Jobs, balanced budget top priorities

COLUMBIA -- Nothing will be more paramount in the legislative session that starts Tuesday than finding ways to balance the budget and put residents back to work.

Government agencies have faced nine rounds of budget cuts since July 2008 because of falling tax collections. That puts state spending at $5.1 billion, or about the same level it was in 2003.

Except now, the state's population has grown by about half a million people, public schools must educate roughly 60,000 more children, prisons bulge with 3,000 more inmates, 200,000 more people are on Medicaid and nearly everything costs more.

Meanwhile, unemployment stands among the highest in the nation at 12.3 percent.

 

House Speaker Bobby Harrell, a Charleston Republican, said times are tough, but the Legislature is poised to improve fiscal responsibility and strengthen the economy.

"We're not defined by the problems we're faced with," he said. "We're defined by the way we deal with those problems."

The test of the Legislature's success will come down to the votes on key issues between January and June.

The top issues are:

— Budget cuts: Legislators must figure out how to fill a $563 million budget gap in the upcoming fiscal year and face the possibility of tax collections falling even further.

— Job development efforts: At the top of all legislators' lists is getting people back to work. One proposal is to give tax credits to businesses that hire unemployed workers.

— Employment Security Commission reform: The agency that cuts checks to unemployed workers and helps connect residents with jobs has been under fire for its performance during the recession. Legislators promise a head-to-toe makeover.

— South Carolina Taxation Realignment Commission: Recommendations to make the state's taxes more stable and eliminate certain exemptions are due in March. The tax swap that eliminated some school district property taxes on owner-occupied homes is excluded from the commission's discussions.

— Spending reforms: Several proposals are on the table to eliminate the state's boom-and-bust cycles by tying spending to a 10-year average and putting more cash in reserve accounts.