William Christopher looks at this past week in the South Carolina legislature.
(Sounds from the Statehouse MP3 1:51)
Sounds from the Statehouse 2-5-10 MP3 1:51
(This is a regular feature of SCRN political coverage)
Sounds from the Statehouse 2-5-10 (Audio)
February 5, 2010 By
ESC restructuring gains momentum in wake of audit
February 5, 2010 By
In the wake of what South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell calls a scathing report by the Legislative Audit Council, the restructuring of the Employment Security Commission remains a front burner issue for state lawmakers. Appearing on an SCETV House teleconference earlier this week Harrell, Orangeburg Democrat Gilda Cobb-Hunter, and Lexington Republican Kenny Bingham outlined the goals of a successful restructuring of the ESC. Bingham, Chairman of the House ESC Ad Hoc Subcommittee says greater accountability is foremost, pointing out that agency heads did not alert the Governor nor the Legislature that the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund was in danger of becoming insolvent and ultimately fell into a deficit situation.
“We’ve gone from $8 million, from a positive balance just eight years ago to we are now today sitting at a little over $7 million in deficit. We’re probably going to reach in the neighborhood of $1.7 billion before the economy turns around and we can start making positive gains back out of this hole that we’re in. We’ve got a huge gap we’ve got to make up so the UI trust fund and how we set our tax structure is going to effect our state’s opportunity to recruit and retain businesses and quite frankly every business that currently exist in the state.” [Read more...]
More flights from Haiti arrive in Charleston
February 5, 2010 By
Three more planes from Haiti flew into the Charleston International Airport this morning. “Total of 147 passengers. Some of those were military, very few of those were military. But, bringing Americans citizens back into Charleston, and many of those took connecting flights,” says Derec Becker with the South Carolina Emergency Management Division.
Becker says none of the passengers on all three flights needed hospitalization. Out of the total 147 passengers from the three flights, he say most are earthquake survivors who were living in Haiti.
“There are a lot of people who had lived in Haiti their entire lives, but they were American citizens. A lot of people were going to see family in South Florida, a lot of them were going to New York, but this was a stopping point because they took a military flight,” says Becker. [Read more...]
Drake, lawmakers unveil tax rebate to spur hiring (Audio)
February 5, 2010 By
Democratic candidate for Governor Dwight Drake unveiled a new proposal he says will stimulate hiring in South Carolina. Drake says the “Back to Work Rebate Act,” creates an tax incentive for employers to hire unemployed workers receiving unemployment checks.
Dwight Drake
The legislation was also introduced in the House Thursday by Representatives Boyd Brown of Fairfield County, Cathy Harvin of Clarendon County and Bakari Sellers of Bamberg.
Under the measure, any South Carolina employer who hires a worker who has been on state unemployment rolls for 60 days or more will receive a one-year tax rebate equal to the amount of state income tax that would be paid on the employee’s salary.
Drake says employers would collect the rebate by retaining the amount each quarter that would have been sent to the Department of Revenue for the employee.
Drake says the proposal will help to reduce the unemployment rolls. He says, “With 270,000 men and women out of work across South Carolina, families need help.”
Drake explains how he got the idea for the proposal.
(Drake on rebate proposal MP3 :44)
Drake on rebate proposal MP3 :44
