Legislative Update-May16,2008

The legislative year is coming to an end and will likely leave to a handful of committee conferees the key decisions on immigration reform and the disposition of and purpose for a cigarette tax. It is my hope that this small group of conferees will accurately reflect your opinions on these topics. It is a moment when it is best to keep in mind what Benjamin Franklin once said, "Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment." Optimism dictates that we hope for the best on these matters.

The House approved and sent to the Senate or enrolled for ratification the following bills of interest:

The House concurred in Senate amendments to H.4408, REVISION OF FRESHMAN REQUIREMENTS TO RECEIVE SCHOLARSHIP ENHANCEMENTS FOR MAJORING IN SCIENCE OR MATH, and enrolled the bill for ratification. This legislation relates to the Palmetto Fellows Scholarship stipend for students majoring in math or science and the LIFE Scholarship stipend for students majoring in math or science. This bill revises the course requirements necessary to receive these stipends during a student's freshman year.

The House concurred in Senate amendments to , CATCH LIMITS FOR FISHING IN CERTAIN WATERS, and enrolled the bill for ratification. This legislation establishes catch limits for fishing in certain waters. This bill repeals the current daily limits on game fish; striped bass or rockfish in certain waters and establishes new catch limits and length limits pertaining to striped bass in certain waters.

The House concurred in Senate amendments to , CHARTER SCHOOLS, and enrolled the bill for ratification. This legislation pertains to Charter schools, relating to the approval, renewal, revocation, and termination of charters for charter schools, this bill increases the charter period from five to ten years.

Some of the bills that were introduced in the House this week included:

MEDICAL, MILITARY, PUBLIC AND MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS:

, CENTRAL FILL PHARMACIES, this bill allows for the establishment of central fill pharmacies in the state. A central fill pharmacy, upon the request of another pharmacy permitted by this state, fills a prescription drug order and returns the filled prescription to the dispensing pharmacy for delivery to the patient or patient’s agent. This bill also outlines certain operating procedures and requirements for central fill pharmacies.

WAYS AND MEANS:

, EDUCATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS SALES AND USE TAX ACT, this bill enacts the "Education Capital Improvements Sales and Use Tax Act" to allow a one percent local sales and use tax to be imposed in a county for not more than fifteen years upon referendum approval with the revenues of the tax used by the county’ s school district board of trustees to pay for specific public school capital improvements in the county. The legislation provides a method whereby revenue of the tax may be shared for the purposes of specific capital improvements on the campuses of a technical college or other state institutions of higher learning located in the county.

H.3567, CIGARETTE TAX bill to amend section 12-21-620; Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, relating to taxation on cigarettes, so as to increase the amount of tax on each cigarette from three and one-half mills to two cents; to add section 44-6-157, so as to provide that the revenue generated from the taxation on cigarettes must be used to expand Medicaid coverage to children eighteen years of age and younger whose family income does not exceed two hundred percent of the Federal Poverty Level; and to create the Health Care Trust Fund to provide Medicaid benefits to individuals whose family income does not exceed one hundred percent of the Federal Poverty Level and who are uninsured and to provide that revenue in excess of the Children’s Medicaid coverage from the cigarette tax must be credited to the Health Care Trust Fund; and to amend section 12-36-910, as amended, relating to sales taxes generally, so as to provide that as of July 1, 2009, the three percent sales tax is eliminated on unprepared food which lawfully may be purchased with United States Department of Agriculture Food Coupons, to provide for certain general fund transfers to the Education Improvement Act Fund for each fiscal year to offset EIA revenues lost as a result of the loss of sales tax on unprepared food, and to reduce the sales tax on unprepared food to two percent as of July 1, 2007, and one percent as of July 1, 2008.
If you have a comment or opinion concerning the matters discussed in this report, or if I may be of assistance to you at any time, please feel free to call your legislative office in Columbia (803-734-2957); my home office (843-237-8603); or the Georgetown County Legislative Delegation Office, located in the Courthouse (843-545-3029); or write P.O. Box 1270, Georgetown, SC 29442. If you would like any additional information on these bills, or any other legislation under consideration by the General Assembly, feel free to visit our website at www.scstatehouse.net. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you in the House of Representatives.