Harvey Peeler

The fight against the unfair point-of-sale tax is moving in the right direction with the introduction of a bill in the Senate to repeal the tax. The lead sponsor of the legislation is Sen. Paul Campbell, who is joined by Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler. It effectively eliminates point-of-sale and puts South Carolina back on the right track. In the House, Rep. Jim Merrill submitted a companion bill, H. 3713.

“Point-of-sale was a consequence of Act 388 that needed to be remedied,” Campbell said. “It’s been a hindrance to economic growth in this state and I’m looking do something about it.”

Point-of-sale is an increased levy on property sales that goes to municipal governments. In reality, taxes on one particular piece of property could be much higher than an identical piece of property depending entirely on when it is bought. These inflated taxes are causing some people and businesses to forgo buying a house or commercial property. Instead, those potential buyers and businesses are moving to other states.

“Not only is the tax inherently unfair, it’s an impediment to getting South Carolina’s real estate market back on good footing,” Peeler said. “We need to do everything we can to get that economic engine running again.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. – March 2, 2011 – Governor Nikki Haley, the South Carolina Department of Commerce and Cherokee County today announced that Boysen USA, a maker of exhaust systems, will expand its existing operations in Cherokee County. The $6 million investment is expected to generate 15 new jobs.

“This expansion is an important step for our company, and will provide us with plenty of room to grow so that we can better meet demand for our products. Cherokee County has provided us with an excellent business environment in which to operate and a top-notch workforce. We are excited to have the opportunity to grow in South Carolina and look forward to doing business here for years to come,” said Thomas Peahuff, plant manager for Boysen USA.

Boysen USA will expand its motor vehicle exhaust systems manufacturing operations in Gaffney, located at 139 Corporate Drive. The company is adding 40,000 square feet to its facility in order to expand capacity.

“When we visited Cherokee County last week, we talked about the importance of working hard to make our state the most business friendly and competitive in the country,” said Gov. Nikki Haley. “We’re thrilled that Boysen will make a $6 million investment in Cherokee County because it’s proof that, when companies see our commitment to reducing the tax and regulatory burden and our fight to preserve our right-to-work status, great things happen that mean jobs for our state.”

“The automotive sector continues to thrive in South Carolina. Boysen USA is the latest automotive company to choose to increase its presence in our state, and serves as an indication that South Carolina offers a business environment that fosters growth. We appreciate Boysen USA’s decision to continue doing business in the Palmetto State,” said Bobby Hitt, Secretary of Commerce.

“The expansion by Boysen USA indicates that the automotive sector is rebounding and that those within the industry realize that South Carolina is the place to be. We welcome more announcements like this and thank Boysen for their faith in the business climate our market has to offer,” said state Senator Harvey Peeler.

“We warmly welcome the expansion news from Boysen USA,” said state Rep. Dennis Moss. “The company’s decision to grow here reinforces not only Cherokee County’s competitiveness, but also South Carolina’s ability to foster strong, quality businesses.”

“Boysen USA continues to show its commitment to Cherokee County,” said Cherokee County Council Chairman Tim Spencer. “The new jobs and expansion being announced today is a testament to the skilled workforce and vibrant business climate of Cherokee County that continues to cultivate growth and expansion.”

The company intends to begin hiring for the positions this month. Anyone interested in job opportunities with the company should contact Jason DeKoster at Aerotek Commercial Staffing at 864-607-9050.

Boysen USA is a subsidiary of Germany-based Boysen Group. The company develops and manufactures exhaust manifolds, catalytic converters, particulate traps, silencers and complete exhaust systems for passenger cars. The company’s main customers include the German car makers Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche and VW, as well as the British marques Bentley and Rolls-Royce. For more information, please visit www.boysen-online.de.

About S.C. Department of Commerce

The S.C. Department of Commerce works closely with economic development professionals throughout the state to recruit new jobs and investments and help existing businesses grow. Commerce has been recognized for its success in the areas of job creation and economic impact by Area Development and Business Facilities magazines. The S.C. Department of Commerce was one of 10 state economic development organizations to receive Area Development’s Silver Shovel Award in 2009 and Commerce received the 2009 Deal of the Year award from Business Facilities magazine. Southern Business & Development also awarded the S.C. Department of Commerce the “Deal of the Year” for the 2010 SB&D 100. Commerce received the recognitions for Boeing’s selection of North Charleston for the company’s second final assembly plant to support the 787 Dreamliner program. In addition to job and investment recruitment, the agency provides a range of business support services and offers grants for community development and infrastructure improvements. For more information, visit www.SCcommerce.com.

The S.C. Senate gave key approval Thursday to a bill allowing immediate cuts in state payments to doctors and hospitals that treat patients in the state-run health care program for the poor and disabled.

Gov. Nikki Haley and the Department of Health and Human Services have sought to cut those payments in order to make up part of a $225 million deficit at the state’s Medicaid agency. Agency director Tony Keck said the state could save $2.4 million between now and June 30 for every percentage point that it cuts those payments.

The bill also requires HIV, AIDS, cancer and mental-health patients to use generic drugs or get prior approval from the state’s health agency to use more expensive, non-generic drugs.

The Senate’s action follows that of the House’s budget-writing committee, which has approved a spending plan for next year that would cut $125 million from what doctors and hospitals are paid.

However, the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday sought to hedge that bet, setting aside $70 million in cigarette tax revenue in case doctors and hospitals are too hard-hit by the cuts.

A South Carolina Hospital Association analysis said a $100 million cut in what hospitals are paid would result in 2,600 lost jobs and the closing of some hospitals. Some doctors also might stop seeing Medicaid patients, the hospitals warned.

The health care cuts must pass the full House and Senate before they become law, which is expected. South Carolina is the only state in the country that now bars its Medicaid agency from reducing what doctors are paid.

During debate Thursday, lawmakers worried they were giving Keck and Health and Human Services too much latitude, allowing the agency to impose any cut without any supervision.

“They’re all willing to take the cuts,” said state Sen. Ronnie Cromer, a Newberry County pharmacist, of doctors and hospitals. “They’d just like to have a ballpark of how much the cuts will be.”

Keck said his agency must advertise any proposed cuts for 30 days before they can take effect. He said he will work with health care providers to find better ways to save the $125 million that his agency wants to save, but that any rate cuts imposed now likely would continue in next year’s budget, which takes effect July 1.

State Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, the bill’s sponsor, said lawmakers should grant the health agency the ability to deal with rising health care costs.

“He wants the ability … to right the ship,” Peeler said of Keck. “We need to address this problem now.”

In the House, Republicans addressed Democratic concerns about health care cuts by earmarking additional cigarette tax money for Medicaid.

A 50-cent-a-pack cigarette tax took effect in July, but lawmakers allowed the money to accumulate in a savings account for a year. The House budget spends two years of cigarette tax revenue. Part of the money — an estimated $70 million — would be put into an account for Health and Human Services to offset the impact of budget cuts on doctors and hospitals, if needed.

“We will now be able to ensure that all the people in the state … even those in rural South Carolina, that they have access to health care,” said state Rep. Harry Ott, D-Calhoun.

Courtesy: The State

COLUMBIA — Senators have agreed to allow Medicaid provider rates to be cut over the next several months, despite a Democrat’s warning that the move would set a “dangerous precedent.”

The 24-11 second-reading vote came at the request of both Gov. Nikki Haley and her appointee who leads the state’s chief Medicaid agency, Anthony Keck, to help address the agency’s $225 million deficit.

The legislation would lift a state ban on adjusting Medicaid provider rates. South Carolina is the only state in the nation with such a prohibition.

If approved by the House soon, the legislation could save the state $6.4 million over the next four months in the event of a 3 percent rate reduction, said Jeff Stensland, spokesman for the agency.

“By making these adjustments to provider reimbursement rates, we are able to protect critical optional patient services such as adult pharmacy,” he told GreenvilleOnline.com.

Haley praised the Senate, calling the vote “courageous.”

“Tony Keck and I are committed to providing as much health to our patients for as little cost as possible to our taxpayers, and that effort started today,” she said. “Senators chose the people and patients of South Carolina over the special interests — this was a huge win for our state.”

The action came as the House Ways and Means Committee gave final approval Thursday to a $5.2 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that starts in July that would adopt Medicaid spending cuts and grant Keck the authority to adjust provider rates.

Among $200 million in spending reductions he submitted to the House is $125 million he said would come from provider rate cuts or cost savings suggested by providers.

“If we can’t pay the bills, we’ve got to do something different,” Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler told his colleagues.

Peeler said the state hired Keck to run the state Department of Health and Human Services and to try and get the agency’s finances under control.

“We hired him to run his shop, and we want to untie his hands,” he said.
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But some Democrats and providers have argued there were other ways.

Sen. Vincent Sheheen, a Camden Democrat, said hospitals have offered to raise their bed tax and to use that revenue to draw more Medicaid dollars, a notion Haley has rejected.

Sen. Phil Leventis, a Sumter Democrat, said he was told by state economists that if lawmakers cut $300 million from Medicaid spending, it would cost 14,000 jobs.

“Please don’t tell me we are just managing things,” he said. “We are impacting people’s lives.”

Leventis argued that it is a “dangerous precedent” to give any HHS director such authority.

But Republicans argued the change was needed.

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell said while the legislation wouldn’t solve the agency’s problems, it is a start toward a more realistic view of addressing the state’s financial ailments.

“People in this country have got to understand, government cannot spend its way to prosperity,” he said.

Sen. Tom Davis, a Beaufort Republican who once served as chief of staff for former Gov. Mark Sanford, said the Legislature effectively lost control over some of the cost growth in Medicaid two years ago when it accepted federal stimulus dollars and agreed to restrictions on eligibility.

Now those restrictions prevent the state from controlling the numbers of new enrollees, he said, and “people are pouring into that program.”

Officials say more than 100,000 people have enrolled in the program since 2007. Davis said almost 1 million people in the state now are on Medicaid.

Davis said he was among 13 or 14 senators who tried to reject the stimulus money and the strings that came with it.

“We were ignored, and now the chickens have come home to roost,” he said.

He said lifting the ban on provider rate cuts will at least give the state some power to address Medicaid costs.

Keck has said he doesn’t plan to immediately cut rates if granted the authority but use it as a negotiating tool to attract cost saving ideas from providers.

Sen. Ronnie Cromer, a Newberry pharmacist, unsuccessfully attempted to amend the legislation to delay implementation of any cuts for at least 60 days so providers have adequate notice and the opportunity to give feedback to the agency.

Stensland said Keck would work with Cromer and others to establish a clear procedure for provider input.

The measure must get a final reading in the Senate before being sent to the House.

But some Democrats and providers have argued there were other ways.

Sen. Vincent Sheheen, a Camden Democrat, said hospitals have offered to raise their bed tax and to use that revenue to draw more Medicaid dollars, a notion Haley has rejected.

Sen. Phil Leventis, a Sumter Democrat, said he was told by state economists that if lawmakers cut $300 million from Medicaid spending, it would cost 14,000 jobs.

“Please don’t tell me we are just managing things,” he said. “We are impacting people’s lives.”

Leventis argued that it is a “dangerous precedent” to give any HHS director such authority.

But Republicans argued the change was needed.

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell said while the legislation wouldn’t solve the agency’s problems, it is a start toward a more realistic view of addressing the state’s financial ailments.

“People in this country have got to understand, government cannot spend its way to prosperity,” he said.

Sen. Tom Davis, a Beaufort Republican who once served as chief of staff for former Gov. Mark Sanford, said the Legislature effectively lost control over some of the cost growth in Medicaid two years ago when it accepted federal stimulus dollars and agreed to restrictions on eligibility.

Now those restrictions prevent the state from controlling the numbers of new enrollees, he said, and “people are pouring into that program.”

Officials say more than 100,000 people have enrolled in the program since 2007. Davis said almost 1 million people in the state now are on Medicaid.

Davis said he was among 13 or 14 senators who tried to reject the stimulus money and the strings that came with it.

“We were ignored, and now the chickens have come home to roost,” he said.

He said lifting the ban on provider rate cuts will at least give the state some power to address Medicaid costs.

Keck has said he doesn’t plan to immediately cut rates if granted the authority but use it as a negotiating tool to attract cost saving ideas from providers.

Sen. Ronnie Cromer, a Newberry pharmacist, unsuccessfully attempted to amend the legislation to delay implementation of any cuts for at least 60 days so providers have adequate notice and the opportunity to give feedback to the agency.

Stensland said Keck would work with Cromer and others to establish a clear procedure for provider input.

The measure must get a final reading in the Senate before being sent to the House.

Courtesy: The Greenville News

Hours of sitting through a Democrat blocking machine paid off today when the Senate passed H. 3003, the voter ID bill. It marks the second time in as many years that voter ID has passed both chambers, though last year an agreement could not be worked out between the House and the Senate. Prospects look better for this session if House members agree to make voting more accessible instead of making voters take off hours from work to stand in long lines on Election Day.

“We put our heads down, worked hard, and came through for the people of South Carolina today,” Sen. Chip Campsen, lead sponsor of the Senate companion bill, said. “Voter ID will help secure our state’s elections and remove doubt about the legitimacy of the final result.”

In all aspects of people’s lives, they have to show an ID to gain access or complete a transaction. A person needs to do that when buying some certain types of medication, writing a check or using a credit card, buying alcohol and cigarettes, and other matters. To make sure money isn’t an issue, the $5 fee for purchasing an ID from the Department of Motor Vehicles will be waved.

In a modification from the way the bill passed in the House, it now includes an early voting provision to make voting more accessible. Republican Senators are hopeful that members of the House will go along with early voting, instead of making voters stand in long lines on Election Day. People shouldn’t have to take time off work to spend hours in line. To ensure that older voters, many of whom are living in assisting living facilities, can still vote, an amendment was added to wave the identification requirement for anyone born on or before January 1, 1947.

During this session and the last, Senate Democrats used parliamentary maneuvering and reams of amendments to try and kill the passage of the bill though stringing out debate. That effort fell short, however. Once an agreement is made with the House and the legislation is signed into law by Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolinians will have to show a photo identification before voting.

“We told the people of South Carolina that we were committed to securing our elections while also making voting more accessible, and I’m happy to say we came through,” Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler said. “We’re going to keep building on these accomplishments to make government more responsive and accountable.”

The state Department of Health and Human Services needs to crawl out of a $228 million hole for this fiscal year, alone. Next year, deficit estimates top $500 million. But, it doesn’t have to stay this way. That’s why Senate Republicans led the fight today to pass S. 434 — it removes budgetary constraints on the actions of agency director Tony Keck and gives him and his department more flexibility as it comes to this fiscal crisis.

The legislation, chief sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler and cosponsored by Senators Kevin Bryant and Lee Bright, requires the ability to purchase generic drugs instead of more expensive name brands. Most importantly, it repeals part of a proviso that stopped any DHHS director from modifying the schedule by which doctors and hospitals were paid through the state’s administration of Medicaid.

“This bill is all about untying Mr. Keck’s hands and allowing him to do his job as effectively as he can,” Peeler said following the vote. “That doesn’t mean he has to cut programs, it means he can cut. With such a huge deficit, we need Keck to be running his own agency, not micromanaged by the legislature.”

The bill’s passage is also seen as a win for Gov. Nikki Haley. It both invests more power to an executive branch agency and hands those reigns over to one of her recent appointments. The budgetary problems within DHHS — and Medicaid in particular — have been high on issues to address for both the governor and the legislature as they entered this session.

Keck has said that he’s looking at making health care providers modify their staffing ratios, increasing patient co-pays and taking a hard line in favor medical tort reform. Senate Republicans are ready to help him in any way possible fix the agency’s financial problems.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Governor Nikki Haley today issued the following statement after the South Carolina Senate gave key approval to S. 434 – striking the provisos that prohibit the South Carolina Health and Human Services Director from setting rates paid to providers through Medicaid:

“We thank the Senators – and Senator Peeler in particular – for a courageous move towards improving health in our state. Tony Keck and I are committed to providing as much health to our patients for as little cost as possible to our taxpayers, and that effort started today. Senators chose the people and patients of South Carolina over the special interests – this was a huge win for our state.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Governor Nikki Haley will deliver remarks to the 2011 Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce dinner today, Tuesday, February 22, at 6:30 PM. The event will be held at Broad River Electric Cooperative Auditorium in Gaffney.

WHO: Gov. Nikki Haley

WHAT: Speech to Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce

WHEN: Tuesday, February 22, 6:30 PM

WHERE: Broad River Electric Cooperative Auditorium, 811 Hamrick Street, Gaffney, South Carolina

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Governor wants lawmakers to lift decree so she can balance Medicaid agency’s budget

BY YVONNE WENGER

ywenger@postandcourier.com

Thursday, February 17, 2011
Gov. Nikki Haley called on legislators Wednesday to loosen their grip on the state’s Medicaid agency so she can balance its $228 million deficit.

Haley said she needs lawmakers to lift a legislative decree, known as a proviso, that stops the agency from cutting the rates paid to doctors and hospitals that treat Medicaid patients. South Carolina is the only state in the nation that is barred from doing so. Rates here are 16th-highest in the nation.

Her comments came as she announced that in her first month in office she has wiped out the second of the three department deficits that she inherited.

Under her watch, the Department of Corrections erased a $7.5 million deficit and the Department of Social Services eliminated a $28 million deficit, she said.

Haley’s call for eliminating the Medicaid proviso came two days after The Post and Courier published an investigation revealing that the state could save tens of millions of dollars by tossing some of the 946 provisos legislators wrote into the state’s $5 billion budget.

Provisos can be abused, but lawmakers have said they provide a useful function by giving instructions for agencies to carry out the Legislature’s budget plans. They also are similar to Congressional earmarks because state lawmakers can use them to protect special interests or funnel money to pet projects.

Haley said legislative authority to negotiate lower reimbursement rates for Medicaid providers would help manage the deficit. A 10 percent cut in those rates could save more than $100 million a year.

House budget writers on Tuesday recommended that the state lift the proviso on provider rates in next year’s budget that begins on July 1. Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, is leading an effort to allow the rate cuts immediately. He said he has faced a lot of push-back from the filing of the legislation.

“It is strictly special-interest driven,” Peeler said. “We’ve experienced the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression. These are extraordinary times. We need extraordinary measures. It’s obvious we’re not going to raise taxes.”

Peeler said The Post and Courier’s reports on provisos have raised discussions inside the Statehouse as to how to improve the process.

“It’s all about shining a light,” Peeler said.