Rep. Anne Thayer: A Legislative Update

Most of the time I write about legislation passed during the legislative session.  Many good bills were 

submitted last year only to remain in the committee they were assigned, without a hearing.  Since we 

are entering into the final year of a legislative session, it is highly unlikely these bills will make it into law.  

The reason I share this information is to let you know there are elected officials working on your behalf 

to change the system for the better.    

Senate Bill S111-Limiting Capital Reserve Fund to Capital Projects-this bill would limit only capital 

improvements or construction to be funded with Capital Reserve Fund dollars.  Currently many 

lawmakers request these funds for pet projects in their home districts.  This should be restricted to only 

capital projects and should not be used as a slush fund for General Assembly members. 

House Bill 3303-Zero Based Budgeting-In my opinion this is a good concept because each agency would 

start at zero and have to justify all of its expenditures.  Our current system uses last year’s budget and 

each agency requests a certain percentage increase to cover the next year’s perceived expenses.  Many 

agencies pad these budgets and ask for more than they hope to receive.  Zero-based budgeting would 

make these agencies more transparent, efficient and accountable.  This particular bill is probably not 

realistic as it calls for all agencies to begin zero-based budgeting.  A more realistic approach would be to 

start with three of the smaller agencies and then move forward in future years.  Look for that bill from 

Rep. Thayer in the 2015 session if I am re-elected. 

Senate Bill 313-Public School Choice-This bill would allow the money to follow the child, as it should.  

Education should be about educating the children and doing what is in the best interest of that child.  An 

address does not determine the best educational fit for a child.  Parents should be allowed to choose 

the best school that closest meets the needs of his/her child and that money should follow that child to 

the chosen public school. 

Bills in both the House and Senate -Regulatory Reform-This would require all regulations to be voted on 

by the General Assembly prior to becoming law.  In addition, there would be a five year review of all 

regulations to determine if the regs were still necessary.  Although some regulations are good and 

protect us as consumers, many regulations are burdensome and inflate the cost of doing business in 

South Carolina. 

Senate Bill 104-Agency Audit Every 5 Years-Currently the Legislative Audit Council conducts audits at the 

request of the General Assembly.  Many of the audits we receive are unfavorable. (I am currently 

working on future articles so I can share some of the results with you).  Each agency should be audited 

on a scheduled basis to ensure they are operating within the scope of the agency and performing the 

duties they have been charged with in the most effective and efficient way.  When government is 

inefficient, it is on our dime. 

House Bill 3152-Prohibiting Tax-Payer Funded Lobbyists-Our tax money should not go to pay for 

individuals to go to Columbia to lobby for more of our money.  This is ludicrous.  If we wanted the 

government to have more of our money, we would cut them a check. 

If you have any questions, comments, or ideas, please feel free to email me at 

annethayer@schouse.gov.  As always, it is my pleasure to serve you. 

Rep. Anne Thayer is a Republican who represents District 9 in Anderson County. 

Business Blames Obamacare for Reducing Full-Time Employees

Kelly Gilreath started cleaning offices more than 25 years ago. Now she has a full-fledged janitorial service business with almost 100 people on her payroll in three states. She dreams of expanding her business further, even internationally.

However, she says President Barack Obama’s signature domestic legislation is making it harder for her business to grow.

Kelly’s Professional Cleaning Service, Inc., (KPCS) based in Greenville, S.C., has found itself caught on the edge of Obamacare’s regulations requiring it to provide health insurance to its employees.

The law requires all businesses with over 50 full-time employees to offer qualifying health insurance to their employees and KPCS is close to that cutoff.

Gilreath is hiring only part-time people as much as she can in order to keep her business below 50 full-time people, with “par-time” being under 30 hours per week.

“You have to try to find ways to try to remain a sound company and still meet the law, and that’s hard to do without cutting wages and cutting hours for people,” Gilreath said.

The result of the shift toward more part-time workers is that fewer people will want to work for her business because fewer people will want to work only part time hours, Gilreath said. KPCS will thus have a harder time hiring people, making it harder to grow.

If KPCS went over 50 full-time employees, the federal penalty would be between $2,000 and $3,000 per employee, Gilreath said. But the cost of insurance would be even more: An insurance company offered a plan to KPCS at $900 per month, per employee.

“We can’t do this! There’s no way!” Gilreath said, in response to the potential cost of the law.

President Obama has offered little relief for employers caught in Gilreath’s situation. He chided employers who are balking at providing health insurance to their employees late Tuesday afternoon when discussing the health care law with former President Bill Clinton.

Full Story Here

Anderson Schools SAT Schools Get Mixed Results

After a four-year slide on their SAT scores, South Carolina public school seniors rebounded this year with better results.

Anderson County School District 3 came on top with scores well above state and national averages. Two Anderson County School Districts, 2 and 4, scored below the state average, which is already below the national average. Meanwhile Anderson School Districts 1 and 5 topped the state average, but were also well below the national average scores.

The SAT college entrance exam is made of three sections — critical reading, writing and math — and each part is worth a possible of 800 points. A perfect score on the test is a 2,400. To see school-by-school results, go to: ed.sc.gov/data/national-assessments

The state’s class of 2013 saw its composite score on the college entrance exam improve by one point from last year to 1,423 out of a possible 2,400 — or 800 on each of the exam’s reading, math and writing sections.

The composite average among all the state’s seniors, meaning not just those in public schools, saw an even bigger jump of five points to 1,436.

Those gains bucked the nationwide trend of either stagnant or falling scores. The national average for all students was flat at 1,498, and the figure for only public school students fell three points to 1,474.

The national performance is a concern for the College Board, which administers the SAT exam. The College Board has set a score of 1,550 as its college and career readiness benchmark, and it said studies show that students who reach that level are more likely to enroll in college and complete a degree. Only 43 percent of SAT takers nationally met that score, and that percentage has been virtually unchanged during the last five years.

State: S.C. Gets First Look at Obama Care Premium Costs

A family of four in South Carolina with an income of $50,000 per year would pay $109 per month for the cheapest plan available on the new Health Insurance Marketplace, according to the first South Carolina-specific cost figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

That figure factors in tax credits, which will be used to reduce insurance premiums for families of four making up to $94,000. It would be three or four times more expensive if that same family were to find similar health coverage in the private marketplace, according to eHealthInsurance.com.

Insurance on the new federal marketplace might be less of a deal for people with higher income or smaller family size because they would get a smaller tax credit. And any policy will have a sticker shock for the uninsured, who aren’t accustomed to monthly insurance premiums.

Most people will be required to have insurance in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act. Shopping for that insurance on the Health Insurance Marketplace begins Oct. 1.

Most of the data released by the federal government gave a hint at what individual costs will be before tax credits. Details such as home county, family size, income and level of coverage will create a large range of actual costs.

For those with patience, personal insurance costs will be much easier to determine athttp://www.healthcare.gov starting Tuesday, Oct. 1. All of the variables, including the tax credit, will be factored into costs on that website next week.

What is clear from the new numbers:

•  Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton counties consistently have the lowest rates.

•  Greenwood consistently has the highest rates.

•  Richland’s rates are only slightly higher than the lowest counties. Lexington’s are higher still, in the middle tier of counties.

•  The difference between counties can be as much as $100 per month, with more variability at the older age groups.

•  The difference between the bronze level of plans (which covers 60 percent of medical costs) and the gold level of plans (which covers 80 percent of costs) is about $80 per month for somebody 30 years old and about $190 per month for somebody 60 years old.

•  You’ll have 27 choices of plans in most counties and 32 in the rest.

The data lists the lowest cost plan by county at each age and at each coverage level. While other states have a platinum level that covers 90 percent of medical costs, none of the four companies on the Health Insurance Marketplace in South Carolina offer platinum level plans.

The lowest rates for a 21-year-old in South Carolina range from $106.70 per month to $214.05 per month before tax credits. The ranges at age 30 are $162.28 to $242.95; at age 40 are $182.73 to $273.56; at age 50 are $255.36 to $382.29; and at age 60 are $388.05 to $580.93. All of those figures are before tax credits, which will offset costs for individuals making from about $11,500 to $47,000 per year.

Every plan is required to cover basic health care costs, but the more expensive plans at each coverage level might offer more bells and whistles, such as more choice in which doctors you can see and discounts on gym memberships.

Premiums nationwide will also be around 16 percent lower than originally expected, according to HHS.

In South Carolina, the average premium for the cheapest silver plan will be $333 and for the cheapest bronze plan it will be $267.

You can find the database athttp://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2013/MarketplacePremiums/longdesc/sc.htm.

Due West Fall Festival Set for Saturday

The Due West Fall Festival, featuring music, food and one of the area's biggest yard sales, is set for Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The festival, located on the corner of Beulah and Main near Erskine College, will also feature hourly prize drawings.

For more information call 864-379-8117 or emailrhondabryantarnold@yahoo.com.

Museum to Celebrate 30 Years of Service in October

The Anderson County Museum is celebrating its 30th Birthday in October, having grown from a small space in the Historic Courthouse to a 12,000-plus square-foot gallery in the old Anderson County Library. Each exhibit in the admission-free Fred Whitten Gallery offers a unique educational opportunity for all visitors. As one of the key gatekeepers of Anderson County history, ACM showcases a variety of real artifacts conveying real history in a real museum setting. 

Opening in phases over three years, the new permanent transportation exhibit "Routes of History." is receiving excellent reviews, Phase One opened in April 2013 documenting the building of the Anderson Airport and earlier aviation history, including Amelia Earhart's landing of her Beech-Nut Autogiro in Anderson. Phase II will open in March 2014 and focus on the electric trolley and how people traveled in the early 20th century.

Phase III will be the largest and most extensive of this permanent exhibit featuring passage by buggy, on water, by railroads, cars and all other forms of transportation. This phase will open in 2015 in the current location of the ACM store. 

If you haven't visited lately, drop by the Fred Whitten Gallery. The museum is also asking that you consider supporting the ACM by making a 30th Birthday donation to this growing exhibit.

All sponsors at any level will receive an invitation to a private reception and curator's tour of the exhibit before it opens to the public in 2015. Sponsorship will also be listed on the sponsor board inside the exhibit. Donations are tax deductible. The goal is to raise $30,000 during the next six months as we celebrate this momentous and significant 30 year milestone in the history of our museum.

State Ranks First in Fatal Violence Against Women

South Carolina once again has been ranked the worst in the nation when it comes to men killing women.

The state’s rate of females murdered by males of 2.54 per 100,000 was more than double the national average, according to a report released Tuesday by the Violence Policy Center in Washington. The ranking was based on 2011 crime data that showed 61 women in South Carolina were reported killed at the hands of men.

The ranking brought another round of outrage and vows for a renewed push to change the trend.

One idea offered by S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson is changing a law that puts a cap on the size of a bond that magistrate judges can set for criminal domestic violence suspects.

Bail bonds already are an issue in Richland County after The State newspaper reported cases in which men who were released to await trials for violent crimes were re-arrested on murder charges.

In South Carolina, the maximum bond for a first-time criminal domestic violence arrest is $5,000, Wilson said. That means a man arrested for beating his wife can get out of jail for $500 or less, Wilson said.

If the Legislature would raise the cap on the maximum bond allowed, it would keep people in jail longer, giving them a “cooling-off period,” Wilson said.

This year is the third time the Violence Policy Center has ranked South Carolina in the top spot in the past 10 years, said Rebecca Williams-Agee of the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Last year, South Carolina ranked second in the annual report.

“It’s never-ending,” Williams-Agee said. “It’s just really exhausting.”

Wilson, whose office has a section of prosecutors and advocates focused on violence against women, said he was “reeling from the numbers.” He met Wednesday with staff members who prosecute domestic violence cases and who lobby for change at the General Assembly.

“It’s inexcusable,” Wilson said. “We can’t do enough to fight this. By the way, these aren’t just numbers. These are people. They had families.”

The Midlands in 2011 was witness to some of the most high-profile domestic violence deaths in recent memory. Three were murder-suicides, and a fourth involved a young USC professor who was stabbed to death.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/09/25/3001145/south-carolina-worst-in-country.html#storylink=cpy

Graham, Scott Oppose Federal Judge Nominee

Stiffening political headwinds could complicate the nomination of at-large Circuit Judge Alison Renee Lee to the federal bench, amid fresh questions about her judicial decision-making.

In a sign of potential trouble, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said this week that Lee’s nomination to serve as a Columbia, S.C.-based U.S. District Court judge has provoked “concerns” among some South Carolina residents. Graham is a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing for Lee.

“I’ve had a lot of concerns expressed about her,” Graham said in an interview Tuesday, “and I’ve been having a lot of meetings scheduled (about her) in the state.”

On Wednesday, Graham’s colleague, Republican Sen. Tim Scott, voiced similar sentiments.

“Senator Scott has significant concerns about the decisions Ms. Lee has made in her current role,” Greg Blair, Scott’s press secretary, said in an email response to questions. “The senator was able to hold an initial meeting with her following her nomination and will continue to evaluate all the available information about her candidacy.”

Senate Judiciary Committee staffers indicate the panel has not yet focused attention on Lee, who’s 55 and a graduate of Vassar College and Tulane Law School. When it does, the release of individuals later alleged to have committed other crimes while out on bail is certain to receive close scrutiny.

In January, Lee lowered the bond for an 18-year-old burglary suspect named Lorenzo Young. Lee consolidated bonds and reduced the total from $225,000 to $175,000 for Young, who subsequently was released and then later charged in the July 1 slaying of 33-year-old bagel baker Kelly Hunnewell.

On Wednesday, The State revealed that another teenager whose bond Lee had lowered, Dequan Vereen, was charged last week in the shooting death of a man outside a Richland County convenience store. The State reported that Lee reduced bond for Vereen, who faced charges of attempted murder and armed robbery, from $175,000 to $50,000 in February, according to records in the Richland County Clerk of Court’s office. 

When the Senate Judiciary Committee examines Lee’s record, Graham’s role could become paramount.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/25/203231/new-questions-raised-about-south.html#.UkP-ohahEWY#storylink=cpy

S.C. House Outlaws Affordable Care Act

The South Carolina state House passed a bill Wednesday that declares President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to be “null and void,” and criminalizes its implementation.

The state’s Freedom of Health Care Protection Act intends to “prohibit certain individuals from enforcing or attempting to enforce such unconstitutional laws; and to establish criminal penalties and civil liability for violating this article.”

The measure permits the state Attorney General, with reasonable cause, “to restrain by temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, or permanent injunction” any person who is believed to be causing harm to any person or business with the implementation of Obamacare.

Earlier this year in her state of the state address, Gov. Nikki Haley said that South Carolina does not want and cannot afford the president’s plan, “not now, not ever.”

“To that end, we will not pursue the type of government-run health exchanges being forced on us by Washington,” she said. “Despite the rose-colored rhetoric coming out of D.C., these exchanges are nothing more than a way to make the state do the federal government’s bidding in spending massive amounts of taxpayer dollars on insurance subsidies that we can’t afford.”

The nullification bill moved on to the state Senate Thursday and referred to the Committee on Finance. As of Oct. 2, the bill is still residing in the Senate.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/2/south-carolina-house-passes-bill-making-obamacare-/#ixzz2giJ3CL75

Cruz Pulls All-Nighter in Attempt to Freeze Senate Budget Vote

Congress continued its steady march toward a possible government shutdown Tuesday with another round of posturing, but little action to keep the government running past next Monday.

Both the Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate seemed poised to speed up a vote on a spending bill from House Republicans that would have funded the government through Dec. 15 but stripped out funding for the Affordable Care Act. Many Senate Republicans were prepared to vote for the measure, which they favored, and Democrats were ready to get their hands on the bill so they could amend it and restore funding for the law.

But that possibility ground to a halt as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took to the Senate floor to deliver an hours-long speech (that technically is not a filibuster, because of the Senate's procedural rules). He began talking at 2:41 p.m. ET, announcing that he intended "to speak against Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand."

His marathon entered its 16th hour at 5:41 a.m. ET on Wednesday. He did, however, get periodic breaks when other senators took the floor -- at least 8 Republicans and 2 Democrats at last count.

 During his speech, several of Cruz's fellow GOP Senate colleagues joined him on the floor, including Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, The Associated Press reported.

Though he can't prevent the Senate from voting to end debate on the House proposal tomorrow, Cruz can speak throughout the night to draw attention to the issue and stop the vote from happening early. Although Cruz fully supports defunding the healthcare law, he has expressed concern that allowing the Senate to consider the measure will only allow Democrats to amend it and put the funding back in.

Full Story Here

Opinion: Ben Stein Tells GOP to Chill on Budget Threats

By Ben Stein

Now for a few words about the latest budget crisis gripping Washington, and thereby gripping us all.

To simplify it a bit too much, the Democrats under our President, Mr. Obama, want to raise the debt ceiling, maybe possibly raise taxes, and keep spending and thereby enact Obamacare.

Now, no one seems to know exactly what Obamacare is, but anyway, that is the Democrats' wish.

The GOP wants to make sure the government keeps cutting spending under the so-called "sequestration," which cuts military and domestic spending automatically as time passes.

Some Republicans are so opposed to Obamacare that they are willing and ready to let the whole government close down rather than let Obamacare go into effect.

Naturally, the parties differ. That's why they are in different parties, and we should not be surprised by that.

And if the GOP-controlled House of Representatives wants to send a bill to the Senate cutting off Obamacare, that is its right. If the Democratically-controlled Senate sees it differently, that's its right.

There are procedures for resolving these differences. They are called conference committees, and they would work perfectly well -- if everyone had a good attitude.

But not everybody has a good

The problem is this idea of letting government close down. That is just plain nutty.

It might be fun for children to threaten it, but it will not be fun to drastically cut defense, law enforcement, medical care for the poor and the elderly.

To shut that down seems to me a flight from adult responsibility that is just not defensible morally.

Yes, let people on Capitol Hill yell at each other. Let them call each other names. But to even think of closing down the government is wildly dangerous.

Yes, as a Republican for a long time now, I'm upset at the growth of federal government spending under Mr. Obama. But at the end of the day, we are all Americans. We don't just pick up our toys and go home if we disagree.

It is wonderful to take a stand. But sometimes the patriotic thing to do is compromise today, gear up to win elections tomorrow, and work like adults for America every day.

Be cool, Republicans. Our day will come. But let's not have it be Doomsday.

S.C. Democrats Trying to Build Case Against Haley

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley praised Vice President Joe Biden last week for boosting the Port of Charleston, a rare display of bipartisanship for a Republican who built a national profile by rebuking the federal government.

“This really is great when we can all come together and say ‘South Carolina is moving,’” said Haley, 41, standing next to Biden and the state’s only Democrat in Congress, Jim Clyburn, at the port. “We’re seeing the jobs come in, we’re seeing the infrastructure happen.”

The spirit of cross-party harmony didn’t last long. State Democrats, who believe Haley is vulnerable in next year’s election, accused the governor of “hypocrisy” and political corruption at the port. The accusations, which Haley denies, reflect Democrats’ increasingly aggressive and sharp-elbowed campaign to unseat South Carolina’s first woman governor and shoot down a rising national Republican Party star.

Haley, an Indian-American who Republican leaders say is uniquely qualified to carry the party’s message to minorities, women and young voters, has for that reason become a top target for Democrats. As she’s tried to stay focused on job creation, opponents have used ethics charges and management mishaps as openings to knock her off track.

As the attacks intensified, Haley’s voter-approval rating remained less than 50 percent as recently as April.

Foes have seized on ethics investigations, the hacking of Revenue Department computers and a mishandled tuberculosis outbreak to undermine Haley’s upbeat message on jobs. For the governor, it may seem just more of what she weathered in the 2010 campaign, which included suggestions of marital infidelity and questions about late tax payments.

State Senator Vincent Sheheen, a Camden Democrat who lost to Haley in 2010 and plans to challenge her again, said he expects to make “leadership,” not the economy, the top issue in next year’s race.

“It’s been an embarrassment nationally,” Sheheen, a 42-year-old lawyer, said of Haley’s governorship. “We’ve had scandal after scandal.”

Haley’s campaign team and Republican strategists in the state have dismissed the attacks as baseless attempts by Democrats to distract voters from her economic record.

Full Story Here

Poll: 60 Percent Say Government Too Powerful

Six in 10 Americans believe that government is too powerful, according to a new Gallup poll, the highest proportion since Gallup began asking the question in 2002. The partisan divide on the question has also grown a lot since President Barack Obama was elected.

When asked, "do you think the federal government today has too much power, has about the right amount of power, or has too little power," 60 percent of respondents answered "too much power," 32 percent answered, "about the right amount of power," and seven percent answered, "too little power."

In 2002, more Americans believed that government had the right amount of power, 52 percent, than believe that government had too much power, 39 percent. The proportion of those who believe the government has too little power has remained steady, at around six to eight percent, since 2002.

One of the most remarkable changes over time, though, has been the growing partisan divide over whether the government has too much power. In 2002, Republicans and Democrats were about equally as likely to believe the government had too much power, 36 percent and 35 percent, respectively. (For independents, they number was higher - 45 percent.)

Throughout the George W. Bush administration, 2001 to 2008, the largest gap between Democrats and Republicans who believed the government was too powerful was 17 percentage points, with Democrats, at 57 percent, more likely than Republicans, at 40 percent, to say so.

After the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, though, the gap between Republicans and Democrats widened dramatically, with Republicans much more likely to answer that the government is too powerful.

About four out of five Republicans, 81 percent, now say the government is too powerful, which is 43 percentage points higher than the proportion of Democrats, 38 percent, who say that. The Republican percentage is the highest on record and the Democratic percentage is the highest in the Obama era. Independents tied their previous record from 2010 at 65 percent.

The Gallup poll comes after a number of recent scandals that, some argue, illustrate an abuse of government power. There was, for instance, the discoveries that the National Security Agency was collecting large amounts of cell phone usage and email data, the Justice Department had wiretapped the phones of Associated Press reporters and a Fox News reporter, and the Internal Revenue Service had targeted conservative groups for greater scrutiny prior to the 2012 election.

The Sept. 5-8 poll of 1,510 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points for the full sample.