Harvey Peeler

Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler and Rep. Murrell Smith have filed legislation that will shed new light on lawmakers’ income, expanding ethics law so that legislators will have to disclose what they are receiving and who they are receiving it from. If the legislation becomes law, members of the General Assembly will have to report on their annual Statement of Economic Interest income from the federal government, and clarify relationships with lobbyists, state vendors and employers of people on state boards and commissions.

Goods, services and remuneration received from or provided to lobbyist principals, vendors and employers of a board or commission member must now be reported. Legislators have to disclose it on the form if the dollar value amount tops $25 in a single day or $200 in a year. Also, the name, address and telephone number of the person or people who have interacted with the legislator must be disclosed.

The proposal is one of Gov. Nikki Haley’s priorities this year. In her State of the State speech, Haley said, “To the legislature seated before me, who have been given such an honor and responsibility by the constituency we serve, I ask that you let the people save us. Let them in. They have spoken loud and clear. They want us to remember that we work for them. They don’t want to watch infighting and no real results, The want to feel our successes in their wallets and regain confidence in the role government plays in our state.”

Smith’s bill, H. 3595, has eight sponsors including him and was referred to the House Judiciary Committee when it was filed on Feb. 3. S. 561, which is Peeler’s companion bill, was introduced today and sent to Senate Judiciary.

This week, Senate Republicans continued moving forward with our agenda in what is already looking like one of our most successful sessions.

Secret ballot amendment ratified
Enabling legislation for a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing a secret ballot in union representation elections was read for the third time and sent to the House. Democrats attached a minority report to the bill as it came out of committee to block it, but the report was removed, allowing for consideration of the legislation.

Snow days bill given third reading
Legislation providing school districts with more flexibility to make up snow days received third reading. The bill forgives up to five snow days, which the districts can use at their discretion. It now heads to the House.

Voter ID up for consideration
The voter ID bill that previously passed the House is being held up by Democrats, who have 480 amendments on the table. Thursday, the bill was carried over in interrupted debate, in cloture.

Democrats block immigration bill from second reading
An attempt by Sen. Larry Martin to place an Arizona-style anti-illegal immigration bill on special order failed to received the votes necessary when Democrats voted together against the motion.

Roll call voting bill amended
The Judiciary Committee gave a favorable report to the roll call voting bill, with an amendment. The change makes the bill only take effect after the ratification of a constitutional amendment mandating roll call votes.

Alcohol sales fix given OK
An effort to remedy unintended consequences of legislation from last session sets out the process to which non-profits can obtain special alcohol permits. An objection was lodged when the bill was brought up on the floor.

Overseas absentee voting legislation passed
Judiciary also approved a bill which makes it easier for deployed military and people in remote areas of the world outside the United States to vote by absentee. Voters have up to 45 days before Election Day to submit their ballots, and would be covered by more relaxed requirements than regular absentee voting.

Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler filed legislation today for an economic plan that will assist businesses and help put the unemployed back into work. His “Jump Start Plan,” which passed the Senate unanimously in 2009, gives businesses tax credits for up to two years for bringing on board an unemployed South Carolina resident. The state unemployment rate was 10.6 percent as of December.

“My phone is ringing off the hook from businesses being taxed when they’re forced to lay off employees. If businesses are going to be taxed for laying off workers, it only makes sense to provide tax incentives for businesses that hire people off South Carolina’s unemployment roles.” Peeler said. “As I said when this bill passed last in 2009, government can’t create economic growth. Only private business can. The best government can do is get out of the way.”

The bill gives a particular business a $100 tax credit per month per formerly unemployed S.C. resident, for a maximum of $2,400 over a period of 24 months. Eligible people would have to have been out of work for at least four weeks, be employed by the business for at least four weeks while working at least 35 hours a week and provide a notarized affidavit confirming legal residency. The tax credit cannot exceed the amount of taxes the business pays in a year, but any excess can be carried forward into the next year.

Companies in South Carolina are already hurting from higher unemployment insurance taxes. They are in need of a tax break. Sens. Kevin Bryant and Greg Ryberg are cosponsoring the legislation. The bill passed unanimously in 2009.

The debate over requiring S.C. voters to show photo identification at the polls is moving forward.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 17-4 Tuesday to advance the measure to the Senate floor after amending the House version. House Republicans pushed their bill through last week on a party-line vote.

Senators substituted a version of the bill that passed the chamber last year, with a few tweaks. The Senate version adds a two-week window of early voting in up to three locations per county. It also adds to the list of accepted photo IDs.

Voters currently can show either a driver’s license or voter registration card, which lacks a photo.

The measure died last year with the House and Senate were unable to agree on a compromise between their competing versions
Read more here.

Yesterday HHS director Tony Keck met with the Finance Committee to give us some disturbing news. This is why last week I introduced a resolution suspending the budget provisos tying Keck’s hands as he enters his new job. We need to give him as much flexibility as possible to tackle this massive problem.

By Yvonne Wenger
COLUMBIA — The state Medicaid director told lawmakers Tuesday he needs $228 million in the next several months or South Carolina is going to have to cut loose hundreds of thousands of poor, disabled and elderly residents who rely on the state for health care.

Tony Keck’s testimony before House and Senate budget writers sets the stage for a major clash over how the state will pay its bills, given the alternative of being the only state in the nation to consider withdrawing from the federal Medicaid program.

The decision to allow the Department of Health and Human Services to operate with a deficit will be made next week by the Budget and Control Board, which is chaired by Gov. Nikki Haley, who has not yet revealed where she stands on allowing her Cabinet agency to operate in the red.

State lawmakers, chiefly Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, have insisted the agency find a way to make do with the cash the Legislature allocated and not come back for more.

Keck was put in the hot seat on his fourth day in the job.

“I didn’t come here on a suicide mission,”

Keck told lawmakers. “I came because it was my assessment that South Carolina is poised to do some really remarkable things.”

Lawmakers indicated that the state could shift to the Medicaid program an extra $300 million in tax collections that the state government is now projected to collect above original budget estimates.

And to prepare for another deficit at the Health and Human Services Department next budget year, lawmakers are considering allowing the agency to cut the rates it pays doctors, hospitals and nursing homes that treat Medicaid patients. The agency’s budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year that begins July 1 could reach nearly a half a billion dollars.

The Legislature has protected those rates during the economic downturn, for fear the providers would stop treating Medicaid patients if the state paid them less. But Keck said he needs the flexibility to run his agency, which saw another 4,800 people enroll in Medicaid last month alone.

Keck said that if lawmakers give the agency flexibility, it will give him a bargaining tool to help control costs. Keeping every health care provider in business should not be the state’s goal, Keck said. Instead, the goal should be keeping the system stable and using the least amount of tax dollars necessary to create a healthy population, he said.

Keck did not provide a road map on how the agency will handle the massive budget shortfalls. He did, however, lay out plans to change the way the system operates to make it more efficient. He also insisted that South Carolina can’t rely on budget cuts alone to come up with a solution.

In outlining his sweeping goals, Keck said he will evaluate whether the state is spending its money in the right places, determine how much South Carolina is paying for health care and investigate elements of the state’s Medicaid programs, such as the use of managed-care organizations. Specific ways to address costs could include forcing health care providers to look at their staffing ratios, raising patient co-pays within the confines of federal restrictions, and pushing for tort reform on medical malpractice suits, Keck said.

Keck’s hands are tied by the federal government in terms of making significant changes to the Medicaid program. Haley has directed him to draft options she can take to President Barack Obama to allow South Carolina to opt out of the new federal health care law, which is being challenged in federal court. Keck said the governor has told him to report back to her as soon as possible.

Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, cautioned Keck to remember that lives hang in the balance, as he makes decisions to run the Medicaid agency.

“It’s not a toolbox; it’s people and it’s tax dollars and it’s the investment we make in health care,” Leventis said.

Courtesy of The Post and Courier

A state Senator has filed a bill giving a state health care agency more flexibility to cut its budget and close a $228 million budget deficit.

Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, filed a bill suspending budget rules that restrict cuts the Department of Health and Human Services may approve. Peeler’s bill would allow the agency to reduce payments to doctors and hospitals; require use of generic cancer, HIV/AIDS and mental health drugs; reduce chiropractic treatment and reduce fees to dispense prescriptions.

The changes would save at least $11.5 million. DHHS has long asked lawmakers for the ability to cut rates to doctors and hospitals, but had been the only state health care agency forbidden from doing so.

The change would apply to the current budget as lawmakers are considering ways to close a $829 million budget shortfall for the year beginning July 1.

Courtesy of The State

The state Senate unanimously approved Tony Keck to direct the Department of Health and Human Services. Ashley Byrd has this report on what is ahead for him:

AUDIO: Report on what is next for Keck (:41)

Haley has suggested a 10 percent cut in reimbursements to health care providers, which would follow the legislature’s loosening of restrictions for Keck to set his own agency’s rates.

Haley released the following statement after the Senate confirmed Keck :

I’d like to thank the Senate, and its Medical Affairs Committee chaired by Senator Harvey Peeler, for moving swiftly to confirm Tony Keck. Tony’s confirmation is a win for South Carolina. He is one of the brightest health care minds in the country, and we’re on the same page when it comes to fighting for health care reform that serves taxpayers without compromising quality of care.

Keck served under Governor Bobby Jindal as Deputy Secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health & Hospitals (DHH) and served as Interim Secretary of Louisiana’s DHH briefly.

Courtesy: South Carolina Radio Network

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s nominee to run the state’s cash-strapped Medicaid agency won initial approval Thursday in a Senate confirmation hearing but won’t get final approval until next week.

Anthony Keck, 43, would run the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the Medicaid agency that provides health care coverage for the state’s elderly, disabled and poor. The agency is running a $228 million deficit in the current fiscal year. Haley also charged Keck with finding a way to avoid being part of the federal health care overhaul law.

The Senate could give Keck final approval next week. Keck declined to talk to reporters until after that vote. Haley has asked the Senate to wrap up all confirmation work on her Cabinet nominees by Feb. 1.

Keck has been deputy secretary for Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals since October 2009. The committee’s screening process turned up a couple of instances of late and erroneous taxes that Keck said he had taken care of previously.

Senate Medical Affairs Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler, a Gaffney Republican, asked Keck “the $228 million question” — how he’d deal with the current fiscal year deficit at the agency. Keck’s predecessor had told the state’s financial oversight board that unless the state covered the shortfall, it would have to shut down payments to health care providers on March 1. Peeler wanted to know whether Keck would continue to pursue the request or pare it back.

Keck said every state is running midyear deficits tied to growth in enrollment as the nation’s economy recovers from a recession and ongoing state budget problems. “I think there is no silver bullet strategy to solve that problem,” Keck said, noting he’s still getting a grasp on the problem.

Midyear spending cuts are hard and have to come within federal restrictions that limit a state’s ability to reduce programs. “In this case, operating the program essentially as agreed with the federal government seems to be costing us $228 million more than we thought,” Keck said. “It will have to be a multi-prong strategy. It cannot rely, in my opinion at this juncture, solely on cuts.”

Keck said it “just isn’t possible” to wring $228 million out of a $1.3 billion general tax fund budget in three months.

Peeler asked Keck how he planned to get South Carolina out of the Obama Administration’s mandatory federal health care program.

That’s not so easy, Keck said. South Carolina still has to develop plans to comply with the law, Keck noted, even as the state develops a strategy for going its own way, other states challenge the federal law in courts and Republicans try to repeal it in Congress.

“We as an agency can’t make the bet that the law’s going to get repealed or it’s going to be found unconstitutional,” Keck said.

The federal law will prompt thousands of decisions that need to be made during the next few years and that means the state has to do the best it can to make sure it is treated well under the law, Keck said.

Courtesy: Bloomberg

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina legislators aren’t worried about a threatened federal lawsuit over a constitutional amendment that would guarantee workers a secret ballot vote in union elections.

The National Labor Relations Board last week threatened to sue South Carolina, Arizona, South Dakota and Utah over their constitutional amendments guaranteeing elections. Unions also want to be able to organize workers through signature drives.

Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler of Gaffney said the federal government should have more important things to tend to like protecting the nation’s borders.

Peeler said the federal government will have a fight on its hands and he’ll side with the 86 percent of South Carolinians who voted for the amendment.

Courtesy: Bloomberg

Republicans push transparency in first full week

Columbia, SC – January 19, 2011 – The South Carolina Senate is on a roll this week, passing monumental rules changes two days in a row that provide unprecedented transparency in the state legislature. The Senate today gave approval to a new rule requiring any appropriations bill to be available for public scrutiny for three days prior to a Senate vote. Known as the “72-Hour Rule,” the rule advances government transparency by giving the public and media adequate time to evaluate bills before they become law.

Senator Tom Davis (R-Beaufort) led the effort to approve the 72-Hour Rule and other Senate Republicans made budget reform a top priority at the start of this new legislative session.

“The 72-Hour Rule reforms our state’s government, making it more accountable and transparent to the public,” said Senator Davis. “South Carolinians deserve to have an appropriate amount of time to find out what is in a bill and how much it will cost. It’s that simple.”

Senator Harvey Peeler, the Senate Majority Leader, was also a chief proponent of the bill. “The 72-Hour Rule that Senator Davis championed is a significant step forward for government reform in South Carolina,” Senator Peeler said. “Sometimes we need to put the breaks on government and give time to find out what is really in the bills we are considering. That is especially true when we are spending taxpayer dollars.”

The new rule will last throughout the 2011-2012 legislative session. Senator Davis has also sponsored legislation that would make the 72-Hour Rule permanent.

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