SC Legislature Increasing Their Power

Friends of South Carolina,

The South Carolina Legislature has created a new agency that will greatly increase their own power and authority.

The I-95 Corridor Authority, created by bill S211, will be run by the legislature and will have the authority to, among other things, manage the economy, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and financial structures of 17 counties along I-95.  And you will be taxed to pay for it.

Fortunately, we have one chance to stop its creation…

if we can get the House to vote to sustain the governor’s veto.

A list of Representatives who voted to create this monstrosity is at the end of this article.

Find your representative in the list.  If he voted for this new agency the first time, tell him he now has a chance to correct that mistake by voting to sustain the governor’s veto.  If he voted against it, tell him to be consistent and vote to sustain the governor’s veto.  If he didn’t vote, tell him to be there this time and vote to sustain the governor’s veto.

Most importantly, contact your representative, no matter how they voted the first time, and tell them to sustain the governor’s veto of S211.

According to the legislation, the I-95 Corridor Authority will be run by a board of 19 members nearly all of which are appointed by the Legislature.  None of them are appointed by the Governor.

As you know, the Legislature is only supposed to make the laws, the Executive enforces the laws, and the Judicial judges if the law has been broken and determines the penalty.

But, in South Carolina, way too often, the Legislature makes the laws, determines how they are enforced by appointing the members of boards and commissions, and has complete control over the judiciary because the Legislature has sole authority to appoint the judges.

Our state has a runaway Legislature and the I-95 Corridor Authority is just one more example of how they are trying to increase their power and influence in this state.

I wrote previously about the amount of power and influence over your life the I-95 Corridor Authority will have.  A further read of the bill tells us who will wield that power and influence.

The 19 member board will be the front, but the real power lies with those who appoint the board – The Legislature.

Fortunately, the governor vetoed the I-95 Corridor Authority Act.

Unfortunately, the Senate soundly overrode the governor’s veto 30 – 10. 

The House will vote on the veto on January 10^th when they reconvene for the new year.  

We need 1/3 of SC House to vote to sustain the governor’s veto so we can stop this agency before it gets created!

Please contact your Representative and tell him or her to sustain the governor’s veto on S211, the I-95 Corridor Authority Act.

You can find who your State Representative is at this link by entering your zip code.

So just how is the board that governs the I-95 Corridor Authority appointed?

First, there are six non-voting members of the board.  That reduces the voting members down to thirteen.  That is where the real power lies.

As Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Hugh Leatherman gets to appoint one voting member of the board.  So does Representative Brian White, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

The South Carolina Policy Council has written extensively about the large amount of power that rests in the hands of the legislature and especially with the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. This will be an additional link in their chain of power.

Senators and House members from the 17 counties along I-95 appoint 6 more members of the board.

With the legislature appointing 8 of the 13 voting members, you can see they will have control over the board and therefore the I-95 Corridor Authority, with all its power and influence.

The remaining 5 voting board members are the President of Morris College, the President of Francis Marion University, the President of South Carolina State University, the President of Claflin University and the Chairman of the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education.

Remember, this I-95 Corridor Authority will have the authority to:

• hire employees, consultants, officers, etc. and to decide their salary and compensation;
• partner with any other government agency from federal down to local to implement the Authority’s agenda;
• buy and sale anything (land, property, assets, etc.) and to manage, lease, rent, or otherwise do whatever they determine is necessary with the property they acquire in order to implement the Authority’s agenda;
• enter into contracts, agreements, etc., with anyone or anything in order to implement its agenda;
• sue and be sued in its own name;

The I-95 Authority will, in essence, have the authority to do whatever it thinks it needs to do in  “furtherance of its purpose”, to quote the legislation.

Its purpose is to implement the recommendations of the 189 page I-95 Human Needs Assessment and to “carry out economic development and educational improvement activities which, in the opinion of the Authority, will improve economic conditions.”

The Human Needs Assessment identifies these six areas of need: (1) Leadership and Local Capacity; (2) Regional Economic Development; (3) Education; (4) Infrastructure; (5) Tax and Finance; (6) Healthcare and Social Service Disparities.

It goes on to make 46 recommendations for improvement.

And whether you live in the 17 counties of the corridor or not, your will be taxed to pay for the implementation of those 46 recommendations.

We don’t need more government to fix the problems created by government, and we sure can’t afford to be taxed to pay for it.

I have great faith in the ingenuity and work ethic of the people of our state. If government simply gets out of the way, we can, and will, take care of ourselves and our neighbors.

Contact your State Representative today and tell him to sustain the governor’s veto of S211, The I-95 Corridor Authority Act.  It is vital to the future wellbeing of our state to stop this thing!

Our State Representatives are our last chance to prevent this huge growth in state government size,  spending, and authority!

You can find who your State Representative is at this link by entering your zip code.

You can see a list of all the Representatives who voted for this boondoggle and who chose not to vote at all below.

Thanks for all you do!

Let me know what your Representative says!  I am keeping score.

Original vote record for the I-95 Corridor Authority:

Y – voted for the I-95 Corridor Authority

N – voted against the I-95 Corridor Authority

X – Didn’t vote

E – Absent

Agnew       X

Alexander   Y

Allen       Y

Allison     Y

Anderson    Y

Anthony     X

Atwater     Y

Bales       Y

Ballentine  Y

Bannister   Y

Barfield    Y

Battle      Y

Bedingfield N

Bikas       X

Bingham     Y

Bowen       Y

Bowers      Y

Brady       Y

Branham     Y

Brannon     Y

Brantley    X

Brown G.A.  X

Brown H.B.  Y

Brown R.L.  Y

Butler      Y

Chumbly     X

Clemmons    Y

Clyburn     Y

Cobb-Hunter Y

Cole        Y

Corbin      N

Crawford    X

Crosby      X

Daning      X

Delleney    N

Dillard     Y

Edge        Y

Erickson    Y

Forrester   Y

Frye        Y

Funderburk  Y

Gambrell    Y

Gilliard    Y

Govan       X

Hamilton    N

Hardwick    Y

Harrell     Y

Harrison    Y

Hart        Y

Hayes       Y

Hearn       Y

Henderson   N

Herbkersman Y

Hiott       X

Hixon       E

Hodges      Y

Horne       Y

Hosey       Y

Howard      X

Huggins     Y

Jefferson   Y

Johnson     Y

King        Y

Knight      Y

Limehouse   X

Loftis      Y

Long        N

Lowe        Y

Lucas       Y

Mack        Y

McCoy       X

McEachern   X

McLeod      E

Merrill     E

Mitchell    Y

Moss D.C.   Y

Moss V.S.   Y

Munnerlyn   Y

Murphy      Y

Nanney      N

Neal J.H.   Y

Neal J.M.   Y

Neilson     Y

Norman      N

Ott         Y

Owens       N

Parker      Y

Parks       Y

Patrick     N

Pinson      Y

Pitts       Y

Pope        E

Putnam – not elected at time of the vote

Quinn       N

Rutherford  Y

Ryan        N

Sabb        Y

Sandifer    Y

Sellers     Y

Simrill     N

Skelton     Y

Smith G.M.  Y

Smith G.R.  N

Smith J.E.  Y

Smith J.R.  Y

Sottile     Y

Southard – not elected at time of the vote

Spires      Y

Stavrinakis Y

Stringer    X

Tallon      Y

Taylor      N

Thayer      Y

Toole       Y

Tribble, Jr Y

Vick        E

Viers       N

Weeks       Y

Whipper     Y

White       Y

Whitmire    Y

Williams    Y

Willis      X

Young       N