S.C. legislators face ‘several major issues,’ says Walker

January 18, 2007

Editor’s Note: The following State house report was submitted by S.C. Rep. Bob Walker of Landrum.

Before I begin describing the work your general assembly wishes to complete this year, I hope you and your family had a blessed and wonderful Christmas and New Year.
Each January brings a new session of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and we returned this week to Columbia for the first session of the 117th general assembly. Amid the pomp of the inauguration of Governor Mark Sanford, our priorities have begun to come into focus.
There are several major issues facing legislators this year that will impact the lives, jobs, and pocketbooks of all South Carolinians. We still need to work out the details, but here are some comments on these important issues.
Department of Transportation reform: Last fall, in a story widely broadcast and published throughout our state, the Legislative Audit Council reported that the DOT may have wasted taxpayer dollars and taken certain actions without the approval of the transportation commission or the General Assembly. Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell appointed a special ad hoc committee to investigate ways to restructure and reform this agency to ensure sufficient oversight of how the agency spends the hundreds of millions of dollars it is trusted with each year. I anxiously await the committee’s recommendations.
Tied to the efforts to restructure the DOT is the issue of increasing funding for transportation needs. With our state’s exploding population comes the demand for new and wider highways. On top of that, many of our state’s existing roads and bridges are in desperate need of repair. The House Republican Caucus recognizes these needs, but we believe that any efforts to increase funding must coincide with more oversight of and accountability within this large agency that affects the lives of every South Carolinian.
Education: I am pleased and honored to begin my first full session as chairman of the House Education and Public Works Committee. My committee members and I look forward to considering several very important bills this year.
Under one of these bills, the State Board of Education is authorized to establish the South Carolina Virtual School Program to provide students access to distance, on-line, or virtual learning courses. This will help students recover credit, meet graduation requirements, resolve scheduling conflicts, deliver curriculum content when there is a shortage of certified personnel, provide a more flexible and individualized instructional pace, and offer low-incidence courses.
Last year, the general assembly established a pilot kindergarten program for at-risk four-year old children in certain poor districts of our state. This year, legislation has been filed that would extend this critical program to all at-risk children statewide.
This year the general assembly will also consider legislation that establishes an open enrollment choice program within the state’s public school system. This bill would allow parents to enroll their children in a public school in any school district, based on capacity, at no additional cost to the family.
The education committee will also consider legislation requiring the state to provide school bus transportation for any student who lives within a mile and a half of the school they attend when hazardous road conditions make walking that distance a risk to the student’s safety.
Government restructuring: This is another important path that the general assembly has traveled down the past two years. This year, several bills have been introduced that will move most constitutional officers under the control of the governor’s office. These officers would no longer be elected. We will consider the merits of each bill individually.
Economic development: Finding jobs for the many South Carolinians who are willing to work remains a top priority of the House Republican Caucus. We will always support efforts to make our state more attractive to businesses that bring good-paying jobs to our citizens. Two bills filed by the Speaker and cosponsored by many Republican members hope to do just that.
The first bill expands the LIFE and Palmetto Fellows scholarship programs for math, science, and engineering majors. We believe this additional stipend will not only help the many families who are struggling to pay college tuition, but it will also help us keep more of our best and brightest students in South Carolina. We must do this to ensure that we have a highly educated workforce to encourage businesses to move to, or expand in, South Carolina. The second bill offers incentives to companies doing research on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles – the next generation of the automobile. This research will help reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, an effort that has become ever more important to our national security.
Workers Compensation reform: The House initiated comprehensive Workers Compensation Reform last year. This year we will continue our fight to make that system work more efficiently. We must walk a fine line on this issue. We must strive to rein in the out-of-control costs that are strangling our small businesses, but we must also ensure that injured workers receive the compensation they deserve.
None of these issues can be easily resolved. We will spend many hours working out the details as we hear from our various constituencies, but we are ready to roll up our sleeves and get down to business.
As always, thank you for the privilege and honor of serving you in Columbia. I encourage you to contact me regarding any issue that might concern you. I can be reached in Landrum at 864-457-3328 or Columbia at 803-734-3053.