South Carolina Business One-Stop, or SCBOS, has changed the way we conduct business in our state. This online system streamlines access to government information, saves time, and removes bureaucracy – making government more use-friendly and convenient. I am particularly proud of this project not only for its innovation, but for the collaborative effort that brought it to fruition. SCBOS is a shining example of what can be achieved when public and private entities join forces.

SCBOS, created in 2005, allows prospective business owners to get most required permits and licenses from the convenience of their home or place of business, and make a single payment for all fees at the end of their transaction simply by going online to www.scbos.com. SCBOS presents a series of questions to users that determine what transactions must be made, with what agency, and then directs users through the necessary steps. This ensures all prerequisites are met in sequence before fees are paid, so that the user submits only the required applications during one convenient transaction. Those needing services who are unfamiliar with these types of administrative requirements can rest assured knowing they have completed the process correctly. The site collects data, submits applications, and facilitates payment via credit card or electronic funds withdrawal, and sends the necessary information to the proper state agencies. In addition, security measures have been built into the system to ensure a user’s privacy and data integrity. South Carolina was among the first in the nation to utilize a Website of this scope.

It has been estimated that it takes an average of 47 hours of filling out applications to start a business in South Carolina. This is unacceptable. Through SCBOS, the start-up time has been greatly reduced, giving businesses more time to open their doors, promote their product, and hire employees.

New, as well as existing businesses can use SCBOS to obtain necessary licenses and file and pay their taxes from the Website. The SC Department of Revenue via SCBOS offers alcohol beverage license renewals online. The SC Department of Consumer Affairs offers four important applications: Initial Maximum Rate Filing Schedule Consumer Credit Sales, Initial Maximum Rate Filing Schedule Consumer Loans, Consumer Credit Grantor Notification Form, and Credit Notification for Rent-To-Own Businesses.

Additional functions offered by the Secretary of State’s Office include the ability to change a registered agent, change of a registered office for corporations, limited liability company, and non-profit corporations. Domestic corporations may file Articles of Dissolution or Amendment. Domestic and foreign corporations may file the Resignation of Registered Agent and Discontinuance of Registered Office forms via SCBOS. Domestic LLCs now have the ability to submit Amended Articles of Organization. Domestic non profit corporations can file Articles of Amendment, and domestic LLPs can now renew their applications online.

Other state agencies offering services through SCBOS include the SC Employment Security Commission, and Clemson University’s Department of Plant Industry. As the momentum continues, more agencies will be added.

Since its inception, nearly 13,800 businesses have been formed utilizing this Website. These businesses represent every South Carolina county, 48 states, as well as Canada, Austria, Haiti and India. Also, over $4.1 million in payments have been processed for online services provided via SCBOS. Finally, customer feedback has shown that the majority of SCBOS users find the service “Very Easy to Use,” and 96.5 percent of respondents said they would use SCBOS again.

This initiative has far exceeded expectations, and I am excited about its potential in the coming years. SCBOS is truly a public-private partnership that benefits both our state and the business community.

Mark Hammond is the 41st South Carolina Secretary of State. He is responsible for the statewide registration of corporations, Uniform Commercial Code interests, business opportunities, employment agencies, trademarks, notaries and cable franchise authority. The Secretary of State’s Office oversees the incorporation of municipalities and special purpose districts, the annexation of land, and the escheatment of real property in South Carolina. Hammond serves as the administrator and regulator of all charitable laws of South Carolina. The Secretary of State is the custodian of Acts ratified each year by the General Assembly and handles the publication of positions within certain statewide boards and commissions. Hammond is an ex officio member of the Legislative Council and the Commission on Consumer Affairs.

The Executive Steering Committee for SCBOS included the Secretary of State’s Office, Department of Revenue, DHEC, Employment Security Commission, Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Department of Commerce, Budget and Control Board, SC Chamber of Commerce, Municipal Association of SC, and the SC Association of Counties. Other contributing partners included the SC Chief Information Officer, USC’s Small Business Development Center, the Commission on Higher Education, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Department of Insurance, Probation, Pardon and Parole, SC School for the Deaf and Blind, the US Small Business Administration, Richland County, the SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce, SCANA, and the SC Association of Certified Public Accountants. The Comptroller General and Treasurer’s Office were also instrumental in helping to get SCBOS off the ground.

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This post is part of The Palmetto Scoop’s ongoing Sunday Guest Post Series where South Carolina’s leaders make weekly contributions about important political issues. Our thanks go out to Mark Hammond and his staff for taking part.

During the past week, I have seen up close just what happens when Hollywood comes to town. Being booted out of my office for a week seems a small price to pay for allowing a major motion picture to be filmed in our state. The benefits to South Carolina far outweigh any slight inconvenience or blocked street.

In 2006, South Carolina took a bold step in developing knowledge based industry jobs with the passage of the SC Motion Picture Incentive Act. The Act is comprehensive. It was designed to recruit new dollars to our economy and create good high paying job opportunities for South Carolinians in the motion picture and television industries.

As important, the Act also rewards film producers for spending money with our South Carolina businesses or investing in South Carolina businesses that support these industries. Finally, the Act created collaborative training opportunities with our institutes of higher education, creating South Carolina graduates to participate in one of America’s top three exports… the entertainment industry.

The South Carolina Motion Picture Act was an immediate success. The SC Film Commission recruited over $170 million in production budgets to our state within one year. Producers spent about one-third of those dollars, over $60 million while here, creating jobs for our residents and opportunities for South Carolina small businesses. Six feature films were shot in rural and urban areas throughout our state. “Army Wives,” South Carolina’s first-ever television series, started filming in the Lowcountry.

Communities as diverse as Boiling Springs, Aiken, Florence, Chester and Columbia all hosted productions and enjoyed the revenues each spent in their hometowns. It seemed South Carolina had found an industry that would not only diversify our economy but benefit all of the state.

This, however, has since changed. The SC Department of Commerce found a loophole in the SC Motion Picture Incentive Act and reduced the incentives at the same time our competitors, other states, were creating their own incentives. This resulted in South Carolina film and television production revenues dropping over 65 percent the next year.

The film industry wondered that, if the Department of Commerce could change the incentives after only nine months, what would they do in the future. How can they count on South Carolina if we won’t enforce our own legislation?

With every month that passes, South Carolina is missing golden opportunities. It’s time to fix the problem and restore the original incentives. I support the efforts to pass legislation that would repair the problem. House Bill H.4815 restores the Legislature’s intent and improves upon the original Act by increasing the incentives for hiring South Carolinians and creating industry apprenticeships to broaden our citizens’ economic opportunities.

The State must look at operating similarly to the way we are handling our Retirement Systems funds by diversifying its economic portfolio. Relying upon a few market segments leaves us dependent upon the success of those markets. Diversifying our economic base, as well as the jobs that we create, will not only help South Carolina weather economic uncertainties, it will secure employment opportunities for future South Carolinians.

The film industry offers that diversity. It offers good high paying jobs in a knowledge based economy and it offers South Carolina participation in one of America’s leading exports. It also showcases South Carolina’s natural beauty. People from all over the world see movies that are filmed in our state and that free promotion adds greatly to our tourism coffers. The residual benefit is immeasurable.

I support the passage of Bill H.4815 and once again, turning the spotlight on South Carolina. Lights, camera, action!

Converse Chellis is the State Treasurer for South Carolina. He also serves as Chairman of the State Board of Financial Institutions and as one of five members serving on the State’s Budget and Control Board. His office was recently used as the set of “Nailed,” a major Hollywood feature being filmed in Columbia.

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This post is part of The Palmetto Scoop’s ongoing Sunday Guest Post Series where South Carolina’s leaders make weekly contributions about important political issues. Our thanks go out to Converse Chellis and his staff for taking part.

WAIT, IS IT REALLY A FEW DAYS LATE? YOU DON’T SAY…

I just wanted to make a note that the guest post that was supposed to be up Sunday has just been submitted to me and will run tomorrow.

It is quite timely — which is why it had to run tomorrow instead, thanks for the emails — given that Hollywood has come to South Carolina, so don’t miss it. I’m not giving away any more information, so you’ll have to stop by and read the post tomorrow after 8 a.m.

And if this is of no importance to you, then I suggest you go find a _______ and _______ it. I’ll assume you have enough of an imagination to fill in the blanks.

South Carolina’s public schools are in trouble. Ranked lowest in graduation rate and 49th in SAT scores, our public schools are not preparing our students for the challenges that lay ahead. In addition to growing achievement gaps between income and racial groups, researchers have found that some of our state’s “best” public schools are actually the furthest behind their national peers.

Despite abysmal rankings, public spending on K-12 education is enormously high and increasing faster than wages or inflation. Lawmakers are looking to spend $11,480 per child in the 2008-09 school year. Recent history is clear: More and more money is clearly not the solution to failing public schools. We must change how we fund education in South Carolina, not merely how much we fund public schools.

Tax dollars should be appropriated on a strictly per-pupil basis, allowing parents the freedom to choose the independent, private, charter, magnet, or traditional public school that meets the needs of their particular child. Only when parents are free to choose among all education options can we expect responsive and effective education for all children.

MORE MONEY

Public spending on education is not actually attached to the individual student. Appropriations are filtered down to schools in a tangled web of federal, state, and local dollars. Federal money is determined by the economic demographics of the area a school serves and local money is a function of the ability of county governments to collect property taxes. Neither corresponds to the number of students attending the schools. State money is sorted into per-pupil appropriations (the base student cost) and a huge range of programmatic and categorical spending items. These categories are treated as fixed costs, with money appropriated in lump sums.

The budget that just passed the House parcels $11,480 in per student K-12 education spending as: $1,097 federal; $4,867 state; and $5,516 local.

Recent school choice legislation (S. 457 and S. 851 in 2007, S. 1166 in 2006) has included tax credits, scholarships or vouchers at levels lower than the state portion of total per pupil spending. In fact, these bills allow for scholarships and tax credits that total only a percentage of that portion (up to 75% in S. 457 and only non-categorical money in S. 851).

Since neither federal nor local revenues are based on attendance numbers, public schools would still draw funds from these two sources if students transferred out of public schools. In fact, the more students that migrated out through school choice, the more money per-pupil would remain in public schools. This has been proven in Milwaukee, where school choice has operated since 1990 (see also here and here). Research also shows that competition leads to higher salaries for public school teachers as schools work to attract and retain effective teachers.

BETTER STUDENT PERFORMANCE

Any reform of education needs to be judged by its impact on student performance. Money is only one input toward that end, not the full story. School choice is exceptional among education reforms because in addition to providing more money for students in the public system, school choice programs correlate with higher student achievement in both public and private schools. Competition through educational options consistently yields system wide improvements.

The data on choice are clear. In 1998, an 18-state peer-reviewed study of dropout rates found that “competition from private schools does have a positive and statistically significant impact on the high school graduation rates of neighboring public schools.” In 2002, an analysis of school choice in Milwaukee found statewide gains in the public school performance in 13 of 15 major grade and subject categories from 1997 to 2001. A 2003 review of choice in Florida, found higher math and reading scores for all public schools. The Florida study further determined that the greatest gains were seen at public schools facing direct private competition. Choice means competition and this generates accountability, which is the key to performance.

School choice offers more freedom for parents and greater opportunities for their children. It is proven to boost spending and scores at public schools. Only those who see public schools as a end-in-themselves, and not just one avenue toward the larger goal of education, can argue that real school choice won’t benefit all children in South Carolina.

Randy Page serves as President of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, a statewide grass-roots organization that promotes limited government, lower taxes and increased educational options. Page may be reached at randy@scrgov.org

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This post is part of The Palmetto Scoop’s ongoing Sunday Guest Post Series where South Carolina’s leaders make weekly contributions about important political issues. Our thanks go out to Randy Page and his staff for taking part.

Serving as South Carolina’s primary advocate for seniors is a truly rewarding opportunity and I am pleased with The Palmetto Scoop’s invitation to be today’s Sunday Guest Post contributor.

In the few years that I have had the pleasure of leading the good folks at the Office on Aging, we have made great strides in laying a solid foundation for the coming Age Wave. It is our goal to make sure that our seniors are able to grow old gracefully, living well and doing so in their own homes.

To do this more effectively, we have set goals and made changes to the way the office works for seniors. I want the Office on Aging to be the most efficient and productive unit of state government. We have been cutting the fat out of payroll, rent, antiquated programming and refocused the staff to prepare for the challenges before us.

We have created SCACCESS, an electronic directory of 14,000 services specific to the county level. We have created an incentive program for geriatric physicians that has become a national model, attracting 14 geriatricians to serve our seniors. We have testified to Congress and are now about to launch a campaign to put people who scam our seniors out of business.

I have also personally led prevention and wellness activities throughout our state, and will host our fourth annual Lt. Governor’s Wellness Walk at the State Capitol on May 8. Just last weekend, Dr. Steve Blair of the University of South Carolina showed the 2008 South Carolina Aging Research Conference how just four 20-minute periods of exercise per week will result in improvements in personal health and longevity.

This brings me to a major demographic shift impacting our state, our country, and the world, the Age Wave. The Age Wave will bring change to the makeup of our country that will have an impact not only socially, but economically as well.

To bring into prospective the significance of this demographic shift, simply consider that half of all people since the beginning of time who have reached their 65th birthday are alive today.Advances in medical science have extended the average American’s life expectancy from 47 years in 1900 to 77 in 2000. When you combine this with the Baby Boom that followed World War II you end up with 78 million Americans, 1.3 million of which are South Carolinians rapidly approaching retirement.

Here in South Carolina, our senior population is growing exponentially because our climate is a magnet for the immigration of affluent retirees similar to that of our neighbors in the Sunshine State. This growth is so significant that we have issued 120,077 first-time driver’s licenses to people 50 and older since 2002.

South Carolina seniors are a marketer’s dream. They are dominant consumers when it comes to the purchase new automobiles, remodeling or selling their homes, vacation travel and as grandparents, they are the largest consumers of toys and games.

Simply stated, seniors generally have and spend money and having these funds flowing into our economy will certainly have a positive impact.

Dr. Andy Felts of the College of Charleston recently estimated that the annual economic impact of seniors in the Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester area was more than $2 billion annually.

Another major factor of the Age Wave is how it will impact employment numbers. Not only are Baby Boomers expected to retire from 14 million more jobs than Generation X can fill, new jobs are being steadily created to serve this retirement market. Ranking high on the top 10 job opportunities forecast for the next few years are health care, home remodeling, and retirement communities.

According to a report last summer in the online South Carolina business magazine, SCBIZ, there are major implications for our construction industry as South Carolina’s 65 and older population doubles over the next two decades. “Many veterans in the industry are in their 50s and approaching retirement. … In the 1990s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected the industry would need to hire 200,000 employees per year to replace those who are retiring or facing retirement and to meet the growing demand.”

Our seniors have done great things for this state and our country as a whole. It should be our goal to honor what they have done and continue to build on it. That is what we are doing at the Office on Aging, and I hope that you will all join us learning and growing as the county grays and the Age Wave rolls in.

André Bauer is the Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. His office oversees the S.C. Office on Aging, which works with a network of regional and local organizations to develop and manage programs and services to improve the quality of life of South Carolina’s older citizens, and to help them remain independent in their homes and communities.

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This post is part of The Palmetto Scoop’s ongoing Sunday Guest Post Series where South Carolina’s leaders make weekly contributions about important political issues. Our thanks go out to Lt. Gov. André Bauer and his staff for taking part.

In rapid succession, two recent op-eds have been published by Governor Mark Sanford’s apologists with me as their target. The first by Ashley Landess (“Our S.C. ports must remain competitive,” March 5, 2008) was simply misinformed.

Ms. Landess would be wise to do a fact-check on information the governor’s office provides her before firing off opinions. Contrary to her summary of my views, I have always advocated partnering with private companies to help raise funds for the future of our ports. I am simply opposed to completely turning over the management of our vital ports to a unionized company, which Governor Sanford has been aggressively pushing behind the scenes for years.

The more serious attack was made against my character by Tom Davis, the Governor’s chief of staff (“Ethical issues required Campbell’s departure,” March 7, 2008). Mr. Davis was attempting to refute my statement that the Governor removed me from the Ports Authority Board because I didn’t support his agenda for the ports. Defending the Governor, Davis said I was removed because I opened “a lobbying firm” and he claimed that was “exactly the reason Campbell was given for his removal.”

Mr. Davis is not telling the truth. In his eagerness to discredit me, Davis apparently forgot about a letter he wrote me on January 3, 2008 in which he gave the real reason the Governor wanted me to resign. I quote below directly from the letter Davis sent me:

“In any event, the governor’s conclusion that you should no longer serve on the SPA board is not simply due to the appearance of a conflict but for other reasons—most importantly, the different view you and he have as to the role the private sector and, in particular, private capital ought to play in the operation and financing of our ports.”

Mr. Davis was forced to reveal the governor’s true motive because there was no conflict. Governor Sanford has appointed dozens of people to state boards who employ lobbyists in their businesses. His case for “the appearance of a conflict” was obviously bogus. He wanted me off the Board because he couldn’t control my vote.

In other words, Mark Sanford is so consumed by his agenda that he’s willing to launch a personal attack on my character, in a manner he knows to be untruthful, merely to score a point on the editorial page. But the greatest irony of all is the governor’s decision to allow Tom Davis to write op-eds about ethics.

In 2005, when Mr. Davis served briefly as a Sanford appointment to the Board of the State Ports Authority, Davis (who also happens to be an attorney) was caught holding private meetings with representatives of Jasper County and SSA Marine, a shipping company the Ports Authority was suing, the same unionized company Governor Sanford has been pushing us to deal with.

Mr. Davis inserted himself into the middle of a highly contentious lawsuit. And he did so secretly, without authority from the Board. Such unauthorized ex parte contact during a lawsuit is not only inappropriate; it is also a serious breach of judicial ethics for an attorney.

When the members of our Board’s executive committee expressed the view that such conduct would not be tolerated, Mr. Davis admitted he had “made a mistake” and urged us not to say anything publicly. Shortly thereafter he returned to his job as the governor’s chief of staff.

Having gone through that experience, I was not at all surprised to learn of efforts the governor’s office was later accused of making to inappropriately influence judicial proceedings in Yemessee and regulatory decisions before the Workers Compensation Commission. It is a pattern of behavior that puts the governor’s political agenda above all other concerns, including ethics and the reputation of anyone who stands in their way.

Several friends advised me I should go away quietly, that I could never win a public relations war with Mark Sanford. I knew when I drew public attention to the governor’s tactics I would probably be attacked by his agents and even by his friends in the media, some of whom still subscribe to his carefully cultivated image. He is indeed one of the best self-promoters in the nation.

Still, I felt a moral obligation to tell the truth. And once again, I repeat my challenge to elected officials and others who care about the future of South Carolina. Watch this governor closely.

Nothing is more important to the economic future of South Carolina than a strong, efficient, competitive system of ports for imports and exports in the marketplace of the world. And Governor Sanford’s agenda to turn over the management of our ports to a unionized company is the pathway to disaster.

Carroll A. Campbell III is the President of Carroll Campbell and Associates and a Former Board Member of the South Carolina Ports Authority.

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This post is part of The Palmetto Scoop’s ongoing Sunday Guest Post Series where South Carolina’s leaders make weekly contributions about important political issues. Our thanks go out to Carroll A. Campbell III for taking part.

A little housekeeping:

I know that we haven’t had a Sunday Guest Post in a couple weeks, so I’m glad to say that I’ve locked down two big ones that will go up in the next three days. I apologize to those of you that came to look forward to guest commentary from influential South Carolinians every Sunday, but I’ve been very busy lately. Anyway, we’re back with a bang this weekend.

Since Sunday is Easter, I will roll one out tomorrow and one on Monday. And I GUARANTEE you that both will MUST-READ.

I have already received tomorrow’s guest post which will be up by 8 a.m., and it will certainly rattle some cages. I can’t give away too much, but it’s well worth stopping by.

I don’t have Monday’s post in my hands yet, but I’ve been assured that it will be on a VERY pertinent issue. I tried to find out what the issue was, but this person said I would have to wait.

So hopefully I didn’t build it up too much. All I can tell you is to stop by tomorrow and Monday — and every day — to check out this great stuff. And if you need a reminder, sign up for the TPS Report.

TWO POSTS TODAY? I WANT MY TPS, DAMMIT!

I admit it folks, I’ve been busy as hell lately and unfortunately, I have gone from about seven to 10 posts per day to a meager three or four. I appreciate y’all letting me know about that through the recent plethora of hate/love mail. All I can say is that there are only 24 hours in a day and I’ve been quite distracted with other stuff for the last week or two.

I would say “get over it,” but that would be mean. And I know how sensitive you are.

I also realize that there haven’t been any Sunday Guest Posts for the last two weeks. You no longer need to e-mail me about that, either. I’ve got it. For that, I take half the blame, but can promise you that both posts will be appearing this week.

Also, you have to understand that there has been a major lack of news lately. Seriously. What can I say, stuff around here has gotten real boring, real fast.

Since I don’t make up stories and tend to post mostly about South Carolina stuff, this leaves a very small pool of news for me to write about. Fear not though, because I live to keep y’all happy, I have managed to find a few big stories that are coming down the pike.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what’s been going on. I now return you to finding Waldo in the picture above (note: there’s a possibility that I accidentally cropped him out, so you may be looking for a while).

The President rolled out his budget nearly two weeks ago. $3 trillion dollars. That’s Trillion with a T. After 5 years I’m still astounded at the numbers we deal with in Congress. Although, truth be told – all things considered it’s a good budget. The President put forth a budget that addresses the immediate and long term economic challenges that are currently facing our nation. To the credit of President Bush in the Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09) budget he proposed, he addresses unsustainable government and brings the budget to balance by 2012 without raising taxes.

Administration officials have started the process of appearing before various committees to make their case for funding. They will make valid points, but tough decisions have to be made.

Despite what some may want to believe – we cannot have our guns and butter. We are a nation at war – cut backs must be made to ensure sufficient support for the war effort. In addition, we have to stop ignoring the enormous challenges of the future staring us in the face – Social Security, Medicare, our entire health care system, immigration reform, and energy independence just to name a few.

Too often Congress looks for a short term fix and while short term fixes are sometimes necessary, we need long term solutions.

I have a fundamental belief that a low tax rate is necessary for a strong economy, but unless we stop or at least slow growth – i.e. spending – by the federal government, we will continue to swim upstream without a paddle.

Increasing government by spending more money on new programs doesn’t strengthen the economy and it doesn’t mean we’ve solved a problem. Too often new programs – like existing ones, are proven to be wasteful with taxpayers’ dollars.

The President’s budget proposal puts a hold on spending on government entitlement programs- this is good news. The size of our economy needs to grow, not the size of our government. I have said for years that we should cap all discretionary spending at five percent less than current spending levels and then limit all future growth to the rate of inflation – for mandatory spending let’s reduce the baseline by five percent. It’s not a miracle cure, but it is a realistic common sense business solution to get a handle on our spending problem.

Still that alone is not enough. If there is one thing I’ve learned since becoming a member of the House Budget Committee it’s that folks use ‘emergency’ spending to get around the budget and appropriation process. The rules are different and we need to change them. No doubt emergencies happen. There has to be a way to get money to those in sudden need, without abusing the system and skirting the process. Let’s make sure the money we are designating as ‘emergency’ spending truly is – what’s wrong with requiring justification from a president if an ‘emergency’ spending request is submitted?

So I propose setting money aside in anticipation of emergencies – that’s what the average taxpayer does when budgeting. You can’t be prepared for everything, but you can anticipate and plan accordingly and I have not seen much of this in the past four years.

I have put this plan forward to Congress since being elected; however, it has been ignored. My plea again is to likeminded fiscally
conservative members who think the spending at the federal level is unsustainable.

Unfortunately, fiscal talk and budget talk can be complicated. It shouldn’t be…it really is as basic as keeping the burden on the
taxpayer low, and not spending more money than is being earned. A balanced budget can be achieved by 2012 if and when the federal government tightens control over government spending.

As long as Congress stops the spending spree and doesn’t raise taxes on American people for being married, having children, investing their money, and inheriting property, the economy will grow. We have had unprecedented economic growth for years and it is in large part a result of taxes being lowered – imagine if we cut spending as well.

For South Carolinians, a strong economy means more jobs. For your children and their grandchildren it means an affordable health care service that will be there for them – long into their golden years of their lives. It also means quality education, setting our kids up to succeed. It’s a chance for new opportunities, for those who have lost their jobs they may get educated training in a new field.

Boiled down – our future is in our hands. The question is how will we mold it? I am optimistic that if we get serious and tackle these issues today, the future will remain bright.

Congressman Gresham Barrett represents the Third Congressional District of South Carolina. Elected in 2002, he serves on the Budget Committee, the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on International Relations and the Ethics Committee.

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This post is part of The Palmetto Scoop’s ongoing Sunday Guest Post Series where South Carolina’s leaders make weekly contributions about important political issues. Our thanks go out to Congressman Gresham Barrett and his staff for taking part.

First of all, I would like to thank the Palmetto Scoop for allowing me the opportunity to submit my very own “TPS” Report.

It is an honor to serve you as Speaker in the S.C. House. Bringing the political debate to the people and talking about the issues we work on at the State House in a public format is one of my favorite parts of the job. Politics is all about the free interaction of ideas.

Blogs, websites and other “New Media” outlets are beginning to play a bigger and bigger role in our technology driven world. I greatly encourage their participation and appreciate the addition they have made to the political process in South Carolina.

I too have jumped into the process, and will use this as an opportunity to shamelessly plug my own site.

Later this week, we are launching a new website that will provide people a great way to access up-to-date information on what the General Assembly has been working on. The new version of BobbyHarrell.com will put bloggers, members of the media and everybody else just a click away from the latest news and updates on issues the House is working on and provide readers a quick way to get in contact with me and see my thoughts on major issues.

We have seen this medium come a long way.

In my view, Thomas Paine was the first American blogger. His common sense contributions on issues were viewed as, at the time, criminal thought. But his revolutionary ideas helped create the cornerstone of our Constitution, the First Amendment.

Today, this free thinking process has been taken to a new level. Now, blogging is more like free speech on steroids.

This is the future. People better adapt now, or move out of the way.

This is an extremely busy year for the S.C. House, election years always are. But already, we have been able to address a number of issues.

In an effort to promote responsible spending practices and curb pork spending at the state level, we passed a measure that will put a stop to hidden earmark spending in our state budget. Our taxpayers have the right to know exactly how their money is being spent.

Over the last couple of years, the House has passed several bills that address our state’s exploding illegal alien population. The number of illegal immigrants in South Carolina has grown in the past decade from 5,000 to an estimated 75,000 illegal aliens here today, at a cost to our taxpayers of over $186 million a year. While the true solution to our nation’s illegal immigration problems reside at the federal level, states have been forced to act because of the federal government’s inability to deal with the issue.

In the first month of this year’s session, the House passed “The South Carolina Plan.” This plan is the strongest, most comprehensive illegal immigration reform package our General Assembly has ever considered. Past plans have failed in the Senate, but it looks like this year we will be able to get a solution to the Governor’s desk.

We have introduced legislation that does away with the PACT test in favor of a diagnostic test our teachers have been asking for. The plan brings us inline with all other states by following the federal No Child Left Behind Act. House members rejected other plans that were loaded with feel-good language that watered down accountability in our educational system and instead have backed this plan that keeps our high standards in place.

This week our state budget is being debated in the full House Ways & Means Committee.

South Carolina is feeling the same economic slow down the rest of the nation is experiencing. We are still experiencing growth but at a much reduced rate than that of years past, so spending will be greatly reduced this year.

But our fiscally conservative actions over the past few years should help our state’s economy continue to grow. During our most difficult budget years, we refused to raise taxes and that led to a major economic turnaround. Last year alone, we passed the largest tax cut our state has ever seen, reducing taxes by over $220 million.

A major concern we are addressing in this year’s budget is improving our state’s infrastructure. We are attempting to devote the revenue currently generated from the sales tax on cars to go solely to our roads and bridges. This move will help prevent any effort to raise the gas tax.

These are just a few of the things we have been working on this year. And I look forward to updating you on further progress in later “TPS” Reports.

Please continue to be a part of the process and let me, and the other members of the House, know what your major concerns are this year. By participating, you highlight issues, steer debate and play a part in deciding our state’s future.

Thank you, and God Bless.

Rep. Bobby Harrell is the Speaker of the S.C. House of Representatives. Elected in 1992, Speaker Harrell has also served as Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee and as House Republican Caucus Majority Leader.

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This post is part of The Palmetto Scoop’s ongoing Sunday Guest Post Series where South Carolina’s leaders make weekly contributions about important political issues. Our thanks go out to Speaker Bobby Harrell and his staff for taking part.