The House of Representatives has adjourned for the 2010 session. I hope that you find this update helpful and informative:

Tax Realignment Commission (TRAC) Update – Sales Tax: The biggest news of this week as to our state government is that the TRAC Commission submitted a draft of its sales tax report which proposes a variety of changes that would have an impact on South Carolina residents and business-owners. The report recommends that the State do the following:

1. Lower the state wide sales tax from 6% to 4.96%.

2. Repeal the sales tax exemptions for prosthetics; hearing aids; cars with dealer tags; self-propelled light construction equipment; fire truck equipment; tangible personal property sold to the federal government; feed for poultry and livestock; containers for preparing agriculture, dairy, grove, garden, turpentine and gun resin for sale; newspapers; wrapping paper, twine, bags and containers for sale and delivery of personal property; railroad cars, locomotives and monorail cars; vessels and barges more than 50 tons burden; farm, grove, vineyard and garden products that are sold by the producer; equipment and electricity sold to TV and radio stations; plants and animals sold to public zoos and gardens; gas and electricity used in the production of poultry, livestock, swine and milk; concessions sales at festivals; materials for commercial housing of poultry and livestock; extended warranties on vehicles; sweet grass baskets; and equipment operated by hydrogen fuel cells. These items would be subject to the new 4.96% statewide sales tax.

3. Implement a new 2.5% sales tax on groceries, electricity, prosthetics, and prescription drugs.

4. Eliminate the exemption for vacation time share plans and the general one percent sales tax exemption for people 85 and older is.

As to the current recommendations from last week , click here for a section by section summary, and click here for the full report.

Further Work by the TRAC Commission: The TRAC Commission is also considering recommending the following:

1. Charging the state’s sales tax on services, including massages and facials at day spas and hair care at salons;

2. Cutting back on the scope of goods subject to the tax free “back to school” weekend;

3. Eliminating the tax free weekend for guns and hunting supplies;

4. Changing the state’s gas tax.

Not the Final TRAC Report: This is NOT the final report of the Commission. They are considering other taxes in the state beyond the state sales tax. They will continue to receive input and will not take a final vote until their September meeting.

My Initial Observations on the TRAC Sales Tax Report: I am sure that this initial report and its recommendations will not please everyone as we all know that it is impossible to please everyone all the time. My understanding is that the TRAC Commission members say that South Carolina must update its tax system to create the broadest tax base possible with the lowest tax rate possible. To do this, the State must diversify its tax structure and spread the burden along as wide a base as possible. This is NOT the final report of the Commission. They will continue to receive input and will not take a final vote until their September meeting. As for me, I am studying the report and its recommendations. I also am studying the materials that the TRAC Commission considered which you can also review by clicking here. Any recommendations of the TRAC Commission ultimately have to be approved by the General Assembly and the Governor during the normal legislative process of next year’s session. The General Assembly and Governor can accept all, some, or none of the recommendations. If you want me to know your thoughts over the coming months on these issues, please let me know.

Speaking to Groups Around the District: Several local groups have asked me to attend one of their meetings to provide an end of session report to their members. If you have a group that would like for me to come to a meeting during the next few months, please let me know.

Responding to Constituent Email: I am behind in responding to a large volume of constituent email which I received in the last part of June.

Email Updates: Many people in District 81 are receiving this email update. However, there are many others who do not receive them because I do not know their email addresses. If you know of people who do not receive my updates but they would like to, please email their names and email addresses to me.

Road Issues: If you see a road problem, you can call the SCDOT at 641-7665 or Aiken County at 642-1532 to report the problem. If you do not get a prompt response, please let me know at TomYoung@schouse.gov or call me. In the past six months, I have received many different reports of problems and I have relayed those to the appropriate agencies.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent you. Please let me know if I can help you in any way or if you have questions about these or other issues. Your feedback is meaningful and appreciated.

Sincerely,

Tom Young

The House of Representatives has adjourned for the 2010 session. I hope that you find this update helpful and informative:

Town Meeting: I held a town meeting on Tuesday, July 13 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Odell Weeks Center in Aiken. Over sixty people attended and we had a good discussion about what did and did not pass this past session at the State House.

S.C. Lottery: At the town meeting on Tuesday night, someone asked how the lottery money is appropriated. I have attached a chart showing the breakdown of appropriations since the lottery began in 2002: click here to view chart!

Top States for Business: CNBC released its 2010 annual rankings of the 50 states as to which are the best for business. South Carolina moved up from 37 in 2009 to 31 in 2010. While we made some improvement, our neighboring states North Carolina and Georgia are ranked number 4 and 10 respectively. The following article explains the rankings and the criteria used in coming to the rankings: click here to view article!

Interesting Information on Teen Drivers: A constituent passed on to me information about graduated driver licensing programs and a Johns Hopkins School of Public Health study showing that such programs have reduced the rate of fatal crashes among 16 year old drivers by anywhere from 11 to 20 percent. The following link compares the 50 states and their respective requirements as to teen drivers: click here to view the comparison.

Congratulations to Aiken 12 Year Old All Stars!: Congratulations to the Aiken 12 Year Old All Stars who won the South Carolina state tournament in baseball this past week and will head to Ocala, Florida to represent our state in the regional finals beginning on July 29. They are planning to do well in the regional finals and if they do, they will be there for about a week. The costs of traveling to and from Ocala and staying a week for the tournament are expensive and the City can only provide so much assistance. If you would like to contribute to help the team with their expenses, please make your check payable to: 12 Year Old All Stars c/o Aiken Elite and mail it to: 109 Sassafrass Rd.; Aiken, SC 29803.

Responding to Constituent Email: I am catching up on a large volume of constituent email that I received during the last two weeks of June.

Aiken County Public Library Summer Reading Program: The annual summer reading program for children through the 5th grade has started at the Aiken County Public Library. The Program runs through July 31. Children who read the required number of books will receive a medal and a certificate of completion. Reading is essential to doing well in school. Please encourage as many young people as you can to read this summer. For more information, call the Aiken County Public Library or simply click here.

Speaking to Groups Around the District: Several local groups have asked me to come to one of their meetings to provide an end of session report to their members. If you have a group that would like for me to come to a meeting during the next few months, please let me know. During the past week, I spoke to the Kiwanis Club and a meeting of graduates from the National Academy of Police Officers.

Email Updates: Many people in District 81 are receiving this email update. However, there are many others who do not receive them because I do not know their email addresses. If you know of people who do not receive my updates but they would like to, please email their names and email addresses to me.

Road Issues: If you see a road problem, you can call the SCDOT at 641-7665 or Aiken County at 642-1532 to report the problem. If you do not get a prompt response, please let me know at TomYoung@schouse.gov or call me. In the past six months, I have received many different reports of problems and I have relayed those to the appropriate agencies.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent you. Please let me know if I can help you in any way or if you have questions about these or other issues. Your feedback is meaningful and appreciated.

The House of Representatives met on Tuesday of this past week for the last time during this legislative year. I hope that you find this update helpful and informative:

Happy Independence Day: I hope that you and your family enjoyed the July 4th holiday and reflected on how blessed that we are to live in the United States of America.

House Met For Last Time Last Tuesday: The House returned to Columbia last Tuesday to address any outstanding gubernatorial vetoes. The House addressed three of Governor Sanford’s vetoes sustaining one and overriding two. The veto which was sustained related to a bill that had been amended in the Senate to allow certain nonresidents of the state to get a special lifetime hunting license. The Senate amendment had placed a strange combination of property ownership and birth place requirements for the nonresident lifetime hunting license which suggested that the amendment was intended to benefit certain folks rather than a class of people in or outside of the state. The veto was easily sustained by nearly a unanimous House. The veto that received the most debate was the Governor’s veto of legislation that will require those convicted of certain violent crimes to have an indicator placed on the back of their South Carolina driver’s licenses and state identification cards. The bill provides that if the person is not convicted of an additional violent offense within 5 years of completing his sentence or while on probation or parole, in the discretion of the judge, then the indicator could be removed. The indicator cannot be used as grounds to search or detain a person but is utilized only as an officer safety procedure. The intent is to alert police officers to former violent crime offenders in a roadside stop quicker than the time it takes for the officer to go back to the patrol vehicle and enter the driver’s license information and criminal history. The law enforcement community in the state strongly favored this bill as an additional way to protect law enforcement officers in the line of duty. I voted to override the Governor’s veto on this bill.

Town Meeting: I have scheduled a town meeting for Tuesday, July 13 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Odell Weeks Center in Aiken on Whiskey Road. I will provide an end of session legislative update at that time. The public is invited.

Voter Identification Bill: The Senate did not take action on the Voter ID legislation last week and the compromise bill has died on the Senate calendar. The process will have to start anew next session in 2011. To recap, the House approved Voter ID 3 times in 15 months. Three weeks ago, the House passed the House-Senate Conference Committee version of the bill which provided that the photo identification requirement will start in the 2012 elections. Also, the Conference Committee version provided an eight day period for early voting from Saturday to Saturday prior to an election day, and it allowed absentee voting under certain circumstances during the 30 days prior to an election. After the House passed the Conference Committee version and sent it back to the Senate, some senators filibustered the bill and held it up. Despite having 27 Republicans in the Senate and needing only 24 votes to break a filibuster, the Senate did not take a vote on the Conference Committee report and the bill died for the year when the Senate adjourned last week. I voted to approve voter ID all 3 times when it came up in the House.

“FMAP” Money Update: As you may recall from my column two weeks ago, the last veto that the House considered close to 1:00 am on Thursday, June 17 was the veto of the entire section of the budget where the General Assembly appropriated the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) money before it has been received by the State from the Federal Government. The total in this section is $214 Million. I voted to sustain the veto of this section and the veto was sustained by the full House. Here is why I voted to sustain. The money being “appropriated” is not in South Carolina — it is money that the budget writers are HOPING we will get from the federal government. On June 4 and again on June 16, Congress voted NOT to send that money to the states including South Carolina. Last week, I read an article that stated that South Carolina was in the minority of states that did not approve its budget with the money in it. However, 28 states did approve their respective budgets with this money in it even though the money may not be provided by Congress. If the money does not come, then those states will face a substantial shortfall by “appropriating” dollars that do not come. If you would like to see the article and chart of which states were in the minority with South Carolina and the 28 states that may have a budget shortfall because they “appropriated” dollars that they do not yet have, then click here.

Good News on Yucca Mountain: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission legal panel ruled last week that the U.S. Energy Department cannot withdraw its licensing application for Nevada’s Yucca Mountain to be a permanent nuclear waste repository. In a 47-page order, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled Energy Secretary Steven Chu does not have the authority to pull the plug on a process that Congress started when it passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982. As you may recall back in February of this year, state and county leaders met several times to consider ways for the State and Aiken County to combat the recent Obama Administration decision to close Yucca Mountain as the permanent site for the nation’s spent nuclear waste. The Obama Administration’s decision came despite nearly thirty years of public investment and research in the Yucca Mountain project and was made without congressional input or approval. Local and state leaders here believed that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 required that Congress affirmatively approve the change that the Obama Administration proposed as to Yucca Mountain. The County and the State took legal action to prevent any federal government action to stop the Yucca Mountain program without congressional approval. Last week’s decision is great news for Aiken County and South Carolina as many people work to ensure that high level spent nuclear waste currently stored at SRS does not remain there permanently.

“Fair Tax” Education Seminar: On Saturday, July 10 from 10:00 am to noon, there will be a Fair Tax workshop in Aiken at USC Aiken in the Business and Education Building, Room 122. The seminar is designed to educate about the Fair Tax concept. The seminar is open to the public but the organizers need to know if you plan to attend so they can have an idea of the number. Please RSVP to Pat Dickerson at: PatD@alumni.wfu.edu or call him at 404-731-3688 to let him know if you are coming. If you are unfamiliar with the USC Aiken campus, the Business and Education Building is in the rear of the campus adjacent to Parking Lot C.

Aiken County Public Library Summer Reading Program: The annual summer reading program for children through the 5th grade has started at the Aiken County Public Library. The Program runs through July 31. Children who read the required number of books will receive a medal and a certificate of completion. Reading is essential to doing well in school. Please encourage as many young people as you can to read this summer. For more information, call the Aiken County Public Library or simply click here.

Speaking to Groups Around the District: Several local groups have asked me to come to one of their meetings to provide an end of session report to their members. If you have a group that would like for me to come to a meeting during the next few months, please let me know.

Email Updates: Many people in District 81 are receiving this email update. However, there are many others who do not receive them because I do not know their email addresses. If you know of people who do not receive my updates but they would like to, please email their names and email addresses to me.

Road Issues: If you see a road problem, you can call the SCDOT at 641-7665 or Aiken County at 642-1532 to report the problem. If you do not get a prompt response, please let me know at TomYoung@schouse.gov or call me. In the past five months, I have received many different reports of problems and I have relayed those to the appropriate agencies.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent you. Please let me know if I can help you in any way or if you have questions about these or other issues. Your feedback is meaningful and appreciated.

The House of Representatives did not meet this past week. I hope that you find this update helpful and informative:

Session Tomorrow: The House and Senate return to Columbia tomorrow for session to address any outstanding gubernatorial vetoes. The House addressed all of Governor Sanford’s budget vetoes two weeks ago. The Senate still has some budget vetoes left to consider tomorrow.

Town Meeting Date Change: My town meeting scheduled for June 29 from 6:30 to 8:00 at Odell Weeks is CANCELLED. The meeting is RESET for Tuesday, July 13 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Please note the change.

Voter Identification Bill: As I wrote last week, this bill’s fate will be determined when the House and the Senate return tomorrow. Two weeks ago, the House passed the final version of this bill which requires voter identification to vote. The photo identification requirement will start in the 2012 elections. Also, it has an eight day period for early voting. This eight day period is from Saturday to Saturday prior to an election day. Finally, the bill still allows absentee voting under certain circumstances during the 30 days prior to an election. After the House sent its final version back to the Senate, some senators in the State Senate filibustered the bill and held it up. The bill’s fate will be determined when the House and Senate return tomorrow.

Economic Development Bill Becomes Law: Last week, Governor Sanford signed the Economic Development Competitiveness Bill. He hailed it as accomplishing meaningful reforms to help our State’s economy. Some of the main points of the bill include the following:

* Reforming the Endowed Chairs program to help shift its focus to job creation and allow private sector investment to lead public sector investment;
* Removing many of the special jobs tax credits that have been legislated over the years, making the state’s credits based purely on economic criteria;
* Providing relief to manufacturing property taxpayers, who currently pay the highest rate in the nation;
* Broadening and modernizing the outdated Economic Impact Zone provisions, enacted in 1995 in response to federal base closures;
* And requiring greater transparency in the reporting process for utility tax credits.

Aiken County Public Library Summer Reading Program: The annual summer reading program for children through the 5th grade has started at the Aiken County Public Library. The Program runs through July 31. Children who read the required number of books will receive a medal and a certificate of completion. Reading is essential to doing well in school. Please encourage as many young people as you can to read this summer. For more information, call the Aiken County Public Library or simply click here.

Speaking to Groups Around the District: Several local groups have asked me to come to one of their meetings to provide an end of session report to their members. If you have a group that would like for me to come to a meeting during the next few months, please let me know.

Email Updates: Many people in District 81 are receiving this email update. However, there are many others who do not receive them because I do not know their email addresses. If you know of people who do not receive my updates but they would like to, please email their names and email addresses to me.

Road Issues: If you see a road problem, you can call the SCDOT at 641-7665 or Aiken County at 642-1532 to report the problem. If you do not get a prompt response, please let me know at TomYoung@schouse.gov or call me. In the past five months, I have received many different reports of problems and I have relayed those to the appropriate agencies.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent you. Please let me know if I can help you in any way or if you have questions about these or other issues. Your feedback is meaningful and appreciated.