“Bobby has more hair.”

— Rep. Jim McGee, R-Florence, when asked the difference between current House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, and former Speaker David Wilkins. Harrell has a full head of a hair, while Wilkins is famously follicly challenged.

In the House: Convenes at 10 a.m.

8:50 a.m., 403 Blatt Building, Labor, Commerce and Industry subcommittee hears presentation by Commissioner David Huffstetler, chairman of the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission.

1½ hours after House adjourns, 521 Blatt Building, Ways and Means subcommittee hears budget requests for ETV and the Education Oversight Committee.

In the Senate: Convenes at 12:30 p.m.

Senate unveils portrait of its long-serving chaplain, George E. Meetze, at 3 p.m.

For a complete list of legislative meetings, go to http://www.scstatehouse.net/ and click on the “meetings” link.

Elsewhere:

9 a.m., 308 Gressette Building, Certificate of Need Process Joint Ad-Hoc Committee; officials with hospitals and other groups will attend.

10 a.m., 407 Gressette Building, Agency Head Salary Commission Subcommittee discusses compensation.

THE DAILY BUZZ

Both houses of the General Assembly have said they are committed to property tax reform this year, but members are having a little fun with the looming possibility of hammering out compromises on very different ways to reduce those taxes.

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell was in a diplomatic mood as the Senate Judiciary Committee worked out details on its own plan Tuesday.

“I don’t know what they’re going to send over here from the House,” McConnell said, before quipping, “but I’m sure we’re — well I don’t want to say anything bad about the House in the first week.”

SCHMOOZING

Where and from whom state lawmakers will be able to get free food and drinks today:

• Breakfast: 8 a.m., 221 Blatt Building, hosted by the American Cancer Society

• Lunch: Noon, 221 Blatt Building, hosted by the S.C. Association of Community Development Corporations

• Evening receptions: 6 p.m., Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, hosted by the S.C. Chamber of Commerce; 7 p.m., EdVenture, hosted by the City of Columbia

MORE ON THE WEB

What you can find online

• Go to http://www.thestate.com/ for our inside look at the 2006 General Assembly. Online items include how to track bills, a list of important dates, story lines to watch and profiles of key lawmakers.

• YGA Today, a midday look inside the State House, will be posted on http://www.thestate.com/ in the early afternoon of each legislative day.

A QUICK SPIN AROUND THE STATE HOUSE

COLUMBIA TEA PARTY

It was a protest in orange pekoe, and a reminder of how citizens can react to taxes they feel are unfair in an election year.

About 150 people gathered on the State House steps Tuesday, donning big red stickers urging property tax reform and tea bags — a reference to Boston’s more famous tea party — and ready to send a message to legislators back for their first day of work in a new session.

Supporters came from across the state, including Frank Malonis of Columbia, who answered a public call for support.

“I saw an ad in the newspaper,” he said. “I just want to stop this hemorrhaging of tax collections.”

EASY RIDERS

Taxpayers were not the only group pushing an agenda. There were also guys with nicknames like “Jackhammer,” wearing boots, bandannas and leather.

Barnwell resident Clay Morris has been riding his motorcycle to Columbia on the opening day of the Legislature for 15 years. A member of ABATE, short for A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments, Morris and his fellow riders were making their annual push for motorcycle-friendly legislation.

“I take off work every year,” said Morris.

The group is pushing a handful of bills, including reducing the property tax rate on motorcycles.

SETTING THE TABLE

School funding and job creation should be the important issues this session, according to top lawmakers, but property tax reform will be the biggest dog on the block.

“The biggest issue people are talking about is property taxes. ... Republicans, Democrats, rural, urban, the first thing they said was property taxes,” House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said during his weekly televised press conference.

Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, used a culinary metaphor.

“The issues are co-mingled in a bowl with property tax as the crust,” Peeler said. “Any issue we get to this year, you’ll have to spoon through the property tax issue.”

CUT-OFF BILL ADVANCES

Bills designed to protect the elderly and disabled from having their power cut off during periods of extreme heat and cold are on their way to the House floor.

The House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee voted 14-1 to approve proposals preventing utilities from disconnecting customers’ electric and natural gas service. Customers eligible to register for the program would be 65 or older, disabled or seriously ill with limited income. Utilities would have the option of adopting the guidelines or creating their own.