The Senate Finance Committee will meet Monday afternoon to create two state budget proposals–one using 350-million dollars in stimulus dollars, and one without that federal money. A resolution from Finance Chair Hugh Leatherman would override Governor Mark Sanford’s desire to divert stimulus money for use toward state debt. Leatherman’s resolution reached the Senate floor last week, but Leatherman agreed to bring the budget proposals back to the Senate this week before a vote is taken. [Read more...]
Legislative Week: stimulus cash and cigarette tax
March 27, 2009 By
The Senate Finance Committee is not adopting the practice of keeping two sets of books. However committee chairman Hugh Leatherman say his group will draft two budgets next week: one including $700 million in federal stimulus money to help fund education and public safety and one without the funds as Governor Mark Sanford continues his crusade to refuse the money. Lawmakers attempted this week to turn up the heat on Sanford to accept the money. Lexington County Republican Jake Knotts agrees with Leatherman that without the funds teachers will be laid off, states prisons would have to close, and worse. Knotts says he is frustrated by the whole deal. “We’re going to be laying off our teachers, opening the doors of the prisons to let criminals back out on the streets to rob the taxpayers of what they didn’t get before they went to prison, and all this on the backs of the poor taxpayer who’s got to try to make ends meet and feed their children and keep a job. Good gosh it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that.” [Read more...]
VA reaches out to vets
March 27, 2009 By
It’s estimated that only half of eligible combat vets who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have enrolled with the Veterans Administration to access health care benefits. Hundreds of veterans and active duty service members turned out Wednesday for a drop-in at the Dorn VA hospital in Columbia, created to inform people from around the state about the many services offered under the Veterans Administration.
Staff Sgt. Yhonni Rodriquez was among the participants. Originally from the Dominican Republic, he says he has enjoyed his seven years in the Army, but says he’s ready to get out in a few months. Rodriquez says his first tour in Iraq in 2003 was better than 2005, when his experiences were harder and he felt that he was in more danger. He says his first job was the Army. “It’s been really great. I can’t complain. While in the Army, I went to school for a couple of years. I got my degree, which is really important to me.”
Sam Gambell served in the Army in the 1970s, then went to Iraq as a reservist between 2003 and 2005. He spent months helping to ship off Saddam Hussein’s gold when it was captured. Gambell was cooking hamburgers for the event Wednesday, and says he regularly volunteers at the hospital. “Basically we’re all sisters and brothers, you know. We’ve all been there. We may not have been there at the same time, but we’ve been there. And we know what everybody went through, how they felt. Anytime we can help each other, I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Candance Truman is a veteran and works with VA counselors to help other vets, talking about her emotional issues. “I was in peace-keeping missions in Bosnia. Some of the things I saw started to trigger my anxiety attacks. Then I had more traumas in my life and that developed things into bi-polar. I went through a deep depression.”
Truman encourages vets having problems or suffering from stress to talk to the VA, and even to consider a therapy dog. She was there Wednesday with her trained therapy dog, a mixed-breed named Ozzie.
Priscilla Creamer with the VA hospital says the Veterans Administration can hook vets up with everything from counseling, to vocational rehabilitation, to getting a military cemetery plot. “One of the services is My Healthy Vet, a computer program where a veteran can go online and access his health care. Also we have a safe-driving initiative. We’re finding that returning veterans have a higher percentage of accidents, so we’re wanting to educate, and to use safe-driving techniques.”
Credit scores remain important in lean economic times
March 27, 2009 By
The South Carolina Real Estate Association reported earlier this month that home sales across the state have fallen 34 percent so far this year and the market could get more lean during these economic times as lenders become more stringent in their qualification process for granting loans. Already rejection rates are soaring for people applying for home loans. Nationally syndicated finance columnist Liz Pulliam Weston says before the recession, lenders went overboard when they decided to extend credit further and further relying too heavily on credit scores. Weston says lenders now have gone “old school” and are now going back to looking at people’s income, their other debts, and their assets in determining if they can pay back a loan. Still in all, Weston says your credit score is still very important. If your are looking to repair your credit or improve your credit score, Weston says you may want to think twice before closing any accounts or cancelling credit cards.
“Closing accounts can’t help your score and it can hurt it. In other words, closing accounts isn’t going to help you so I would try to keep them open and active if you possibly can. If you’re facing a situation where they are going to raise your rates, unless you agree to close your account, that may be your best choice.”
Weston says if you’re a member of a local credit union, you may want to inquire about transfering the balance of a high rate credit card to a credit union card or an installment loan to get a more reasonable rate.
Weston says if you have had a recent hospital stay or outpatient medical procedure make sure the bills have been paid. Weston says many consumers are surprised that outstanding medical bills can adversely affect your credit score. “Something fell through the cracks between a doctor and a hospital and an insurance company and rather than tell you that the bill hasn’t been paid, they just turn it over to collections. About a third of the people out there have some kind of collection on their report and about half of those are medical collections so you really want to bird dog those medical bills and make sure they are paid. If you get a bill that hasn’t been paid follow up.”
Weston says it is important to note that the three main credit bureaus are private businesses and they are in competition with each other so the information on their reports are likely to be different. Weston says you should obtain your credit report from all three bureaus, go through the reports, and dispute any information that is not right. Weston says to maintain a solid credit score be vigilant in paying your bills on time. “Anytime you miss a payment and it doesn’t matter if it’s on your mortgage, your credit card, whatever, you risk doing damage to your credit score and Sometimes that risk can be severe. If you have a good score missing even one payment can knock a hundred points off your score.”
Weston says most people would be surprised to know that half of Americans have a solid credit score of 700 or above and 40 percent have a score of 740 or above, which is excellent. However, Weston says we are moving into a situation where we are turning into a country of credit “haves” and “have nots.”
Advocate groups trying to get the word out to parents of uninsured kids
March 27, 2009 By
Unemployment is taking its toll in many ways. In January, 340 South Carolinians per day lost their health insurance, mainly due to job loss. Groups concerned about enrollment in the South Carolina Children’s Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP, have enlisted the help of state lawmakers to get the word to parents about the expansion of the program. S-CHIP is now able to provide free health care for 70-000 uninsured children. But only 12-thousand are currently signed up. Currently there are more than 130,000 South Carolina children who have no health insurance.
Sue Berkowitz with the Appleseed Legal Justice Center says organizations have produced more than 600,000 flyers and brochures that can be distributed to every elementary and middle school child in the state, to take to their parents. She says members of the General Assembly are helping a lot. “It was heart warming and amazing how we have been embraced by members of the general assembly. And it has been a bi-partisan effort. Everyone we have contacted has said, ‘Yes, I will take it back to help these kids.”
Berkkowitz says lawmakers did their part by expanding the program, and now it’s up to parents to take advantage of it. “What we hope is that if we continue to get the word out, we can get the number of children enrolled who should be, 70,000, because one child uninsured in South Carolina is one too many.”
Other organizations assisting in the effort include the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, South Carolina Fair Share and AARP.
