COLUMBIA - A bill is moving quickly through the Senate that will make it easier for residents of communities such as Socastee, Murrells Inlet and Little River to form new towns.

In the past 30 years, incorporation movements have sprung up, then fizzled out, in those three communities. Pawleys Island, the area's youngest town, incorporated the island only, not the mainland, in 1985.

An incorporation referendum for Litchfield Beach was held in 1989, but it failed.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, is meant to help James Island, a community near Charleston that has been trying to form as a municipality since 1990. Though residents voted twice to do so, the city of Charleston successfully challenged both elections, which were overturned by the state Supreme Court.

McConnell said if a community wants to form a town, it should have that right. Charleston wants to annex James Island instead of having a competing town at its doorstep.

A key change in McConnell's bill loosens the prohibition on forming a new town within five miles of another town unless the existing town refuses to annex the proposed area.

When Litchfield held its referendum, Pawleys Island had refused to annex the area, allowing the election to go forward.

During committee discussion of the bills last week, McConnell said some communities have been frustrated because a town within five miles could not annex them if it wanted to because it could not make the required land connections between the areas.

That means some areas that are seeking town services cannot get them even if a nearby town is willing to annex them, McConnell said.

A similar case occurred during Little River's incorporation explorations of the 1980s. The community would have to be refused annexation by North Myrtle Beach. The city indicated that it would not grant the refusal but that it could not annex Little River because it could not acquire enough property to connect the two areas.

Even if the law passes, it's uncertain if there would be as much interest locally in forming new towns as there was 10 to 20 years ago.

Bob Grabowski, an Horry County Council member from Socastee, said the issues that drove the incorporation effort 10 years ago no longer exist.

Ten years ago, residents complained about the lack of zoning and land-use planning, Grabowski said. Since that time, the county adopted zoning and land-use plans for the area.

Since then, Socastee also has received a police substation, a library, a recycling center and other amenities residents once said they wanted a town to provide them, he said.

He doesn't think people would be interested because of the additional taxes it would cost them to run a town, Grabowski said.

Pawleys Island was able to accomplish its goals by using accommodations taxes and the state-shared revenue that automatically goes to towns. The town does not have a property tax.

The extra taxes and government layer needed to run a town caused the defeat of the Litchfield incorporation and prevented proponents in Murrells Inlet from getting enough support to proceed.

McConnell's bill also calls for a statewide commission that would verify whether a proposed town was able to provide the services it offered.

McConnell originally proposed to delete the five-mile clause, but that is on hold now, said Howard Duvall, director of the S.C. Municipal Association.

The association opposed eliminating that requirement but supports the revised bill, he said.

Prescription transfers

Rep. Alan Clemmons' prescription-transfer bill passed the House last week, and a companion bill was close to passing in the Senate.

Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, got the bill passed last year, but Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed it because it had a provision attached regarding training for hair-braiders.

The bill allows visitors, or anyone else, to transfer one refill of a prescription. Tourists often are caught without their medicine, or run out, and find they have to go to a doctor or the emergency room to get a new prescription.

Clemmons said he is working to persuade the Senate to pass his bill this week.

Hair braiding

A Senate committee will take up a bill Wednesday that provides for certification of hair-braiders with six hours of training. Braiding is popular with beach tourists, but the state shut the practice down two years ago after the Cosmetology Board ruled only licensed cosmetologists can braid hair. The prescription-drug bill that Sanford vetoed contained an attempt to fix that by allowing braiders to work with a 60-hour training certification.