Kevin Bryant

Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina

Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina

 

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staffing association award

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staffing.awardFor Immediate Release Contact:  John Byrnes March 26, 2015 Phone: 864-905-5529

SC SEN. KEVIN BRYANT NAMED LEGISLATOR OF THE YEAR BY SOUTH CAROLINA STAFFING ASSOCIATION

(South Carolina)  The South Carolina Staffing Association today announced that South Carolina Senator Kevin Bryant was awarded with the 2015 Legislator of the Year Award at its Annual Banquet and Dinner in front of over one hundred staffing company owners and executives.

The South Carolina Staffing Association (SCSA) presented Senator Bryant this award because of his support for a free market enterprise system and his historic steadfast resolve to fight against any laws that try to limit a free market system.

Creating a $2B economic impact per year in South Carolina and representing over 1,000 staffing offices statewide, SCSA presents this award to a person who holds a South Carolina public office and who, through his or her position, supports job creation, economic development and the efforts of the staffing industry to put people back to work.

Referring to a quote from Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” which hangs in a frame in Mr. Bryant’s office, SCSA President John Byrnes had this to say about Mr. Bryant: “Senator Bryant has spent his time at the State House fighting against the impediment of free market principles that are brought forth, daily, by the hundreds of special interests that roam the hallowed halls of the State House and who desire to narrow the competition. Senator Bryant fights for free market principles – he fights for businesses.  He is a guard dog at the State House – the business community’s gatekeeper to fend off bad ideas.”

Past SCSA Legislator of the Year recipients include Senator Billy O’Dell (Greenwood), Rep. Brian White (Anderson) and Senator Thomas Alexander (Oconee).

The South Carolina Staffing Association (SCSA) is a nonprofit trade association, which represents staffing and employment agencies in the state of South Carolina. A collective voice for the staffing industry, SCSA communicates industry matters to state legislators, association members, the media and the general public. SCSA works to promote the interests of the staffing industry and its vital role in the South Carolina economy.

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The Centinel: SC Collective Road Act

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March 25, 2015…

Ah, the season of giving is upon us once again! No, not Christmas; it’s March 25th and tax time is just around the corner!


Uncle Sam and Aunt Columbia are coming around, and they’re asking for donations to various worthwhile causes. Uncle Sam is trying to raise funds for those poor, unfortunate souls that took a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ended up staying in his backyard for a few decades. And right now, Aunt Columbia’s pet project seems to be helping those sad roads that just don’t seem to be able to fix themselves, no matter how hard they try! What’s a good aunt to do, but help out?


Judging by the effort that good old Aunt Columbia is putting forth to raise money to fix those roads, this cause is the sole reason for her existence. She has pulled out all the stops and will stop at nothing to solve this problem (that she wants you to know she had nothing to do with creating). In fact, she doesn’t know the meaning of the word “stop”! Or the words “slow down”. And the words “let’s take some time to discuss how this problem originated and solve the root causes of it before we engage in frenetic activity that will merely mask the problem and potentially aggravate it and, oh yeah, maybe we should see how much money we have and determine where it comes from and where it goes before we throw frighteningly vast sums of it into the gaping maw of Road Maintenance”? Yeah, those words have never crossed the threshold of poor Aunt Columbia’s consciousness to darken her thought processes.

No, not for Aunt Columbia is the calm and measured response that carefully analyzes and plans. Not for her are the steady, rational methodologies of approaching problems that minimize the chance of recurrence. She is a being of action! She must accomplish! Only after a whirlwind of aimless fluttering and pointless activity can she preen herself like a bantam cock and crow, “I have fixed it!!”

And, so, we have before us one of the fruits of Aunt Columbia’s efforts. This particular gem is Senate Bill 523, also known as the “SC Collective Murmur of Disbelief; You Call This a Road Act?!” It is a masterpiece of fluttering activity, not to mention masterful methods of obtaining that cold, hard cash that will undoubtedly solve every problem the roads have ever seen.

As we gaze on its beauty, the first facet of this gem that we observe is the veritable cornucopia of cash-extracting devices contained therein. Shylock has nothing on Aunt Columbia. From doubling of driver’s license fees to 66% increases in passenger vehicle registrations to an ever-so-opportunistic 63% increase in the motor fuel tax (automatically adjusted annually for inflation!); it’s all here! You want a pound of flesh? Choose your cut!

Continuing our perusal, we are struck by the sophisticated scope of this proposal. It’s as if Aunt Columbia was inspired by Scrooge himself as she frantically thought up new ways to reach that magic, made-up revenue number she was aiming for. I’m sure she could have come up with new $20 registration fees on private trailers and possibly new road user fees of $60-120 on alternative fuel vehicles; that’s a gimme. But new 5% initial road impact registration fees, new 5% proof of ownership road maintenance fees, new 6% highway safety and improvement fee, new 5% transfer fees on aircraft, boats, and light construction equipment? There were chains clanking in that room, I guarantee it! One does not simply come up with the idea of charging extra 6% fees on vehicle repairs or calling roadside assistance…

Finally, we stand in dumbfounded awe at the sheer brazenness of Aunt Columbia as she checks groups of people off of her “donation” list…

“Let’s see, the elderly and disabled? I’ve got an 80% increase in passenger vehicle registration fees for 65+ year olds and disabled, a 73% increase in those fees for 64 year olds, and the elimination of state sales tax exemption on hearing aids. Checkamundo. 

Next, young people? We have elimination of sales tax exemption for out-of-state military members, elimination of sales tax exemption on personal property sold to charitable children’s hospitals, and limited sales tax exemption for Back-to-School sales tax holiday. Checkarooni. 

Middle aged wage earners… Hmmm, where to start? Elimination of sales tax exemption on time shares, extended service and warranty contract for motor vehicles, any property sold to the public through a sheriff’s sale, bullion/coins/currency, firearms during Second Amendment Weekend, energy efficient products for home and personal use… Whew! Checkoffski!!

And then I’ve got my catch-all buckets. Let’s see, that 6% mechanic’s tax on vehicle repairs covers everything from construction to restoration to oil changes to major repairs on any vehicle. (Thank you, Scrooge!) And all of those new user fees now have a $1,400 max instead of the old, lame $300 max! I’m golden!!”

Yes, my friends, Aunt Columbia is golden. In this season of giving, she doesn’t need Santa Claus to give her anything because she has the goose that lays golden eggs, and she can buy whatever she wants. Like new roads…

– The Centinel

“Samuel’s Law” amendment

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samuel.cutliff.2/ SECTION 1. This subsection shall be known as “Samuel’s Law”.

SECTION 2.  Section 40-33-110 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding an appropriately lettered subsection at the end to read:

“(   ) In a grossly negligent fashion, a person licensed under this chapter misreads the physician’s order and overmedicates or undermedicates a patient resulting in the death of the patient, the board shall revoke the person’s license to practice nursing in this State.  As used in this subsection, “grossly negligent” means an act or course of action, or inaction, which denotes a lack of reasonable care and a conscious disregard or indifference to the rights, safety, or welfare of others and which does or could result in death.”

SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor. /

Renumber sections to conform.

Amend title to conform.

SC Business Owners Association: s.407 and other items of interest

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Fellow Business Owners,

I have been busy growing our membership and tracking legislation over the last couple of weeks.  I wanted to take some time out on this very wet day and give you a legislative update on some of the bills that we are working to promote or trying very hard to block!

S407:  The South Carolina Business Owners Association has been working with Senator Kevin Bryant on this bill which will ensure that business owners that are LLCs, B Corps, and all other types of business entities with the exception of Sole Proprietors, will no longer have to pay  SC Unemployment Tax on themselves.  This bill will further the efforts of last year’s S1100 and will be retroactive to January 1, 2015.  The bill received a 41-1 vote on the its third reading on the Senate floor this morning.  It now moves to the House Ways and Means Committee.

H3490:  Very excited about this bill as well!  Representative Rick Quinn has proposed this bill.  The bill contains some of the following reforms:

  • All businesses will be treated equally in the calculation of business license fees.  Multiple “classifications” with different rate structures would no longer be allowed.
  • The license fees assessed will no longer be based on gross income.  License fees will be based on annual net earnings or profits of the businesses, a number that is readily available on business tax returns.
  • There will be a cap of no more than $100 annually for business license fees.
Currently this bill is sitting in House Ways and Means.  I have been in contact with Rep. Quinn and he plans to start movement on this bill soon.  The House was focused on the budget and the bond issue last week and all else came to a halt.

H 3101, S 0145, H 3431:  These bills are all similar in that each are designed to increase the minimum wage.  We are of course, opposed to each of these bills.  The sponsoring House Members are Cobb-Hunter, R.L. Brown, Alexander, Henegan, McKnight, and M.S. McLeod.  The sponsoring Senators are Scott, Pinckney, Johnson and Allen.  So far these are all still in committee and there has been no movement on them.  I will let you know if this changes.
S 1/H 3722:  This Ethics Reform bill really does more harm than good.  First, financial disclosures (we need to know from where their money is derived in order to make sure there are no conflict of interests in their votes/appointments, etc.) are weakened.  Second, instead of pushing for a truly independent ethics investigative body, they want to appoint the members of this investigative body (who would then be tasked with investigating and rendering decisions on those they have been appointed by!)  Third…and  possibly the scariest of all….they want to revoke out 1st Amendment right to FREE SPEECH by not allowing us to speak about them or their performance as elected officials less than 60 days before a campaign.  That being said….they are free to push out whatever they would like about themselves (truth or not) and by law…we cannot refute them!  We are definitely not supporting this.  If they work against the FREE MARKET and work to hurt our businesses  we should have the right to let folks know!
Update on Workers Comp Legislation:   We continue to work with Senator Shane Martin on this important piece of legislation.  This bill is massive with greatly needed reforms. I hope to have a bill to present to each of you for your input within the next two weeks.
Thanks to each of you that have contributed financially.  Your money is being spent on legislative monitoring and growing our organization.  I am thrilled with our membership to date and look forward to our further growth.  The bigger we are….the louder our voice!
If you would like to donate you can do so online at www.southcarolinabusinessownersassociation.com or by check to SC Business Owners Association, PO Box 231 Aiken, SC 29802.
Onward, Deedee Vaughters, President, SC Business Owners Association, 803-439-5701
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