This is for everyone. I am repeating here a lot of what is on the course schedule. Go to the SC Government Website in the left panel off the assignment page and then to branches of government and then to “find your legislator” using zip codes and find the state senator and house member for your South Carolina address (if you are out of state, use your school address). After you locate your state legislators, go to their site and find the bills they have sponsored or co-sponsored this legislative session. Look through them and pick one of interest to you. Find out what happened to this bill as best as you can. Post a comment telling the rest of us the name and district of the senator or house member and the bill and why it is of interest and what happened to it.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Blog posting for the second day on the legislature
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14 comments:
My Senator is Lindsey Graham. In 2006 he proposed a bill to restore funding to a pilot project in the Port of Charleston. The project coordinates over 50 state and local law enforcement agencies to help prevent and detect acts of terrorism and criminal activity. This is of interest because since September 11th the entire country is worried about the threat of terrorism and any program to help find terrorists and stop them is important. The amendment was unanimously agreed to in Senate.
-Sarah Luckey
My senator is W. Greg Ryberg. This year on March 15th he proposed a bill regarding the Palmetto Fellows and Life scholarships. He proposed that these scholarships be extended to South Carolina residents that are attending out-of-state high schools. This is of interest to me because I have the Palmetto Fellows scholarship. The bill was passed on to a committee on March 15th. The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Education.
-Sarah Luckey
I picked Representative Michael A. Pitts of S.C. House District 14. He introduced S.726 to the Senate on May 1st 2007. This piece of legislation dealt with the issue of separation of church and school. The legislation required teachers that taught elective history and literature courses that focused on the Bible to teach it in a non-bias way. On June 6, 2007 the bill was adopted with a vote of 97 to 10. This was interesting because our country is constantly fighting with the issue of religion in schools. As of now, we are no longer allowed to have prayer time or even a moment of silence. When I was looking at some of the legislation proposed, I noticed that a lot of the legislation was kind of silly. For example, legislation was proposed to recognize someone’s 60th wedding anniversary.
Julie Kate Keeney
My senator is Senator Greg Ryberg. He propsed a bill to change the prerequisites for abortions. If adopted it would require more information to be provided and for an additional waiting period before the abortion could be performed. Most importantly, it would require the patient to have an ultrasound and be reviewed by the patient as well. This bill was interesting to me because I believe it gives life a second chance. I believe that it will allow a woman to think twice before having an abortion after seeing the ultrasound. The bill is favored by Senate but has been passed along to medical affairs at theis time.
CoShendra Jackson
My senator is Nikki G. Setzler. The district is the SC Senate district 26 in which he serves and the SC house is district 96 and the Representative is Kit Spires. Setzler proposed a bill this year concerning teachers in SC. The bill proposed was “South Carolina Teacher Protection Act”. The bill noted that a teacher could file a civil action against a student who commits a criminal offense against the teacher if the offense occurs on school grounds or at a related event on school property. The bill was introduced January 9, 2007 and Last Amended on February 14, 2007. The bill is currently residing in the House Judiciary committee.
Cequita D Edmond
My Senator is Lindsy Graham. On May 14, 2007, Graham introduced and passed a bill for "A resolution designating May 15, 2007, as 'National MPS Awareness Day'". MPS is indicated on the bill as "Whereas mucopolysaccharidosis (referred to in this resolution as `MPS') is a genetically determined lysosomal storage disorder that renders the human body incapable of producing certain enzymes needed to break down complex carbohydrates;
Whereas complex carbohydrates are then stored in almost every cell in the body and progressively cause damage to those cells;
Whereas the cell damage adversely affects the human body by damaging the heart, respiratory system, bones, internal organs, and central nervous system." I believe what the senator achieved was very important in gaining awarness to a disorder. Hopefully the senators public outcry can influence to need to find a cure like we do against other threats like AIDS.
Xavier de Jesus (Sorry for the slight tardiness prof!)
SC Senate District 24 - Senator W. Greg Ryberg
I also choose his recent proposal to change the pre-reqs for abortion. I think it is good in the respect that it will institute a “waiting period” which in the end good possibly result in someone changing their mind. There are pre-reqs for buying a gun, I don’t think this should be any different. I am not going to argue pro-life or pro-choice, I just think that the pre-reqs may sway someone’s decision. It may not but we never know. This bill is favored now but since Dems have control of the house we will see. Democrats tend to be more pro-choice than Repbulicans.
Erica Wilson Armour
I choose Senator W. Greg Ryberg, who was first elected into the Senate in 1993. Senator Ryberg introcuded S. 93 on January 9, 2007. This bill is called the “Equal Access to Interscholastic Activities Act”. This act will allow home school, charter school, and Governor school students to participate in ‘Interscholastic Activities’ such as sports, music, speech, or other extracurricular activities. These students must also meet requirements like other students in the public school system. They must meet all district eligibility requirements with the exception of class attendance in the school and enrollment requirements. The student must have their teacher inform the district that they are being taught according to the law and are in compliance with any attendance, class, or enrollment requirements for the school they are attending. The student must also live within the limits of the school zone. This does not permit students to join a sport and any school in their district they must join the sport at the school in their zone. The student must write to the Superintendent their intentions of joining the activity. When allowing students from charter, Governor, or home schools the public school must make sure that they give all public school students an equal opportunity to participate and do no let a child from home school take another students place. Students’ grades are also followed closely making sure that they are performing well enough to participate in other activates. The student must also participate in requirements for the activities (i.e. Baseball practice, cheerleading car wash to raise money, sports banquet). I believe this bill is a wonderful bill to consider for those students who attend schools where the extracurricular activity and social setting is not provided. It allows every child in the community the chance to be in a social setting that they cannot get at home or in a charter school. Often students are put into Governors school, charter schools, and home schools because their parents want “the best” for their child. I understand that statement completely. I also believe that the best is making through tough times and I will be the first to say that public school is not easy. In high school you learn how to deal with people especially through these extracurricular activities. In college we learn this more but high school is our prep for all the different people we will encounter through college. To give a child the chance to become a football player or to participate in the band program at a public school is good because it will teach them the things that all our coaches and teachers taught us going through school: responsibility, determination, leadership, team work, self control, and simply put right from wrong. I believe that this bill is so interesting because it will affect us someday if it has not already. I attend public school and I got to participate in extra circular activities and when I have kids, if they go to a charter school or Governor’s school, I want them to be able to participate in those activities I got to and meet new people and be able to interact with them in a way that is socially acceptable. The bill was carefully reviewed and majority favored the bill.
-Kaycee Doying
The legislator I chose for this assignment is Representative Annette D. Young of the 98th District of South Carolina. This district covers Charleston and Dorchester Counties. I have chosen a bill that was introduced in December of 2006 that wants to delete the state treasurer from being an elected officer to being appointed by the governor. The bill has yet to be passed in the legislature. I believe this bill is important because I feel this should not be an elected official. The public does not know who is best to handle the state’s monies. The governor should be the one who appoints this person. He has the better know of the one individual who he has the most confidence in to do the job. It would be hard for people in the low country to know something about the person running for treasurer from the uplands. I feel it is important for this bill to pass.
Matt Spivey
My South Carolina state senator is Thomas L. Moore and my state representative is Donald C. Smith.
Donald C. Smith is a new representative and tried to pass a bill that was introduced to the house in Jan. 30 2007. The bill was created to allow out-of-state South Carolina residents in high school to be allowed to receive aided by the Palmetto Fellows Scholarship and Life Scholarship. THe bill is currently residing in the Senate I believe that the bill is great but the thought that one is getting aid to in another state by using "state" funded scholarships seems unfair to those that already live in the state. It would be best if the requirements was to attend a college in South Carolina or their is a specific time frame of actually living in South Carolina.
Xavier de Jesus
My Senator is Jake Knotts. He had created a bill that deals with chaining up and restraining our pets such as our dogs for a limited time in a 24 hour day. It gave standards of what is allowed and what is not accepted in housing a dog. The penalty for mistreatment of this bill would result in a misdemeanor criminal charge. Right now this bill is brand new. The first reading was on 6/7/07. But it should be pretty interesting to find out whats going to happen to this bill.
Randy Lucas
My South Carolina State Senator is Thomas L .Moore district 25. Senator Moore Co-sponsored General bill S. 0820. The bills objective is to provide a bonus to active duty service veterans returning home as result of the 9/11 Campaign on Terror. The bonus amount would be equal to five hundred dollars. The bill was introduced May 5, 2007 and referred to the committee on Finance. As far as I can search no action has been taking on the bill.
My South Carolina State Representative is William “Bill” Clyburn district 82. Representative Clyburn Co-sponsored General bill H. 3764. The bills objective was to amend a section of the code of laws of South Carolina, in reference to criminal sexual conduct with a minor. This bill would increase the penalty for school employees who commit sexual conduct offenses with students. The bill was introduced March 21, 2007 and referred to the committee on Judiciary. As far as I can search no action has been taking on the bill.
Senate General Bill S. 0820 is paramount in honoring the men and women who bravely serve and protect their country. I believe Senator Moore’s sponsorship shows his support and dedication to those who serve. House General Bill H. 3764 is a means to effectively let those in the education arena know that sexual conduct with a minor will not be tolerated. I believe Representative Clyburn’s supported this bill, for the reason that he is career a public educator.
DeQuawn Smith
Some interesting bills. Here are some comments and corrections. First, hopefully now ALL of you understand the difference between a South Carolina legislator and a national member of congress from South Carolina. Lindsay Graham is a US Senator from South Carolina and Greg Ryburg is a South Carolina Senator. I left the two incorrect postings up to emphasize this point!
Second, if bills were still in committee a few days before the end of the session, they are in effect dead. So Randy, introducing a bill on on June 6 or 7 means that it was dead before it even started -- simply not enough time. Jake Knotts was not really serious about that bill on treatment of dogs -- he probably did it for a constituent just to show consern -- symbolic! Most bills die in committee.
Three, Erica and the rest of you, the Republicans control both houses in the legislature, so Democrats really have little say over what happens to any bill.
Four, two of you talked about the bill that would allow hs students living in SC but going to school out of state (like people in Aiken driving down to Augusta for school at places like Augusta Prep) to get state lottery funded scholarships. This is mainly of concern to those living in border areas. Xavier did not quite understand what it was proposing.
Five, Matt S raises a point we will be talking about later in reducing the number of independently elected constitutional officers. Here we elect them and they are the equivalent of cabinet officials at the national level. Electing Treasurer, Supt of Educ, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Sec of Agric and so on may seem to give voters more control, but unless they are very informed (not!), what it really does is reduce the authority of the one office that citizens do pay attention to, the governor. For a long time now, many have wanted to move the state toward a cabinet form of government in which the governor has sufficient power to fairly hold him responsible for what happens (I am one who would like to see this). But diluting his power of course keeps the legislature relatively more powerful. So it is a tough sell since the legislature would have to propose the amendments to make this happen. We moved a little in this direction a few years ago, but have moved no further. This bill that Matt S talks about has not passed. Don't hold your breath!
The bill on abortions and requiring the viewing of ultrasound images was currently in conference committee a douple of days ago (to resolve differences betweent the two houses on the bill) -- I think it died there, but I have not carefully reviewed all the news from the last day of the session to see what finally happened.
The extra-curricular activites bill that Kaycee wrote about did pass -- one of the few that you all talked about! I think that this session will go down as one in which little was accomplished -- as I write this I am hearing in the news that they did not even pass the budget and will have to come back in a couple of weeks to try and do that. We will talk more about that later.
Bob B
My South Carolina State Senator is SC Senate District 37 - Senator Lawrence "Larry" K. Grooms. He co-sponsored an act to amend chapter 29, Title 59, code of laws of South Carolina, 1976. This would allow the school districts to offer an elective course teaching the history and literature of the old and new testaments. The course would be taught by an objective teacher and the district would provide funds and books for the course. This bill was just ratified on June 12, 2007. I thought this was another example of South Carolina being a very traditional state.
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