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Lawmakers long past due to stop 'local' legislation

Decades after Home Rule, legislators still ignoring law

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Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone's efforts to reduce domestic violence by taking on first-offender prosecutions are to be applauded.

But special legislation, prohibited by the state constitution and the Home Rule Act of 1975, is not the way to do it. Too often, state legislators, with a wink and a nod and very crafty wording, pass laws that apply only to one specific locality.

The state's Home Rule Act prohibits state lawmakers from passing bills related to a single political subdivision, but lawmakers continue to draft such bills, and, as a "courtesy," legislators from other areas cooperate in passing "local" legislation.

In the case of the domestic violence prosecution, a bill changing oversight of councils dealing with domestic violence programs from the Department of Social Services to the circuit solicitors, was amended. The provision authorizes a circuit solicitor in a circuit with five or more counties to establish a program to prosecute first-offense misdemeanor charges of domestic violence. The 14th Judicial Circuit is the only circuit in the state with five or more counties. All other circuits have four or fewer counties.

Stone hopes to curb escalating domestic violence by prosecuting first-time offenders. He cites three men charged with murder this year in domestic-related disputes in Jasper and Beaufort counties.

The 14th Circuit reported 2,963 domestic violence victims in 2004, according to State Law Enforcement Division data. But three other circuits had more victims: The 3rd Circuit with 3,765, the 15th Circuit with 3,684 and the 13th Circuit with 3,082.

That begs the question: If solicitor prosecution of first offense domestic violence cases is a good idea in the 14th Circuit, why wouldn't it be a good idea in other judicial circuits?

While such local legislation has had its benefits -- Hilton Head Island's real estate transfer fee was protected with a specially worded provision that singled out the town -- it also can be a slippery slope.

One such bill almost legalized dumping muck from Sea Pines dredging projects into Calibogue Sound. The bill would have removed from state oversight any dredging projects in marinas and waterways in planned communities whose restrictive covenants were recorded before 1966. Sea Pines fit that definition, and supporters said that was the target of the legislation. Fortunately, that bill was beaten back in 2003.

Special legislation is a bad habit the legislature doesn't seem to be able to break, but more than 30 years after Home Rule was established, it's time.