Posted on Sun, Jan. 28, 2007

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S.C. LEGISLATURE

House jabs at casino boats

State lawmakers to look at changes to happy hour rules

By Zane Wilson

The Sun News

COLUMBIA - Georgetown County's House members are taking another stab at banning casino boats, saying they want to head off the threat of any coming to the county.

Rep. Carl Anderson, D-Georgetown, is the lead sponsor on a bill that would overturn a 2005 law giving counties the right to ban or tax casino boats.

Also sponsoring are Rep. Vida Miller, D-Pawleys Island, and Rep. Cathy Harvin, D-Summerton. Miller sponsored previous attempts to ban the boats after some prospective operators said they were interested in operating out of Murrells Inlet or Georgetown.

Anderson, an African Methodist Episcopal minister, said that even though the only boats operating in the state are in Horry County, gambling is not an activity the state should allow. He said lawmakers want to prevent the possibility of the boats spreading beyond Horry County.

The bill was filed at the close of the week's legislative day Thursday. Anderson said he and the others will try to build support for it this week.

The first casino boat in South Carolina came to Murrells Inlet in 1998 after a federal court ruled the vessels can have gambling offshore under federal law because the state did not exercise its power to ban them. That boat left after a few weeks when the inlet proved too shallow for the vessel to maneuver properly, and moved to Little River.

Legislators fought over a casino boat ban for six years before agreeing on a 2005 law that leaves it up to counties to decide. Horry County agreed to let the boats operate, but is in a dispute over how to collect fees or taxes from them.

Happy days

The bill that seeks to expand the four-hour happy hour law to include one happy day a week for bars is the result of incidents involving the Garden City Beach Wild Wing Cafe, said Rep. Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg, who sponsored the bill.

Managers at the restaurant would not comment and the owners could not be reached for comment.

Smith said the bill has been misunderstood. He said it was not the intent to allow bars to sell discount drinks all day once a week except Sundays.

"We're actually trying to get them to stop having happy days," Smith said. The bill was pulled from its subcommittee last week and sent back for more work. It is on the agenda again Wednesday.

Current law limits happy hours, or discount drink sales, to 4 to 8 p.m. Some locations, however, advertise specials later than that, or offer such things as "Monday specials."

Smith said the situation has to do with the change to free-pour, which has made more brands available.

The happy hour law "made great sense back when we had minibottles," Smith said. But the availability of many more brands at a range of prices makes it attractive for bars to offer drink specials at times that are not currently allowed.

The bill's intent is to find a way to make such drink specials legal. One solution may be to delete the happy hour law and let competition take its course, he said.

The subcommittee meets in Room 516 of the Blatt House Office Building 90 minutes after the House adjourns Wednesday.

Payday lending

At the end of the day Thursday, Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, had enough co-sponsors on his payday lending clampdown bill to make it a sure thing, at least in the House.

He had 83 co-sponsors, out of 124 members.

"That makes it veto-proof," should it pass. Gov. Mark Sanford has said he thinks the companies are providing a service people want to pay for.

Clemmons and others say it is time to trim the industry because it is preying on low-income people. The bill would limit how much they can lend and the rates they can charge.

DOT reform

House and Senate committees will continue to work on legislation to reform operations at the state Department of Transportation. Horry and Georgetown county members are watching with interest for any possible effects on local planned or under way road projects, such as Interstate 73.

Their major concern is how the commission is elected and whether the two counties will be fairly represented if any changes are made from the existing population-based congressional district method to one based on county planning districts or highway engineering districts.

Heritage land access

A House subcommittee will again look at Clemmons' bill that requires all Heritage Trust preserves and other Department of Natural Resources nature preserves to be open for horse riding, hiking and similar activities.

That panel meets at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in room 516 of the Blatt Building.

Wetland regulation

Rep. Billy Witherspoon's committee is holding a workshop on isolated freshwater wetland and whether it should be regulated. Witherspoon, R-Conway, chairs the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

He has said he will file his own version of a wetland protection bill that could exempt bogs of five acres or less from controls. A similar bill, which stalled last year, would regulate smaller areas and has been reintroduced.

The workshop is at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in room 410 of the Blatt Building.