legislative process. Democratic representatives are still the duly elected representatives of South Carolina citizens. They should be consulted. They should be heard.
A restructuring of state government and a questionable fund-raising method require informed debate by the people's representatives before they are passed.
And Democrats are right in continuing to push for a cigarette tax increase. Such a tax would create a stable source of funding for Medicaid, a better long-term solution than refinancing a bond issue.
The health care restructuring bill is not finished. More debate will be conducted in the Senate, which should take a slower and more complete approach to studying and debating the bill.
The Senate also should include an increase in the cigarette tax in the bill. Meanwhile, House members should familiarize themselves with what they have already passed, so that when it comes to the House floor again, it can be discussed and revised.