Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell

MidlandsBiz: 
Recently you were named by Southern Business & Development magazine as one the Top 10 People Who Made a Difference.  Congratulations.  You were also described as a politician who gets it.  What do you think that means?

Speaker Harrell:

Thank you, I was very honored Southern Business & Development magazine considered me for that piece. 

I’m a businessman, and I believe government should operate more like a business. 

Our government is littered with red tape and it is not always putting our most important priorities first.  As government officials, we should be helping our citizens cut through those obstacles and streamlining the system.  We should make sure important items like the education of our children and our focus on economic development and job growth should be at the top of our list.

There’s not too much to get…it’s mostly common sense.

MidlandsBiz: 
What opportunities do you see for the South Carolina economy over the next 20 years?

Speaker Harrell:

Many.

We have been working very hard to set up our state as a leader in the global knowledge-based economy.  Our state’s families could greatly benefit from the high-paying jobs and improvements in quality of life this type of economy would bring with it.

Forty years ago, Columbia’s average income was above that of Raleigh, NC.  They formed the Research Triangle, worked together as a state to spur economic growth and industry from innovative research and have since left South Carolina lagging behind.  But we are working to change all that.

Today, our state’s research universities are working together like never before.  Intuitions like ICAR at Clemson University, USC’s hydrogen fuel cell research center, Innovista and others are steering South Carolina’s economy in a positive direction. 

By giving them the tools they need and making job creation a major criteria, like we did in the endowed chairs program, we are actively changing the landscape of our economy and creating a fertile ground for new companies and industries to come to South Carolina and move our citizens forward. 

MidlandsBiz: 
What roadblocks do you see for this state as it tries to compete better in the global economy?

Speaker Harrell:

There are a few roadblocks, but we are working to overcome them. 

One we have been focusing on is creating an educated workforce.  The type of industries and businesses we would like to see develop in our state need a skilled workforce.  Education is an important issue for may of people, but few people realize that the issue of education is actually a subset of our economy.

This year we passed an enhancement to our state’s LIFE and Palmetto Fellow’s Scholarships.  Students majoring in math, science or engineering will receive an additional scholarship funds under this program.  This will entice many more students to major in these fields, and when they graduate, they will have the skills needed to fill these more high-tech jobs we are creating here in South Carolina.

MidlandsBiz: 
What was the biggest accomplishment of this past legislative session?

Speaker Harrell:

This year was focused around two major issues, tax cuts and reform. 

Because of our state’s surging economy, we had a record breaking $1.5 billion in new money.  With this much new money coming into Columbia this year, we felt it was vital to return a good portion of that back to the taxpayers.  Eliminating the grocery tax and cutting our state’s income tax were the right steps in reducing the tax burden on our citizens.  We actually passed the biggest cut to state revenues in our state’s history by providing over $220 million in tax relief in this year alone.

Reforming our state’s broken Transportation agency and our overbearing Workers’ Comp system were crucial items we needed to get done this year.  The Department of Transportation had wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and had some major accountability issues.  Businesses around our state, large and small, were being chocked by consecutive double-digit increases to their Workers’ Comp rates. 

Because of the House’s unwillingness to leave this session with out passing these reforms, our state now has a DOT agency that has accountability, our state’s businesses will be able to more easily hire more employees and grow their businesses, and we have the largest cut in taxes, ever. 

MidlandsBiz: 
What was your biggest disappointment of this past session?

Speaker Harrell:

Not getting any confirmed funding for DOT.  I would like to see us find an existing stream of revenue that we could devote to go solely to fixing our roads.  The sales tax on cars seems like a very logical choice and will greatly help out our newly reformed Transportation Agency.

If we can use this kind of existing stream of revenue to fund DOT, it would help prevent any push to raise taxes in the future.  It is something we will be looking at again next year. 

MidlandsBiz: 
Talk to us about income tax reform.  What does South Carolina need to do to improve its system of collecting taxes?

Speaker Harrell:
It’s never a bad idea to take an assessment of how we tax our citizens and figure out if it is fair and just.  Taxes in our state are too overbearing and we have been working hard to fix many of those tax problems. 

We made big strides last year by slashing property taxes on your homes almost in half and moving closer to eliminating the grocery tax.

This year we finished the process of eliminating the grocery tax and cut income taxes.  We cut the income tax from the bottom this year, but would like to revisit it again in the future to look at cutting the top end.  At 7 percent, our top end income tax rate is hurting our ability to create jobs and spur our economy. 

MidlandsBiz: 
What are your plans for the off season?  Will there be an off season? 

Speaker Harrell:

Vacation, if they will let me.

I plan on seeing a lot more of my family.  I have two children and a wonderful wife back home in Charleston that I have been spending too much time away from.  Family is extremely important to me, they will be my main focus during the off session.

MidlandsBiz: 
You have come out and supported John McCain?  What is the one characteristic that you like most about McCain?

Speaker Harrell:

John McCain is a leader who fights vigorously for what he thinks is the right thing to do.  He is willing to fight an upstream battle to do what is best for our country. 

That is why he will be the leader who refuses to surrender, and will win the war on terror. 

Senator McCain is a personal hero of mine.  And now, more than ever, America is searching for a hero.  I firmly believe that man is John McCain.

MidlandsBiz: 
What are your political aspirations?  Governor?  President?

Speaker Harrell:

Life is good right now.

MidlandsBiz: 
What book are you reading right now?

Speaker Harrell:

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John C. Maxwell.  Pretty good, only about a quarter of the way into it.