My first attempt at fetal pain awareness was ruled out of order, however, a re-draft was within the boundaries of rule 24.

(DHEC: Fetal Pain Awareness)   (A)   The department must utilize at least one hundred dollars to prepare printed materials concerning information that unborn children at twenty weeks gestation and beyond are fully capable of feeling pain and the right of a woman seeking an abortion to ask for and receive anesthesia to alleviate or eliminate pain to the fetus during an abortion procedure. The materials must be provided to each abortion provider in the State and must be placed in a conspicuous place in each examination room at the doctor’s office. The materials must contain only the following information:

“Fetal Pain Awareness”
An unborn child who is twenty weeks old or more is fully capable of experiencing pain. Anesthesia provided to a woman for an abortion typically offers little pain prevention for the unborn child. If you choose to end your pregnancy, you have a right to have anesthesia or analgesic administered to alleviate the pain to your unborn child during the abortion.” (B)   The materials must be easily comprehendible and must be printed in a typeface large and bold enough to be clearly legible. 

This article references to S. 693, a bill that extends the appeal time frame to the Office of State Fire Marshall

Senate tweaks fire code law in response to audit by Matt Long on May 3, 2011

Sen. Kevin Bryant (R-Anderson) sponsored the bill. Businesses would have more time to appeal fire code violations under a bill heading through the South Carolina Legislature. It comes after an audit last year found the State Fire Marshal’s Office was “inconsistent” in how it enforced the code.

The Senate unanimously passed legislation last week that gives companies 30 days to appeal. Sen. Kevin Bryant (R-Anderson) explains the current law only gives them 24 hours.

Any small businessman will know that’s almost impossible, for someone to walk in unannounced (and) write a citation and you only get 24 hours to appeal.

Senators crafted the bill after a testy December hearing, when many businesses complained about what they considered “absurd” rules. Sen. Glenn Reese (D-Spartanburg) had requested a Legislative Audit Council audit after some of his constituents complained.

Bryant said the problem was that fire marshals weren’t properly interpreting the law.

I think we found the legislation’s pretty clean. It’s just a misinterpretation. That’s where the problem was.

Governor Nikki Haley appointed a new fire marshal, Adolf Zubia, to replace former Marshal John Reich earlier this year. Zubia promised legislators the problems would not continue under his watch.

Code violations that present an “imminent danger” would still have to be fixed right away. An example of such a violation could be if a business kept a gas can next to a propane water heater.

The bill now heads to the House.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

http://www.wltx.com/news/article/135409/2/Walmart-to-Bring-4000-Jobs-to-SC-Nikki-Haley-Says

Lexington, SC (WLTX) – Walmart is bringing 4,000 jobs over five years to South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley announced Wednesday.

Haley made the announcement alongside state leaders and Walmart USA’s CEO Bill Simon at a news conference at the State Farmers Market.

The governor says the company will bring new stores to the state over the next five years and create all retail positions. She says the stores will create 300 management salaried jobs.

The company said in a release that the new stores will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new economic activity.

The investment includes relocations and expansions of existing stores as well as new locations.

Haley says Walmart is committed to buying products locally, and that the company already buys from South Carolina companies such as Senn Brothers, a produce vendor based in Columbia.

She says no special tax breaks were offered to Walmart for this new investment, and that the deal had been in the works for several months.

Walmart was part of the effort which defeated a plan to give online retailer Amazon tax breaks so they would build a distribution center in Lexington County. The company and local businesses said the deal would give Amazon and unfair advantage.

Haley said she and other state leaders would like to work with Amazon, and that they enjoy seeing companies who are already here expand.

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Rob Godfrey
Press Secretary | Office of Governor Nikki Haley
O: 803.734.5074 | C: 803.429.5086

Last November, we believe the House Republicans were given a mandate by the American people – cut spending, shrink government, and help create sustainable, private sector jobs.

We also believe that the first real opportunity for the new Republican majority to show the American people that they are serious is the federal budget.

And yesterday, they showed their hand, as Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin revealed his long awaited 2012 budget, entitled “The Path to Prosperity.”

A few of the highlights – it would cut $6.2 trillion over 10 years, impose a cap on discretionary spending, reduce the tax rate for individuals and businesses to 25% and give states the flexibility to manage Medicaid rather than keeping it in the hands of bureaucrats in Washington.

To learn more about Rep. Ryan’s attempt to control spending and put us on the path to prosperity and a balanced budget, please take a moment to watch his new video below:

Dear Friends,

Over the last several days, I have received many calls and emails concerning the Amazon vote. Some were in favor of the vote I took, some were opposed.

Although it’s often difficult to explain a complicated matter in a letter or an email, I am going to attempt to do so with this email. If you have additional questions, please feel free to call me at 940-1696. I am your representative and I am always happy to talk with you.

The Amazon bill was not an easy issue. I did not sleep for three nights, just wrestling with this issue. In all honesty, I would have liked to have had more information. However below is the information I had, which you may or may not have read or heard about in the media.

I have heard many say that SC made a deal with Amazon and we should honor that deal. We did honor our deal. The Amazon package included free land to build their facility, reduction in property taxes, job tax credits and the elimination of Sunday blue laws. The “elimination of sales tax deal for five years” is a memo from the Commerce Department stating it would “make its best efforts” to secure the legislature’s approval for the elimination of the sales tax.

Amazon is a $9.86 billion company with high-priced lawyers working for them. They began construction on this facility knowing the elimination of the sales tax had not been approved. This was not an oversight!!

Currently Amazon is in a legal battle with Texas. Texas gave Amazon a 5 year break in taxes, similar to their request of SC. The five years has ended and this year they owed the state of Texas $269 million dollars. They refuse to pay and began threatening to close their facility in Texas. So far, they have not closed the facility and have actually hired more people, but have yet to pay their tax. The SEC is currently investigating this issue.

According to the Seattle Times, this same tactic was tried in Colorado. According to an editorial in the Seattle Times “Amazon reacted with punitive petulance, sending a deliberate message to lawmakers in every other state: Make us play by the same tax rules as other businesses and your state will be punished, too.”

This isn’t something SC has done to Amazon, this is apparently how Amazon does business. Amazon also has a $1.5 billion bill with the IRS for inefficiencies in transfer pricing with foreign subsidies.

With all of these tax issues in other places, it is hard to believe Amazon overlooked the sales tax issue before they began construction. They began construction and they are now forcing the issue to hold us hostage to their demands. From a business standpoint, it is a brilliant move on their part.

As lawmakers, we were besieged with calls from SC businesses who strongly objected to the Amazon tax break. Small business owners who have been in SC for years, providing jobs, paying their taxes and receiving no incentives from the government were upset by the disadvantageous position it placed on their companies. The small business community claimed as many jobs brought by Amazon would be lost across the state due to unfair competition.

The Federal Government is also working on a bill to enforce the collection of taxes by all online retailers. It is the law, taxes are to be collected on items sold.

Hopefully we will be able to work something out with Amazon. Most of my constituents in District 9 own small businesses or work for small businesses. The majority of the calls and emails I received were opposed to giving Amazon the exemption. Particularly in this economy, this was a very difficult decision. As lawmakers, we have to be careful not to give special tax advantages to one company that would disadvantage other companies. Your government should not pick the “winners and losers” in our businesses. This entire debate over Amazon demonstrates the need for tax reform in this state. We need a fair and level playing field so we will not have issues like this one in the future.

Remember if a bill is coming before the House and you are in support or opposition to the bill, you can always call (803)212-6889 and let me know your opinion. I want to know what you are thinking. I am in Columbia to represent you!

As always, I appreciate the opportunity to serve.

Sincerely,
Representative Anne Thayer