SOUTH CAROLINA

COLUMBIA

Debate limited on Medicaid restructuring

Frustrated by about 800 amendments to a Medicaid agency restructuring bill, House Republicans limited debate from supporters of a cigarette tax increase Thursday.

Republican Gov. Mark Sanford wants a cigarette tax increase if it is tied to a decrease in the income tax and Medicaid restructuring. Sanford's office did not immediately comment on the House debate Thursday.

The House effectively killed a plan on a 71-37 vote to raise the cigarette tax by 53 cents a pack from the current 7 cents.

Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia, said increasing the tax from one of the lowest in the nation to the national average would raise about $160 million for Medicaid programs. Lourie's plan did not offer an income tax break.

Shortly after Lourie's amendment failed, House Republican Majority Leader Rick Quinn asked how many amendments were left and found there were more than 500. He asked for and won support to limit debate on the remaining amendments and bar new ones from being introduced.

The flurry of amendments were part of a delaying tactic by House Democrats to slow down debate on the bill and its plan to refinance tobacco lawsuit settlement bonds.

COLUMBIA

Resolution omits teachers from unpaid leave

School districts will have more flexibility in setting their own spending priorities under a resolution lawmakers agreed to this week, but the state's 48,000 teachers still will be protected from having to take unpaid leave as a cost-cutting measure.

Unlike other state employees, teachers are exempted by law from being compelled to take time off as a cost-saving step. The emergency spending resolution initially called for a temporary suspension of that exemption to help schools struggling with millions of dollars in state budget cuts.

Lawmakers agreed to scuttle language that would have given school leaders authority to furlough teachers and administrators as an emergency measure.

The resolution is awaiting Gov. Mark Sanford's signature.

COLUMBIA

Students to be advised convicts may not teach

The Senate Education Committee has approved a bill that would require colleges and universities with education programs to instruct students that a criminal background could keep them from being certified.

Sen. John Matthews, D-Bowman, said the bill ensures "people don't waste four years before they find out that they can't get a certificate or license to teach."

Students must complete 35 credit hours before they are admitted into the school of education, said Janice Poda, senior director for teacher quality for the state Education Department. The bill would require that the school inform the students of the background check before they reach that point.

Violent crimes, sex offenses and drug abuse would prevent a student from becoming certified, she said.

LEXINGTON

County Council to consider King Day holiday

Lexington County Council next week will discuss whether to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a county holiday.

Lexington is one of four S.C. counties that do not close county offices in observance of King Day.

Whether to make King Day a holiday in Greenville County has been a major issue for months, with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a Greenville native, leading protests at County Council meetings to push for the holiday. Several hundred people have attended recent meetings there.

Greenville County officials question the cost of the holiday. They have appointed a committee to make a recommendation on the issue.

Union County does not observe the holiday, and York County keeps offices open but allows employees to take off either King Day or their birthdays.

NORTH CAROLINA

RALEIGH

Senate panel studies prison-sentence lengths

A Senate committee began examining the state's prison sentencing guidelines Thursday, questioning whether longer terms are the result of the way the rules are administered.

Several senators indicated that few inmates, even if they are well-behaved and complete rehabilitation programs, appear to serve only the minimum amount of a sentence.

Lawmakers are considering a variety of changes to the state's structured sentencing law because of worries about a rising prison population and how to pay for it.

The state's structured sentencing rules, approved by the General Assembly in 1994, were designed to keep more dangerous criminals in prison longer and release nonviolent offenders more quickly.

The law sets out a sentencing grid for judges, with ranges of sentences that must be given for crimes. But longer prison terms have come with a cost: a rising prison population.

RALEIGH

Committee backs bill to ban 'rebirth' therapy

N.C. lawmakers are considering banning a technique known as rebirthing, three years after a Durham girl died while in the care of two Colorado therapists who used it.

A Senate committee unanimously endorsed a bill that would make use of the technique a misdemeanor and a second offense a lower-level felony.

The prohibition would apply to any therapeutic technique that involves re-enacting birth while using restraints to create the threat of injury or death.

The legislation will be reviewed by another Senate committee before being considered by the full chamber.

Though condemned by many psychologists, the technique is still taught by some therapists to treat attachment disorder, which affects a child's ability to relate to a parent.