South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus

The Aiken County town of Bath is getting help with its water woes.

The South Carolina Budget and Control Board Grant Fund Program is sending $50,000 to Bath Water District to connect its water lines to the Valley Public Service Authority.

The grant also will pay for the water tower’s new roof, which was destroyed by a tornado in March. Read the rest of this entry »

S.C. District 25 Sen. Shane Massey has vowed to ask for a roll call vote in the Senate on bills that require “significant” expenditures.

He joins Gov. Mark Sanford, State Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington, and others in support of on-the-record voting in the General Assembly. The issue of government transparency has been debated for some time in South Carolina, but the issue came to the forefront again when Haley recently announced she is drafting legislation and plans to prefile a bill similar to her failed 2008 Accountability Spending Act.

Haley’s 2008 Accountability Spending Act would have required roll call votes on any bill that expends taxpayer dollars. Her new legislation would require the special vote on every bill’s second reading and again on third reading if the bill is amended. Read the rest of this entry »

In a few weeks, South Carolina’s new, bitterly fought immigration law could be largely stripped of its usefulness.

The South Carolina Illegal Immigration Reform Act, signed into law by the governor this summer, relies on a federal database called E-Verify to check Social Security numbers of employees to make sure they belong to legal residents or citizens.

Congress has until November to reauthorize E-Verify, but it is now consumed with the Wall Street crisis. There’s also the coming elections, which means lawmakers are eager to recess so they can make the most of the last stretch of campaigning. Read the rest of this entry »

Legislator to convene study committee to analyze effects on S.C.

The federal moratorium on new offshore drilling sits just days short of expiring as state legislators discussed plans Thursday to position South Carolina to tap its resources.

Sen. Paul Campbell, R-Goose Creek, said he is preparing to call a meeting of a state study committee to come up with answers to some basic questions: How extensive are oil and natural gas reserves along the state’s 187 miles of coastline, and is it worth it to drill?

“With the cost of energy where it is today, we need to make a determination from a South Carolina perspective about what’s available to us and what the inherent dangers are,” said Campbell, who is co-chairing the 20-member study committee alongside Rep. Michael Thompson, R-Anderson.

Campbell is a retired Alcoa executive and a chemical engineer.

The committee, which was established by legislation passed in 2007, is expected to meet next month and has a goal of preparing a report for the Legislature by the end of November.

First, the members must be briefed on what congressional directive is in place after the ban expires Tuesday and ask experts how much oil and gas exists off the coast, Campbell said. Next, they need to know what implications drilling could have on the state’s environment and on the its tourism industry, he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, is calling for another simultaneous approach. He is petitioning the U.S. Department of the Interior to include South Carolina in its upcoming five-year offshore drilling plan. He wants others to join him.

The agency, which controls leases in federal-controlled waters, is in the preliminary stages of preparing its next plan, which would run from 2010 to 2015.

“The national moratorium is set to expire next week,” Massey said. “With that deadline looming, it is a good time for us to get involved in the process.”

Ben Moore, energy and climate program director for the Coastal Conservation League, cautioned the state’s officials to conduct a rigorous cost-benefit analysis before they endorse a plan for offshore drilling, should it become an option.

By Yvonne Wenger
The Post and Courier
September 26, 2008