South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus

The 10th week of the legislative session:

STATE BUDGET: The House gave final approval Thursday to a $7.2 billion budget that includes a slight raise for state workers and more money for public schools. The Senate will debate the budget in April.

CHILD CARE VOUCHERS: Gov. Mark Sanford’s staff is working to prevent the loss of child care vouchers provided by the Department of Social Services for moms in shelters and foster parents. Rep. Tracy Edge, who handles the budget for DSS, said he didn’t find out until Wednesday that the voucher program would be cut by nearly 900 slots. The Republican said he only knew the agency wanted $6 million less than it had originally sought in new state spending. The state budget passed later that day before any changes could be made.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: Legislators working out the differences in the immigration reform proposals got little done during their second meeting Tuesday. The six-member conference committee voted on a few minor issues but said they couldn’t spend too much time on the proposals because House members were needed for budget debate. The committee won’t meet this week because the House takes a one-week break before Easter. Read the rest of this entry »

Week of March 11 - 13, 2008

Quote of the Week: All I want is to leave enough water in the river for it to remain a river.
  Senator Chip Campsen (R-Charleston) commenting on minimum flow standards discussed in the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

Candidate Drug Testing Bill to be Screened on Senate Floor The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 1070, a.k.a the Candidate Drug Testing Bill, on Tuesday, March 11. The debate on the bill, while serious, certainly had its moments of levity, including an amendment by a senior Democrat senator to include IQ test results with candidate filing papers. The amendment was immediately voted down.

The bill is now on the Senate calendar awaiting debate. Read the rest of this entry »

Columbia, SC - The Joint Legislative Conference Committee working on the Illegal Immigration Reform Bill (S.392), met for the second time today to continue working toward a comprehensive and effective plan to combat illegal immigration.
 
The committee’s lead action today was to adopt portions of both the House and Senate versions of the bill that will establish a Memorandum of Understanding with federal officials to create effective relationships with state and local law enforcement officials under the 287-G program. The funding for the program would come from Federal, State or other sources.
 
“Today’s action empowers all levels of our law enforcement officials to effectively deal with the illegal alien issue. This bold plan will help all of our communities to better handle criminal issues involving illegal aliens,” says Conference Committee Chairman, Senator Jim Ritchie (R-13). “There are several additional issues to be settled and I am hopeful that the positive exchange of today’s meeting continues.”
 
The committee moved forward on other issues as well. The first action of the committee was to adopt a change to the overall withholding, from six-percent to seven-percent, businesses are charged when they engage in the hiring of people who are unlawfully in the United States. 
 
The committee also discussed the Senate’s proposed “hotline”, to be maintained by the Commission on Minority Affairs, which would gather information on possible illegal immigration violations and abuse.  House members requested additional time to review the specifics of the “hotline” before moving to adopt final language.
 
 The next meeting of the committee will be scheduled based on the availability of House members who are engaged in budget debates this week and are on furlough the following week.
 
In addition to Senator Ritchie the conference committee consists of Senators Chip Campsen (R-Charleston), and Vincent Sheheen (D-Kershaw), as well as Representatives Jim Harrison (R-Richland), Greg Delleney (R-Chester), and Thad Viers (R-Horry).
 
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Gov. Mark Sanford expressed his concern this week about a serious “pitfall” in the immigration bill now in a House-Senate conference committee. His position is indicative of a welcome and growing recognition that the legislation isn’t as strong as it easily could and should be.

The flaw in the House bill was the lack of a private employer verification system. The House version only required those businesses with government contracts to verify a worker’s legal status. The Senate version compounded the flaw with a private employer verification requirement that is virtually worthless.

That point has been convincingly made by two Lowcountry senators, Chip Campsen and Glenn McConnell, who sounded the “sham” alarm. The problem is a verification option known as the I-9 which is part of the discredited federal system.

Sens. Campsen and McConnell contend that their colleagues caved in to pressure from lobbyists for business interests who want to retain the relatively worthless federal I-9.

READ MORE->

The Post & Courier
Editorial
March 8, 2008