Wes Hayes for Senate
www.weshayes.com
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Fall 1998
NEWSLETTER

Committee Assignments
Ethics Committee, Chairman
Banking and Insurance Committee
Education Committee
Finance Committee
Corrections and Penology Committee
Medical Affairs 

South Carolina General
Assembly Home Page
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E-Mail Address:
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This District 15 Report is a quarterly newsletter concerning your State Government.  Due to the cost of mailing, I will not be able to mail a copy to everyone in the District; however, I will do my best to place these reports in various public locations so that individuals within District 15 will have an opportunity to get this information.  Any ideas you may have as to how this newsletter could be improved are most welcome.

Since you have elected me to serve in the General Assembly, I have endeavored to keep you informed about state and local issues and my work in the General Assembly through this newsletter and district meetings.   The response has been outstanding. I hope I can continue to count on you to share your views and concerns with me about our district and state.  I always appreciate hearing from you and cannot tell you how valuable your input is to me during debate on these issues.

With the election behind us, my thoughts as your Senator from York County look towards issues that the 1999 General Assembly will address in the upcoming 113^th session.  I would like to address some of them.

With the passage of The South Carolina Education Accountability Act last year, we have set the standards for the future of our system and our children and grandchildren.  This comprehensive piece of legislation, which impacts grades kindergarten through twelve, requires establishment of detailed, grade level academic standards in specified subjects, and requires assessment of students’ and schools’ success in meeting these standards.  Schools’ performance on both meeting standards and on improvement from past performance ratings will be graded annually, and report cards on these ratings will be mailed to parents and advertised in the newspaper.  The Oversight Committee that was established in the bill is organized and its subcommittees and full committee have been meeting since the bill was signed into law back in June.

The right of people to vote on the lottery will be a major issue facing the General Assembly when it returns in January.  Modeled after the program in the state of Georgia, which dedicates its revenue for the lottery solely to education, this subject will certainly bring forth a thorough debate in both the House and the Senate.  There have already been numerous bills prefiled in the Senate with more expected.  The House, too, plans to have several bills prefiled on this issue.

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that video poker is not a lottery, this matter will again be thrown back to the General Assembly.  Again, many bills have been prefiled in the Senate to eradicate it and strong moves to regulate and enforce the laws pertaining to it, using the revenue generated by this regulation and enforcement for state needs.  Gambling issues will be primary again, with casino riverboat gambling a certain to be debated by the courts and General Assembly.

Another major topic, which is a perennial topic, will be taxes.   A special tax study committee has been working on tax reform since June, and it is with great hope that this committee will come forth with major recommendations for legislation dealing with the elimination of state income taxes for senior citizens, the gradual elimination of automobile car taxes, and more property tax relief for all South Carolina citizens.

There will also be debate about abolishing the mini-bottle, conforming to the other 49 states who do not use this method to serve alcoholic beverages.   If passed, this would be a constitutional amendment in the year 2000 for the voters to decide.  On a related topic, last year, the General Assembly took a "zero tolerance approach to drivers under the age of 21 who use alcohol.  Under the provisions of the bill passed, an underage driver who has a blood alcohol level of .02 or higher will have his driving privileges suspended automatically for three months (or for six months if the driver refuses to take the chemical tests).

Although there were significant efforts to address DUI offenders, a glitch in the 1997 Automobile Insurance Reform Bill has caused great concern for legislators and good drivers.  By an amendment to the bill, a 10% recoupment cap was inserted in the legislation. This allowed a person’s recoupment to only rise by 10% for the next three years.  To good drivers, this would cause a minor change, but to those who have DUI’s on their records, or extremely bad driving records, it would mean a reward of lower recoupment and thus, lower premiums.

Plans are already in the making to address the loophole, thereby giving everyone an equal opportunity to raise or lower their premiums, and a good law bringing competition back into our state, thus decreasing our premiums eventually, can move on.   This must be done very carefully as the 165 companies who have returned to our state must be considered as they have already invested a great deal of money in abiding by the passed law.  The last thing our state needs is the withdrawal of these companies.

The Banking & Insurance Subcommittee held public hearings on credit life insurance and credit disability throughout the state during the interim.   We were fortunate to be able to hold one of these public meetings at Winthrop University.  The subcommittee listened to many concerns from people in York County, and it plans to introduce legislation in the upcoming session that will address consumer finance laws, giving the citizens a more consumer friendly atmosphere in this area.

The final subject that I think warrants mention is that of deregulation of electricity.  Electric deregulation became a hot issue during last year’s session and dozens of newspaper and television advertisements fueled the debate.  Greenville-based power marketer Electric Lite was the most visible supporter of deregulation.  Many electric utilities pushed a go-slow approach.  Several states are moving toward electric deregulation.  However, only California has implemented a program.  The results have been mixed.  Earlier this month, the S. C. Public Service Commission estimated the price tag on electric deregulation for customers of South Carolina’s three largest electric utilities was $1.4 billion.   The figure represents the difference between what it will cost utilities to make electricity and what they can sell it for in a competitive market, a difference known as stranded costs.  The electric companies want customers to make up the difference between cost and price until they become equal – when and if that ever happens.   Opponents of stranded costs say paying utilities for costly and bad investments is akin to the savings and loans bailout of the 1980’s.