I have joined with South Carolina House Ways and Means Chairman, Bobby Harrell and others to support a public school transferability plan that will give parents the option to move their children out of schools we know are not educating them. This legislative initiative passed the State House of Representatives in 2000, but was tied up in the South Carolina State Senate.
In 1998, an accountability program was established in our State that is putting public schools on track toward permanent improvement. And in 2001, parents will begin to receive detailed report cards illustrating their children’s school’s performance.
Under this accountability law, good schools will be rewarded and challenged to get even better and schools that fail to meet expectations will be given assistance for quick improvement.
These failing schools deserve our immediate attention, but I believe the children that attend these schools need a life boat while their schools are being improved.
All children in South Carolina deserve a high quality education and our proposal will free parents to make sure it can happen.
Along with many lawmakers in the General Assembly, I have made car tax relief a top priority. I have supported many plans that would dramatically cut this tax. In the 1999 and 2000 legislative sessions, we were able to send back over $40 million in car tax relief.
And this past November, South Carolina voters overwhelmingly supported cutting the nation’s second highest car taxes. Two statewide referenda were approved. The first will lower the statewide vehicle assessment ratio from 10.5% to 6% over the next six years. The second referendum will allow each county the opportunity to raise their sales tax to further cut or eliminate car taxes.
The first car tax referendum alone, lowering the state vehicle assessment ratio, will cut car taxes by over 40% over six years across South Carolina. However, I encourage everyone to monitor this process closely in their local communities, because some folks may take this opportunity to try and raise other taxes or fees.
"Choose
Life" license plates send a powerful message about the importance
of life, while providing critical assistance to young women who are facing
the fear and trauma of an unplanned pregnancy.
Monies
raised from the sale of the "Choose Life" tags will be distributed
to crisis pregnancy centers in South Carolina providing counseling, shelter,
food, medical assistance and adoption services to young women throughout
our state who face the fear and trauma of an unplanned pregnancy.
Working with the primary sponsors of the bill, Representative Gloria Haskins (R-Greenville) and Senator Mike Fair (R-Greenville), we were able to assemble wide bipartisan support in the General Assembly. Thanks to everyone’s hard work, the bill passed on the last day of this past year’s legislative session. The Governor signed it into law in September of 2001.
Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood of South Carolina filed a federal suit against the state less than one week later, in an attempt to block the tags from being issued. Once this frivolous suit is taken up in court, I will oppose it vigorously. Until then, I encourage you to continue to support these tags by contacting your local media and writing letters to the editor.
I recently unveiled "Operation Child-Safe", a new legislative initiative to replace South Carolina's aging school bus fleet now and begin implementing a long-term school bus replacement cycle.
My plan would use 100% of the first six months of lottery revenues, estimated at $67 million, to purchase 1,409 new school buses. Since the lottery is beginning in the middle of the fiscal year, this one-time money is yet to be budgeted.
A
trip to get your license renewed should not leave the customer feeling
like an enemy in a foreign land in the midst of a hostile stand off.
Some DMV locations have reported wait times in excess of three
hours.
And according to the DMV’s own web site, the average downtime per
equipment failure is 11.57 hours with over 22 equipment failures per office
per month.
In other words -- something is broken at the DMV every hour
of every day.
That’s why I propose a Rapid Renewal DMV Service. By adding common sense on-line services, a 1-800 license renewal number, and utilizing mail-in registration to full advantage, we can make trips to the DMV a choice instead of an obligation. We can start renewing licenses on-line, instead of in line.
States
like Florida and Texas have implemented similar reforms this year and
seen up to 40% of their business move out of local DMV offices.
The key to successful reforms in other states is moving away from
traditional DMV turnstile, one-size fits all approach.
I would like to do away with lines altogether by implementing a “take a number” system in offices statewide, altering DMV hours to allow for early morning, evening, and weekend hours, and by establishing a DMV Better Business Fund to waive fees for any South Carolinian waiting longer than 30 minutes to get their license renewed. It just makes common sense, no more standing in line, if you wait - you sit.
This proposal will require funding, but under no circumstances would new taxes or fees be considered.