By STEPHANIE TRACY
Anderson Independent-Mail
January 8, 2005

Though the financial clouds may have parted slightly over the Statehouse in Columbia, lawmakers remain hesitant to declare an end to tight budgetary times and are gearing up for another packed General Assembly session.

"We’re finally coming out of the recession that we’ve been in over the last three budget years," said Senate Rules Committee Chairman Larry Martin, R-Pickens. "We’ve got a lot of pent-up demands for funding, but there’s still not enough money to go around."

The state budget, education funding, medical malpractice lawsuits, taxes, economic development and government restructuring are just some of the major issues that await state lawmakers when the General Assembly convenes Tuesday.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said he was optimistic about this year’s budget outlook, but said a lot of work remained to be done, including restoring education funding, and improving the tort system.

Gov. Mark Sanford’s $5.3 billion executive budget for 2005-06 allocated an additional $100 million in recurring money to K-12 education, and an extra $54 million for public safety.

The governor’s budget also called for a 1 percent cut for the state’s three major research universities "to encourage collaboration." Incentives for teacher National Board Certification programs also were severely curtailed.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said he would be surprised if the cuts to higher education made it through the House of Representatives.

Lawmakers also expect to start restoring some of the reserve fund money used to make up for budget deficits over the last few years. Fully funding the base student cost for K-12 education also was on the priority list.

The issue of raising the gas tax for the first time since 1987 to pay for secondary road maintenance also was expected to resurface, along with a number of bills that passed the House but died in the Senate due to a political stalemate.

Sen. Martin and his supporters have vowed to end the gridlock the Senate has found itself in during the last two years.

"The Senate rules will be handled the first day," Sen. Martin said. "This will be the most fundamental change in the way the Senate’s done business in modern history."

The rules committee hopes to make it harder to attach unrelated amendments to a bill, and relax the rules governing extended debate to weaken the power of a single individual to hold up the process.

"We can no longer afford the luxury of one or two people holding us up," Sen. Martin said. "It’s almost made the Senate very dysfunctional at times. And, of course, we’re all tarred with the same brush of failure when that happens."

With health care costs continuing to skyrocket, lawmakers also are eager to hammer out some kind of reform of medical malpractice lawsuits.

"We have got to structure a bill so that our citizens aren’t hurt by it," said Sen. Billy O’Dell, R-Anderson. "I’m hoping we’ll be able to get something done."

Assistant majority leader Rep. Bill Sandifer, R-Walhalla, said reforming the system was crucial to economic development.
"The statistic I last saw showed us the ninth worst in the country in terms of civil actions," Rep. Sandifer said. "That’s not the reputation we want to have because it hurts us when we try to recruit new business."

A bill introduced by House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, seeks to spur economic development by providing tax incentives to small businesses that expand or relocate in the state.

"We need to do what we can to encourage businesses to hire more people and grow and expand," said Rep. B.R. Skelton, R-Pickens.

Lawmakers are expected to revisit worker’s compensation reforms, and the governor’s proposal to reduce the income tax rate to make the state more competitive for jobs.

Stephanie Tracy can be reached at (800) 859-6397, Ext. 342 or by e-mail at tracysk@IndependentMail.com.

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