The Statehouse Brief: Top Three Things You Need to Know

New on MidlandsBiz. Each week during the 121st Legislative Session of the South Carolina General Assembly, Ashley Hunter of McKay Public Affairs will report on the top three things you need to know about issues affecting you as a business person and citizen. Are you interested in politics? Does infrastructure funding affect your business? Ethics reform?

By Ashley Hunter

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Ethics, LFG and Property Tax Reform

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1. Local Governments are looking at various ways that the upcoming changes to the Local Government Funds (LGF) could impact them this Legislative Session. In addition to legislation dealing with how cities, towns and counties are able to utilize business license taxes and transportation funding, they are also facing scrutiny on how they are funded from the state general fund. This week, the House Ways and Means Revenue Policy subcommittee was scheduled to meet on H. 3374, a bill that changes the Local Government Fund calculation. Even though the meeting was canceled, the legislation continues to cause concern for local government entities.
2. The Senate Ethics bill (S.1) hit the floor of the Senate this week. Senator Larry Martin, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee explained the changes to the bill. He discussed the importance of the independent investigation committee. Senators also debated the issue of who vets the Governor’s appointments. Several amendments were discussed: one would increase the amount of time for when a report is issued for a judicial candidate. It would take the time from 48 hours to twelve days so that more legislators would have the time needed to review the report. Debate on this important legislation, which will impact campaign finance reform, judicial elections and the activities of lobbyists will resume next week.
3. This week, Frank Rainwater, Executive Director of the SC Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office updated the members of the Senate Finance Committee on the impact of Act 388. Act 388, was the property tax reform bill that went into effect in 2007. Currently, local governments are citing the $112 million gap in the budget this year for local government as a direct impact of Act 388.

Chairman Hugh Leatherman said, “We appropriated $120 million for this year and you projected $112 million for this year.”  Rainwater said, “Expenditures are growing; sales tax is growing at 4% now. Sales tax is easy to predict. It is the economy we really have to worry about and cannot predict.” Chairman Leatherman was very clear in stating, “It was one of the worst things I ever supported.” Members of the Senate Finance Committee all reiterated their commitment to reversing the impacts of Act 388 and will continue to work on this in the weeks to come.

For more information about legislative issues, you can contact Ashley Hunter, Vice President of McKay Public Affairs (MPA) at [email protected]. Recently, MPA also started a new blog on fashion and politics. Find out more at www.peplumandpolitics.com.