Dear Friend,

I continue to be thrilled to have the opportunity to serve as your representative in the South Carolina House of Representatives. My role in the House has changed since last year. In December I was elected Chairman of the Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee. This is one of the six standing committees of the House. This new position greatly increases my responsibilities as well as my impact on the various aspects of state government. Having finished my first year as Chairman, I more clearly understand the many facets of leadership and the need for effective time management. One thing that I am totally committed to is the concept that my new role will not reduce the amount of time and effort I dedicate to serving you and the other constituents in my district. I have said many times that constituent service is my top priority - and I mean it.

This legislative year has been unique and challenging, to say the least. Families all across America are suffering because of the economy. South Carolina has certainly felt the pain. We have record unemployment and lower than anticipated tax revenue with which to operate the state. To give you an idea of the seriousness of the situation, the budget that we adopted for the 2008-09 fiscal year was approximately $6.7 billion. The budget that we adopted this year for the 2009-10 fiscal year is approximately $5.5 billion. That is a reduction of nearly 25 percent from one year to the next.

Consequently, there were budget cuts in nearly every agency of state government. The House of Representatives suffered budget cuts just like other agencies. We were forced to reduce staff and require our existing staff to take 10 days of mandatory furlough. We worked diligently to save money anywhere possible, from a hiring freeze, to reducing long distance telephone usage and postage. We also furloughed ourselves four weeks during the session and ended the session two weeks early, thereby saving the taxpayers a total of six weeks of expenses for the legislative session.

I would be less than honest if I didn't say that furloughs caused significant challenges in attempting to draft and pass meaningful legislation. I think the silver lining is the fact that we have learned to work more efficiently and we learned that sometimes we can do more with less. This letter would be far too long (and boring) if I tried to tell you about all of the legislation that was passed. For that reason, I am going to list some of the bills that I believe are most important. If I fail to address a subject about which you are interested, please let me know and I will provide the information directly to you.

THE BUDGET (or State Appropriations Bill) is always one of the most important and difficult pieces of legislation we pass. The budget we passed funded most agencies at the level of the 2004-05 budget. Some reductions were mitigated by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus funds). The federal government did not allow any of those funds to be put in a "rainy day" account. Most importantly, we passed a balanced budget without any tax increases.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN FEDERAL COMPLIANCE ACT. This legislation is intended to bring South Carolina into compliance with the federal Violence Against Women Act. With regards to certain offenders being ordered by the court to be tested for Hepatitis B and HIV at the request of the victim, this bill broadens the definition of "offender" to include both juveniles and adults. The bill further provides that the Department of Health and Environmental Control must advise the victim of available treatment options, and upon request of the victim, provide testing and post-testing counseling.

VOLUNTEER STRATEGIC ASSISTANCE AND FIRE EQUIPMENT (V-SAFE) PROGRAM. This program offers grants to eligible volunteer and combination fire departments to pay for training and purchase protective gear, fire suppression equipment, vehicles, and other materials needed for the purpose of protecting local communities from incidents of fire, hazardous materials, and terrorism, and to provide for the safety of volunteer firefighters. Grants awarded shall not exceed thirty thousand dollars per year for each eligible fire department, with no matching or in kind money required. A fire department may be awarded only one grant in a three year period. The grant program is contingent upon the General Assembly appropriating sufficient funds. Since we have such a huge budget shortfall this year, the program was not funded. I sincerely hope that it will be in future years.

PAYDAY LENDING. This legislation imposes new restrictions on deferred presentment services, commonly referred to as Payday Lending. Under the legislation, an individual is limited to having no more than one payday loan at any one time. The legislation requires the provider to offer an extended payment plan, at no additional charge, to a customer who is unable to repay a payday loan when originally due. While engaged in an extended payment plan, a customer is not eligible to enter into another payday transaction. In order to prevent an individual from having multiple payday transactions at one time, the legislation provides for information on all transactions and extended payment plans to be compiled on a common database with real time access through an Internet connection that deferred presentment providers must consult prior to entering into a transaction with a customer.

SCRAP AND JUNK DEALER REQUIREMENTS. This legislation provides new requirements for scrap and junk dealers as a means of deterring the sale of stolen metal. The legislation establishes new requirements for demolishers and dealers in scrap and junk to collect and maintain certain identifying information on the sellers of scrap metal or vehicle parts, as well as certain identifying information on items purchased. The legislation enhances penalties for violations of junk and scrap dealing provisions. Catalytic converters and copper clad steel wire are added to requirements relating to nonferrous metals.

SPECIAL BUILDING INSPECTORS. This legislation revises provisions for Building Code Inspection Officers to authorize the certification of special building inspectors. The revisions are offered to allow for the use of inspectors who are equipped with specialized knowledge in particular construction trade disciplines, such as plumbing, electrical, mechanical, and energy conservation, rather than general construction trade knowledge.

STATE PORTS AUTHORITY. South Carolina has some of the finest port facilities on the East coast of the United States. We made substantial changes in the structure of the authority to ensure that our ports are properly managed and are competitive with other ports. One of the changes was the establishment of a State Ports Authority Commission to provide legislative oversight. I am thrilled to be serving on this Commission since the upstate is the largest user of the port.

REAL PROPERTY TAX ON NEWLY-CONSTRUCTED HOMES. This legislation is a result of numerous new homes being unsold and unoccupied for lengthy periods of time. Previously, once a certificate of occupation is issued for a newly-constructed home, it becomes subject to a higher tax rate applicable to residential property even if that home sits empty and unsold for months or years. Under this legislation, a newly constructed, detached single family home remains eligible for the lower tax rate allowed for unimproved property until it is occupied by being sold or rented, or for up to six years, whichever comes first.

CUSTOMER CHOICE AND TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT ACT OF 2009. This optional regulation is offered as a means of making the full range of competitive options available to customers of communications services, while maintaining inflation based price controls for those customers who wish to continue receiving only stand alone basic residential lines from traditional telephone companies. At the same time, it ensures that customers in rural areas of the state continue to have access to basic local exchange service at affordable rates.

I don't think this report could be complete without mentioning the Governor. Certainly, he has received a tremendous amount of press recently in our state, the country, and the world. As I make this report to you, I realize that people have mixed feelings about what the Governor has done and what action should be taken. Other than the budget woes, the Governor has been the single largest hindrance that the legislature had to overcome. He constantly berated us for not seeing eye-to-eye with him; he issued numerous vetoes of worthy legislation, which we were forced to use valuable time to override; he attempted to prevent the federal stimulus funds from being used by the people of our state, going so far as to file suit against the legislature in the Supreme Court; and, finally his absence from the state without means of communication and the terrible embarrassment to our citizens by his "soap opera" type confession (and discussion) of his extra-marital affair. It would be inappropriate for me to judge him here. I leave that to God, his family, and the good people of South Carolina, although I personally believe he should resign.

Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to serve you in the South Carolina House of Representatives. I sincerely appreciate the many acts of kindness, friendship and encouragement you extend to me and my family. Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do to help you.

Sincerely,

 Bill Sandifer

P.S. -- Please make note that my email address in Columbia has changed. The new email address is:

billsandifer@schouse.gov.