Bill Sandifer Update

Dear Friend:

It seems as if it were only yesterday when this legislative session began. Now, there are only 9 days remaining in the 2008 session of your General Assembly, and as usual this time of year, the intensity has picked up dramatically. Several significant pieces of legislation moved in the House recently, including a bill restricting illegal immigration and a bill abolishing parole.

Four months ago, I wrote about the House Republican Caucus’ 2008 agenda with high hopes. I am pleased to report that we passed our entire agenda by approving legislation addressing seven major issues facing our state this year that will impact the lives, jobs, and pocketbooks of all South Carolinians.

Fight Illegal Immigration

The House of Representatives has actually passed legislation dealing with this very emotional subject six times in this two-year session. We approved a package of reforms that includes, among others, restricting illegal aliens’ access to public assistance, working to identify illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, and protecting South Carolina’s legal workers. That bill is in a conference committee where the House is holding strong against Senate efforts to weaken our bill.

The most recent bill that we passed requires all employers to use the federal e-verify system or a valid S.C. drivers’ license to check the legal status of their employees. We eliminated a proposal that would create a new state I-9 form and a new bureaucracy with an as-yet unknown number of new state employees.

Employers who have tried the federal e-verify system have found that the system is free, quick, and simple to use, and the requirements for our state’s drivers’ licenses are among the toughest in the nation. While the Senate has thus far disagreed with using the e-verify system that the House has pushed, the bill takes a number of important steps to protect the rights of all workers, whether they are citizens, or immigrants who choose to follow the law and come here legally to make a better life for themselves and their families.

The legislation allows fired workers to sue their former employers, if they are replaced by illegal workers within two months.

It creates a felony for creating false documents.
It bans illegal immigrants from attending public colleges and winning taxpayer- funded scholarships.
It also makes it a felony to transport or harbor illegal workers, though it provides reasonable exceptions for some charities, such as homeless shelters, which could get caught unexpectedly.

This immigration bill is also in the Senate, making a total of three bills that we have sent to the Senate.

Stop Hidden Earmark Spending

We approved a House rule that requires any spending item that is not specifically requested by a state agency to have a name and an explanation so the General Assembly knows what is being debated. If the item is worthwhile, it can be defended by a sponsor. This is another effort to provide full disclosure.

Tax Cuts for Families

We approved an income tax cut for married couples. This year, we sought to reward marriage by eliminating a tax bracket for married couples. The tax cut is small – only about $10 million – but we believe it is symbolic of our desire to decrease revenues coming into state coffers in order to reward the couples that put in the necessary effort to make a marriage work. This bill is also in the Senate’s hands.

Improve Roads and Bridges

The House approved dedicating the money raised from the sales tax on cars to improving our roads and infrastructure. Dedicating that revenue for our roads was the second half of the Caucus’ two-year commitment to reforming the Department of Transportation. Last year, the House passed a restructuring of the agency that makes it more accountable to the taxpayers and places it in the governor’s cabinet. We must have a strong infrastructure to keep our economy vibrant and giving the DOT revenue it can count on each year will help. We approved this legislation and sent it to the Senate.

Education Reform

Republicans spearheaded the effort to scrap the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT) and make the first significant changes in the 1998 Education Accountability Act. We replaced the PACT with a diagnostic exam that will give useful information to parents and teachers, in a timely manner. The Speaker has also appointed a committee to study the best ways to change our severely outdated education funding system. The bill to replace the PACT is in the Senate.

Expanding the Economy by Helping Business

We approved a plan that helps small businesses band together to buy health insurance for their employees, much like large corporations do. This will help small businesses with one of their largest costs, while giving their employees needed access to health insurance. This bill has been signed into law.

Enact State Spending Caps

For more than 10 years, the House of Representatives has supported imposing spending caps on our state government. We have passed spending caps several times, only to have those caps stall in the Senate. We have once again approved spending caps, and are encouraging the Senate to move quickly on House Bill 3295 so we can limit the growth of government once and for all.

Although there are only a few days left in the legislative session, there are still a number of important pieces of legislation that we hope to address. One of them is bill that will abolish parole and require all prisoners to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences. It also creates a new court for non-violent drug offenders and will allow judges to decide who is eligible to go to the new drug court, where offenders can be sentenced to intensive drug rehab programs instead of prison time.

Thank you for your continued interest in the affairs of our state. I will continue to provide updates on a periodic basis. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Rep. Bill Sandifer

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