“This is a very ambitious Legislative Agenda that we announced today.  We are responding to the issues South Carolinians told us were important to them, our aim is to create jobs, reform government and improve the lives of our state’s citizens,” said House Speaker Bobby Harrell. “Strengthening our economy, promoting responsible government and improving education are all issues the House Republican Caucus has been a leader in supporting.  Our new, largest-ever Republican Majority will allow us to tackle these major issues and accomplish even more this session.”

The House Republicans won 76 seats in the General Assembly during the November election –  constituting the largest majority held by conservatives since South Carolina’s voters gave control of the House to Republicans in 1994.

“The voters of South Carolina spoke loudly that these conservative reforms must be enacted,” said Majority Leader Kenny Bingham. “Many of these items are pieces of legislation that the House has approved numerous times, but have not become law. This year, it is essential that we approve Voter ID, tort reform, spending limits, and other critical conservative pieces of legislation. The Republican Caucus is committed to pushing our agenda into law.”

The agenda items are:

• Creating Jobs in a Stronger Economy: The House Republicans are committed to creating a business-friendly economic climate and help them create jobs. We will pass comprehensive tort reform, changes to our “point of sale” requirements, and incentives for South Carolinians to help fund the next great small business.
• Improving Education: Making education funding more equitable and efficient, and ensuring a vibrant and healthy charter school system is essential for the long-term success of our education system.
• Transparency and Government Reform: Transparency and efficiency in government is a critical conservative philosophy.  We will fight for more on-the-record voting, more transparency in how our colleges and universities spend their money, and more efficiency in how state government is structured.  We will also fight for strict spending caps for state government, a shorter legislative session, and the requirement to show photo ID when voting.
• Limiting Government Power: Limiting government power is essential to freedom and personal liberty, and is also a core Republican philosophy. The Caucus will support the Repeal Amendment, a federal constitutional amendment that will allow two-thirds of states to vote to repeal a federal law. The Caucus will also support a revamped South Carolina Taxpayer Bill of Rights and new requirements that the General Assembly approve new regulations by the unelected officials of state agencies.
• New Pro-Life Protections: Protecting life and protecting our most vulnerable citizens is an essential role of government. We will support the “Born-Alive” legislation, the Freedom of Conscience Act, and an opt-out for doctors who don’t want to perform abortions that may be required by Obamacare.
• Fighting Illegal Immigration: The House Republicans will use an expanded majority to push through an Arizona-style immigration bill — building on the successes of our 2008 immigration legislation.  Early indications are this law is working, but we can do more to ensure we welcome legal immigrants and discourage illegal immigrants from settling in our state.

“This is the most expansive agenda the Republican majority has put forward during my entire time in the House,” Majority Leader Bingham said. “The House has passed many of these items in past years, and we will do so again this year. It is a rare thing in politics when a party receives a true ‘mandate’ from the public. The 2010 election, where the GOP gained three seats in the House, picked up all nine Constitutional Officers, and now control five of our six Congressional seats, was a mandate from the voters of South Carolina.”

“I look forward to working with our conservative, reform-minded, new governor on making these priorities law.”

2011-2012 Legislative Session Agenda

The House Republicans were trusted by South Carolina’s voters during the 2010 election to enact conservative reforms to create jobs, reform government, and make our state a better place to live. The House Republicans will fight for the conservative values we share with our constituents. Next to each is the name of a member of the Caucus who is the point person for that piece of legislation.

Create Jobs in a Stronger Economy

• Lawsuit Abuse Reform — The Caucus will fight to protect our state’s businesses from the threat of an unjustified, debilitating lawsuit, while preserving everyone’s access to our legal system. (Chairman Harrison)
• “Bill Wylie Entrepreneurship Act” — This legislation will allow “Angel Investors” to claim an income tax credit for providing funding to small business start-ups in our state. (Reps. Loftis, Stringer)
• “Point of Sale” — Reforming our Point of Sale reassessment requirements will jump-start our real estate market. (Rep. Merrill)

Improving Education

• Education Funding Reform — Making education funding more equitable is a priority for our state. (Chairman Cooper)
• Charter School law revisions — Ensuring a healthy and vibrant charter school choice for parents is essential for a strong education system in our state. (Chairman Owens)

Transparency and Government Reform

• On the Record Voting — The House will again approve a statute providing for more recorded votes. (Rep. Ballentine)
• Higher Education Transparency — The Caucus will fight to open the books of state colleges and universities. (Speaker Harrell)
• Agency Restructuring — We will search for cost savings and operational efficiency in state agencies. (Maj. Leader Bingham)
• Spending Caps — The House Republicans will pass spending caps for the sixth time in 15 years. (Rep. Garry Smith)
• Voter ID — Voters should be required to present a photo ID a proof of their identity when they vote. (Rep. Clemmons)
• Shorten the Legislative Session — The House will work to shorten the legislative session, work more efficiently, and save taxpayers money. (Maj. Leader Bingham)

Pro-Life Protections (Rep. Delleney)

• Born Alive legislation — This legislation ensures that babies born alive after an abortion procedure must be saved.
• Freedom of Conscience Act — This Act will require healthcare providers to not be held liable if they do not provide a service that is against their conscience.
• Obamacare Abortion Opt-Out — S.C. Doctors will not be required to perform abortions if required to by Obamacare.

Limiting Government Power

• Repeal Amendment — A federal constitutional amendment where two-thirds of states can vote to repeal a federal law. (Speaker Harrell)
• Taxpayer Bill of Rights — We will expand and update our state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights to ensure law-abiding taxpayers are treated with respect by government agencies. (Rep. Murrell Smith)
• Regulatory Reform — The General Assembly must vote, up or down, new agency regulations. (Rep. Bedingfield)

Illegal Immigration Reform (Rep. Bedingfield)

They have introduced S.1437, a rules change which would be worse than no recorded vote at all. Unless we put pressure on these guys, we will not get transparency this year.

Please take a few minutes to write a letter to editor of one or more of the newspapers listed below (and/or any other paper you know of). Letters should be concise, 200 words or less in order to increase the likelihood of their getting published. Include your full name, city and daytime phone number as the editors may want to call you to confirm your submission.

After you send you letter, please post it in the comments section below, and also forward it to your Senator, and to Senators McConnell, Knotts and Martin. (Click here to find their contact info.)

Thank you for your involvement! It really does make a difference.

If you need any further information about this issue, please contact Jonathon at jhill@andersonteaparty.com, or me (Priscilla) at wavetheflag@compright.com

Independent Mail Contact Bonnie Williams, Editorial Page Editor

The Index Journal Contact the Editorial Department at bcollins@indexjournal.com

Greenwood Today News@GwdToday.com

The Journal/Upstate Today Click here for contact page

Edgefield Daily editor@edgefielddaily.com

Westminster New/Keowee Courier westnews@bellsouth.net

Lexington Rep. Nikki Haley blasted a proposed Senate rule change to make its voting more transparent as a ruse to fool South Carolina voters and predicted Wednesday those voters would remember come Senate election time.

“They won’t forget this in two years,” Haley warned after the Senate Rules Committee voted unanimously for the rules change.

Contact your Senator today and tell them to vote no on S1437 and tell them to demand a recall of H3047 from committee!  The vote on S1437 will likely come Wednesday or Thursday.

5/13 Update: The full Senate will vote on the fake transparency bill S1365 today. Tell your senator to VOTE NO.

Under the leadership of Sens. McConnell and Martin, the Senate Rules Committee unanimously passed a rules change late Wednesday that would:

• Record every Senator as voting yes on every voice vote.
• After the voice vote, this rule change will allow each Senator to go to the clerk and ask that their “recorded vote” be changed to no!

Read S1365 it for yourself. This rule makes an incorrect record of every vote that is not unanimous. Worse, it allows the Senators to blatantly game the system. And this is what Martin and McConnell call transparency!

A quick report of the hearing Wednesday morning in the Judiciary subcommittee on H3047, requiring a roll call vote on every law passed and on every section of the budget.

Immediate action required:

Please contact your Senator and ask him to:

• Make a motion to recall H3047 from committee, and to
• Demand a roll call vote on the motion, and to
• Demand a roll call vote on every procedure that affects this bill.

Also, tell him that S1365 is junk! (more on that below.)

Report on the public hearing:

This subcommittee consists of Larry Martin, Jake Knotts, and Robert Ford. The only one of these three Senators who has declared in writing that he is for this bill is Robert Ford. He was absent today. Go figure on that one!

That left Larry Martin and Jake Knotts. You can guess the result. There were no surprises. The hearing started at 9:30 and adjourned at 12:30. The room was packed to overflowing. The guards would not admit everyone, so folks were standing in the hall. The room was over its capacity of 145.

No one was believing the excuses given by these Senators. McConnell was there, and although not a member of the subcommittee, he was allowed ample time to speak.

Nikki Haley gave a stellar defense of the bill. Senator Davis also was on the mark with his defense of the constitutionality of the bill. Senators Shane Martin and Mike Rose also spoke in defense of the bill. Senators Phillip Shoopman, Shane Massey, and Mick Mulvaney were also there in support of the bill, though they were not give an opportunity to speak. Shane Martin says other supporters were tied up in other committee meetings.

Many grass roots supporters spoke in defense of the bill.

After three hours, the subcommittee adjourned without a vote on the bill. They are content to let it die without being sent to the floor of the Senate for a full debate. Two Senators… Larry Martin and Jake Knotts have imposed their will on the people of South Carolina in spite of the overwhelming voice of the public otherwise.

What’s next?

Our only choice at this point is a motion to recall the bill to the Senate floor. This committee meeting did no good. It only delayed action by two weeks.

What everyone needs to do is contact your Senator and ask him if he will make a motion to recall H3047 from committee and if they will demand a roll call vote on the recall motion and every procedure thereafter that effects this bill.

Diversions…

One smoke screen that McConnell and Larry Martin are trying is Senate resolution S1365. This resolution would amend Senate rule 16 to include this wording:

On votes taken ‘viva voce’, the vote of all Senators who have not been granted leave by the Senate shall be recorded in the Journal as ‘aye’, however any Senator shall have the right to inform the Clerk that he desires his vote to be recorded as ‘no’.

(‘Viva voce’ means a voice vote.)

McConnell repeated over and over again that he is trying to get a bill passed that will record every single vote in the Senate. What he didn’t say is that S1365 won’t record them accurately. In fact, this will do exactly the opposite.

S1365, McConnell’s answer to transparency, will record every Senator as voting ‘yes’ on every voice vote unless the Senator asks the clerk to record their vote as ‘no’. So just to make sure it is clear. I’ll repeat… If S1365 is passed, the Senate journal will record every voice vote as ‘yes’ for every Senator, unless each Senator that votes no takes the time to ask the Senate clerk to correct his vote.

Leave it to McConnell to muddy up the water even worse in the name of transparency. Every vote that is not a unanimous ‘yes’ will be recorded wrong! So we go from having no information on a voice vote, to having wrong information on a voice vote. McConnell’s solution will take us from a bad situation to a worse situation in the name of transparency! Amazing!

Adapted from an email blast by Talbert Black, Jr. of the SC Campaign for Liberty. Talbert has been following this bill for some time and is doing an excellent job being the point person on this issue.

• The Senate already has a rule requiring roll call votes on some items and the Senate does not need to record all their votes because the Senate is “more deliberative” than the House.

• The South Carolina Constitution says that the Senate can make their own rules.

• The South Carolina Constitution already says that the Senate must take a recorded roll call vote when 5 senators ask for one so any additional requirements would be unconstitutional.

These two Senators sound very convincing as they make their arguments. However, rest assured that this is all smoke and mirrors from these two Senators. All they want is for you to stop pressuring them to be transparent!

Suspending the Rules

Regarding the first item, the Senate does have rules requiring recorded roll call votes on certain items and under certain conditions. The rules are pretty convoluted and it is hard to understand which votes should be recorded and which should not. Still, they are passing significant laws anonymously. In most cases, the rules have not required a roll call vote, in others, the rules have been ignored with no consequence. On top of that, the Senate can vote to temporarily ignore the rules at any time. They even have a name for it. It is called “suspending the rules”. A rule that can be ignored at will is no rule at all.

Constitutionality

Next, the South Carolina Constitution does say that the Senate gets to make their own rules. This law does not violate that provision of the constitution. H3047 is a rule that is being made by the Senate. No one else is making this rule for them.

Somehow, Larry Martin and Glenn McConnell think that this law violates the SC Constitution because the Constitution says that the Senate gets to make its own rules. That argument makes very little sense because the Senate is making this rule. H3047 will be voted on by the Senate, and if it passes, it will be their rule. I don’t see how that violates the provision that the Senate gets to make its own rules. McConnell and Martin are trying to wriggle out of the common sense notion that they need to record their votes on every new law they pass. Plain and simple.

Regarding the SC Constitutional provision that the a roll call vote must be taken if 5 senators ask for it, nothing in this law violates that requirement. A roll call vote can still be taken any time 5 senators ask for it. Nothing in this law prevents that. This law just provides additional times for which they must take a recorded roll call vote. McConnell and Larry Martin are obviously just throwing up smoke and mirrors in order to divert pressure to get this bill passed.

As I said earlier, if this law is unconstitutional because it provides additional circumstances under which the Senate will be required to record their vote, then the whole of Senate rule 16, which Larry Martin is so proud of, is unconstitutional as well. Larry Martin can’t have it both ways saying one is and one isn’t. Either they both are, or they both aren’t. Simply stated, rule 16 is completely constitutional and so is H3047.

Inadequacy of Senate Rule 16

Lastly, the South Carolina Constitution does say that a recorded roll call vote must be taken if 5 senators ask for one. But it does not say that this is the only condition upon which a roll call must be taken. If it did mean that, then Senate rule 16 must violate the SC Constitution as well, because it requires the Senate to take a recorded roll call vote for many other reasons than 5 Senators asking for one. In fact, Larry Martin is quite proud of the fact that he chaired the committee that created rule 16. Neither rule 16 nor H3047 violates the constitution.

You can read Senate rule 16 by clicking here. You will see that it has 11 additional requirements for when a roll call vote must be taken. So why is Larry Martin so proud of these additional rules and at the same time saying that H3047 would violate the SC Constitution? Larry Martin can’t have it both ways. Either H3047 and Senate rule 16 are both unconstitutional or neither of them are. Clearly, neither of them are.

So why isn’t Senate rule 16 good enough? Why do we need H3047? Several reasons. First, lets be clear that the Senate needs to record their vote on EVERY NEW LAW THEY PASS, whether they want to or not. In fact, they need to record their vote especially when they don’t want to do so. It is our right to know! They are representing us. We should know how they vote. How else can we judge how they are representing us? How can we know who to vote for in June and November?

So, the problem with a Senate rule is that the Senate can vote to suspend the rules. In other words, if the Senate decides they don’t want to follow a rule, all the need to do is agree to not follow it. It is called “Suspending the Rules”. It is outlined in Senate rule 43 which you can read by clicking here. A rule that you can ignore is no rule at all. It is simply a suggestion. Remember, we need to know how they vote especially when they don’t want us to know. That is why we need a law, not a rule.

Additionally, there is no consequence for ignoring a rule. As long as no Senator makes a “point of order” that a rule is being ignored, nothing happens. For example, H3452 passed the Senate on a voice vote. It is a bill regarding taxes for regulation of micro-distilleries. This law increases license fees for manufacturers from $1,000 to $50,000; and also introduces a new biennial license fee of $5,000 for micro-distilleries. Click here for the Senate journal for the day.

Item 7 of Senate rule 16 clearly says that a roll call vote must be taken for any law that raises, lowers, or creates a tax or fee. This law creates a new fee and raises an existing fee. Yet it passed on an anonymous voice vote. Hmmm. And Larry Martin and Glenn McConnell think that rules are good enough. Do you?

The Senate needs to pass H3047 so that they will not be able to carelessly ignore the requirement to record their vote on every law they pass. There will be no more confusion about which laws need a roll call vote and which laws don’t. It will be quite simple. Every new law gets a roll call vote before it is enacted.

Budget Transparency

Larry Martin also points out that the Senate does not normally vote on the budget section by section. He uses this as a reason why they do not need H3047. Huh? That’s like me telling a police officer that pulls me over for speeding that he shouldn’t write me a ticket for doing 10 miles over the speed limit because I always drive that fast. The police officer wouldn’t buy it, and neither should we.

Sincerity

In one last feeble attempt to dismiss the bill, McConnell tries to cast doubt on the sincerity of the bill’s sponsor. Although the sincerity of the bill’s sponsor really has nothing to do with the quality of a bill, I’d like to take a moment to defend the bill’s sponsor, Nikki Haley.

McConnell says that Nikki Haley introduced this bill for the purpose of posturing or seeking headlines. The only reason it is making headlines is because the Senate and House leadership have fought it at every turn. Again, more smoke and mirrors. Haley first filed a bill, H5019, requiring roll call votes way back on April 15, 2008. Nearly two years ago. You can see the bill and the date it was introduced by clicking here.

Just to put this in perspective, you should know that 2005 was her first year in the House and she was voted chairman of the Freshman class. Her second year she was voted Majority Whip. Her third year, she was put on the influential Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee. Her fourth year, she was made chair of the powerful Banking subcommittee. Does this sound like someone who needs to posture and grab headlines? If all she was interested in was power and influence, the best thing for her to have done was to keep her head down, obey the House leadership, and keep riding the system up.

Instead, she saw a problem with anonymous voice votes. There was no accountability nor transparency. So, she introduced H5019 near the end of her fourth year. She was told by House leadership to let the bill die. Instead, she strengthened it and reintroduced it as H3047 in the new legislative session of her fifth year.

House leadership stripped her of her influential committee assignments for not falling in line. She would not bend so she was demoted. Does this sound like someone posturing and looking for headlines? No, if she was interested in power and influence, she would have done exactly as House leadership instructed and stayed on the fast track to manipulate and control the House through chairmanships and the “Good Ole’ Boy” system.

Conclusion

Senator Larry Martin and Senator McConnell are simply trying to deflect your pressure. What happens if we believe their excuses? They get to continue to make their back room deals and swap votes without any real accountability. This must stop! How long can South Carolina afford a Republican led House and Senate that will not record their vote on 100% of the laws they pass and on each section of the budget?

This article was written by Talbert Black, Jr., Interim State Coordinator for the SC Campaign for Liberty. You can follow Talbert on Twitter at http://twitter.com/talbertjr1.