Allow the governor to lower the flags.
House Speaker Bobby Harrell has prefiled a bill that needs quick attention next year. It will give the governor the explicit authority to lower the flags on the state Capitol to half-staff when the nation is mourning a notable national figure. South Carolina embarrassed itself last month when it did not lower its flags after the death of Rosa Parks, the quiet civil rights activist who changed this nation for the better.
Gov. Mark Sanford said state law didn't give him the power to lower the flags under such circumstances. But the law didn't prohibit such an action. Sanford declined to act boldly, and South Carolina failed to join the rest of the nation in showing proper respect for Rosa Parks.
Harrell's bill would provide that the governor "may order flags flown at half-staff when an act of Congress or presidential order is issued ordering flags on federal buildings be flown at half-staff." State law already covers many appropriate circumstances when the flags should be lowered, such as last week with the death of former Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Harrell's bill is needed to close what some see as a gap in state law.