Harvey Peeler

This year, we spent more time on the budget than few other times in South Carolina history. Some people have used that to make an easy joke at the expense of the General Assembly and our state, but the truth of the matter is actually good news. All too often, we hear of votes on bills major and minor by legislators who didn’t read the legislation. Americans were appalled when reports came out of Congress of representatives voting on the massive ObamaCare plan without knowing what was in it. We weren’t going to make that mistake.

The kick-start to this was one of the first accomplishments of the legislative session, passing roll-call voting. By addressing each section of the budget individually, we were able to discuss specifics of state spending in a way that wasn’t done before to ensure that every dollar you give government is spent wisely.

We are all facing tough times and our state budget has been hit hard by the economic decline. Now we are cutting into the bone and having to pick between essential services like education, public safety and health care. In this year’s budget we were able to balance those cuts and maintain adequate funding without doing too much harm to our state. We’re funding core government services without wasteful pet projects while paying down debt and cutting unemployment taxes on South Carolina businesses by $100 million.

I’m also happy to report the arrival of Amazon.com’s distribution facility to our state, and the investment and jobs that will follow. By exempting Amazon from collecting and remitting sales tax for five years, we’ve helped guarantee 2,000 jobs and $125 million in investment.

A major accomplishment that took a lot of hard work by myself and other conservatives was the passage of a comprehensive tort reform bill. You told us we had to act to protect our state’s businesses from high insurance costs and frivolous lawsuits, and we did.

We were able to get Benji’s Law fast-tracked, put on the Senate calendar and passed last week. What happened at Cleveland Park in March should never happen again — a family and a community shouldn’t have to go through what Benji’s had. And we shouldn’t abide such blatant negligence.

As always, I look forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at harvey@harveypeeler.com. You can also visit my website at www.harveypeeler.com or call my Columbia office at 803.212.6430 for any constituent service needs.

Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler was honored by the Columbia Tea Party with an award for championing the rights and freedoms of South Carolinians. His pursuit of limited government and fiscal responsibility is known throughout the state, and the Columbia Tea Party recognized his accomplishments.

Please see below for my latest legislative update. As always, please let me know if there is anything I can ever do for you, and be sure to visit my Facebook page.

Thank you,

Harvey Peeler

SC Senate Majority leader

We’re at the end of the third week of considering the budget in the Senate, deliberating about how best to serve South Carolina’s taxpayers. Some have criticized senators for taking time on the state’s appropriations bill, but it is important to know precisely what we are voting on so the state government doesn’t spend money on things that it shouldn’t.

When legislation is passed too quickly, we can end up with poor laws and bad government. You only have to look at what happened when the Democrats controlled Congress and passed Obamacare. People were voting for the bill without even knowing what was in it. You demand more from your legislators than that, and we’re working to live up to your expectations.

Wednesday, after the budget passed on second reading — the third and final vote should occur in the coming week — we passed the conference committee report on the voter ID bill, sending it to Gov. Nikki Haley to be signed. We’ve been working for years to get this legislation passed, and soon South Carolina’s elections will be among the safest and most secure in the nation.

After passing voter ID, the Senate unanimously approved an unemployment tax reform bill that adds up to a $100 million tax break for South Carolina companies. One of the top priorities for Senate Republicans is to get our state’s economy moving again. With this tax break, state companies can put that money into growing business and creating new jobs.

Another jobs-creation bill, one to institute comprehensive tort reform, is next in line after the budget passes on third reading. It’s been a privilege of mine to craft one of the Senate tort reform bills and lead the fight to pass it. Then we can hang up our “open for business” sign and put South Carolinians back to work.

Tort-reform legislation was debated last week, and we will resume debate and expect to pass the bill before the end of the session. Between 2007 and 2010, our state languished in state rankings for its business-friendly civil justice climate. This must improve if we are to move forward into prosperity.

One final bit of good news from the week is that I was named the Republican legislator of the year by the South Carolina Republican Party for my work on the voter ID and spending transparency bills. It is always nice to be recognized for hard work, but I’m more excited that needed conservative reforms passed in South Carolina.

A lot of work has been done, and common-sense conservative reforms are becoming law. But we’re not at the end of the road yet. I want to know your thoughts as we move toward the end of this year’s legislative session. Please contact me at harvey@harveypeeler.com or visit my website at www.harveypeeler.com. My Columbia Senate office number is 803.212.6430.

Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler and Rep. Alan Clemmons received the Terry Haskins Award for legislators of the year at the S.C. Republican Party convention on Saturday. Below, Gov. Nikki Haley gives her thanks for Peeler’s leadership in the Senate.

Courtesy of Process Story

Governor Nikki Haley recognizes Senator Harvey Peeler’s achievements at the SCGOP Convention. Please play the video below to hear her remarks.

About four years ago, we passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill that placed South Carolina at the forefront on tackling illegal immigration at the state level. Newspapers were even calling it “the toughest immigration law in the nation.” But, and this will surprise some people, there’s only so much we can do. The law was predicated on laws that were already on the federal books. Thanks to Nancy Pelosi and Washington Democrats, those laws came under attack and put our state — and nation — in the position they are now.

With Republicans now in control of the House, some progress can be made, but the damage is done. The federal government dropped the ball on illegal immigration. It has a constitutional responsibility to secure our borders. It’s the feds’ job to pretty much run the show on all immigration matters, from borders to naturalization and everything in between, including detaining illegals.

Believe it or not, the federal government is trying to pass off its foul-ups onto the states. It is trying to craft a solution on the backs of South Carolina taxpayers. Illegal immigrants detained by law enforcement should be placed in federal facilities, since it is a job of the federal government. That’s not happening. In South Carolina, it’s falling to our state prison system. Our revenues are stretched beyond capacity as it is — South Carolinians shouldn’t be footing the bill for what the feds should, but aren’t, doing.

We’re still doing what we can, though. It does our state no good to sit back and point fingers at Washington while letting the problem persist. That’s why I’m joining Sen. Larry Grooms and 19 other co-sponsors on a new immigration reform measure, one that’s on its way this week to getting a vote in the full Senate. The issue that led us here is that the federal government didn’t live up to its obligation to protect its citizens. Now states have to take action to protect their borders.

That bill, S. 20, takes new steps to give law enforcement the leeway to investigate the residency status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if the officer or agency has reasonable suspicion to do so. The bill also makes it illegal in this state for undocumented workers to ask for work or attempt to ask for work. The Democrats have been going about their usual activity of delaying common sense conservative reform, but I’m confident we’ll be moving it out of the Senate in due course.

Of course, before that happens, the entire Senate gets a chance to amend the bill on second reading. That got me to thinking about tinkering with what was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. Maybe there needs to be an amendment on there. One that gets the job done here in South Carolina and sends a message to the federal government that we aren’t going to take its lackadaisical immigration enforcement anymore.

Let’s allow law enforcement to go about enforcing the immigration laws, then bus detained illegals to Washington and drop them off on the Capitol steps.

Now that everyone’s had a good chuckle, I’m not intending on becoming the latest South Carolinian to appear in a late-night TV monologue. But I am serious about the problem of illegal immigration in our state and the feds’ lack of resolve to do anything about it. S. 20 is a good bill and should be passed. However, we cannot forget to keep the pressure up on the federal government to live up to its constitutional duty.

Below is an op-ed I recently wrote. Please let me know what you think about this issue by visiting my Facebook page and leaving a comment. Thank you!

Three years ago, we passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill that placed South Carolina at the forefront on tackling illegal immigration at the state level. Newspapers were even calling it “the toughest immigration law in the nation.” But – and this will surprise some people – there’s only so much we can do. The law was predicated on laws that were already on the federal books. Thanks to Nancy Pelosi and Washington Democrats, those laws came under attack and put our state — and nation — in the position we are in now.

With Republicans now in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, some progress can be made, but the damage has been done. The federal government has a constitutional responsibility to secure our borders, and it’s ultimately the job of the feds to run the show on immigration matters. From protecting our borders to detaining illegal aliens and everything in between, the federal government has failed us.

Believe it or not, the federal government is trying to pass off its foul-ups onto the states. It is trying to craft a solution on the backs of South Carolina taxpayers. Illegal immigrants detained by law enforcement should be placed in federal facilities, since it is a responsibility of the federal government. That’s not happening. In South Carolina, the burden is placed on our state prison system. Our revenues are stretched beyond capacity as it is — South Carolinians shouldn’t be footing the bill for what the feds should, but aren’t, doing.

We’re still doing what we can, though. It does our state no good to sit back and point fingers at Washington while letting the problem persist. That’s why I’m joining Sen. Larry Grooms and 19 other co-sponsors on a new immigration reform measure, one that was passed by the Senate. The issue that led us here is that the federal government didn’t live up to its obligation to protect its citizens. Now states have to take action to protect their borders.

That bill, S. 20, takes new steps to give law enforcement the authority to verify the residency status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if the officer or agency has reasonable suspicion to do so. The bill also allows any agent of the state to take the necessary steps to verify the immigration status before determining eligibility for any public program, benefit or service provided by the federal, state or local government. Senate Democrats went about their usual activity of delaying conservative reform, but common sense eventually won out.

I am serious about the problem of illegal immigration in our state and the feds’ lack of resolve to do anything about it. Senate Bill 20 is a good bill and should be passed by the House. However, we cannot forget to keep the pressure on the federal government to live up to its constitutional duty to protect our borders.

This week I was honored by the American Legion Department of South Carolina for my years of service to the community, state and nation. I am deeply humbled by this great recognition and look forward to continuing my service. Please click here to view pictures of the event.

We returned to Columbia for the 2011 session with a big mess on our hands. Unemployment is still among the highest in the nation. Health care agencies are running record deficits. We’ve lost so much money from our state’s coffers that we now have to cut essential services. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – things are going to get worse before they get better.

By electing me as your Senator, you’ve asked me to make the difficult decisions for you, but I cannot do it without your guidance. I need you to tell me what’s on your mind.

Will you spend the next five minutes taking my brief survey about some of the most important issues we’re tackling this year? Will you then take time to fill in the last box and tell me how your family is doing during this tough economic time?

I look forward to hearing what is on your mind.

Should we pass tougher tort reform laws stopping trial lawyers from suing companies out of business?

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Do you believe the Governor and Lt. Governor should run on the same ticket?

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What do you think the TOP priority of South Carolina’s Senators should be?

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Sincerely,

Harvey Peeler

SC State Senator

We returned to Columbia for the 2011 session and have already taken strong steps toward government transparency. We’ve put more votes on the record and passed a new rule making the state budget available for 72 hours for public review before we can take it up. Still, many of people are fighting government reform. I just don’t know why. Voters across the state spoke with overwhelming clarity last year and told us that they want more on-the-record voting, spending caps, and efficient government through restructuring.

Folks, it’s time to move on. Let’s get the reform bills passed immediately so that we can concentrate on job creation. Government reform is the first step. We must make government more efficient so that we can keep taxes low. We must have greater spending transparency so that legislators aren’t wasting money. These actions will help fix our economy and recruit new companies to our state. But we’ve been concentrating on these issues for far too long. It’s time to act and get on to other matters like tort reform, one of the most important concerns impacting job creation in South Carolina.

Last year our state received a major business win by landing Boeing, and while there were many factors influencing the company’s decision to locate here, state leaders such as then-Secretary of Commerce Joe Taylor credit fundamental issues like tort laws and workers’ compensation as playing a key role in the location decision. It simply makes sense. If Boeing was content with workers going on strike or over-regulation from the government, they would have stayed back in Washington State.

In order to retain our current businesses like Boeing and attract new ones to the state, it is critical for our state to ensure a fair and predictable legal climate. This isn’t some sort of attack on lawyers — some of my best friends practice law. It is simply about protecting businesses from people trying to make a quick buck when they see a business with perceived deep pockets to plunder.

Having a state that has an “open for business” sign hung out front isn’t just benefiting us. Back in August, Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee said that one of the main reasons Boeing moved more than 500 jobs from California to his state can be chalked up to his state passing effective tort reform in 2008. Here at home, pro-business organizations have been asking for a new law, but despite our best efforts the trial lawyer lobby has been doing everything it can to shut down our work on the legislation.

Ask any business owner which issues have the biggest negative impact to their bottom line, and you are almost guaranteed to hear the response of tort claims as one of the reasons. In fact, six out of ten small business owners feel they would be able to increase their revenue if there was assurance that they would be protected from frivolous and unfair lawsuits.

Last year, small businesses in the U.S. paid $105.4 billion for tort liability. These costs are exorbitant, unreasonable, and create an unpredictable business environment in our state, especially during uncertain economic times when we cannot afford to scare off jobs or new investment.

Punitive damages reform is a top priority. Our neighboring southern states, North Carolina and Virginia, have limits on punitive damages that provide the predictability that the business community needs to thrive in our global economy. In fact, the majority of southeastern states limit the amount of punitive damages awards. We need our legal system to be fair and predictable like those of our neighboring states.

Five years ago, we were able to pass a bill on medical tort reform. A major concern then was that doctors’ insurance costs were pricing them out of the profession. The cost of insurance means just as much to a small business. Two years ago, the publication Insurance Journal said South Carolina is on the way to being where we need to be, but that we still have rules on the books that can make our state prohibitive to operate in. We have a lot of ailing, rural counties in our state, and giving businesses every chance to start up, expand, and hire more workers should be a top priority — not only in our present circumstance, but in every circumstance.

It’s time to restore common sense to the legal system in South Carolina. By doing so, we will lower litigation costs for South Carolina businesses, allowing them to focus on growing and creating new and better jobs for our citizens. I urge you to support civil justice reform in 2011 and reach out to your senator or representative to let them know that you think it’s time for our state to restore fairness and predictability to our legal climate.

- Harvey Peeler