A Review of SC Gov. Nikki Haley’s Town Hall Meeting Held in Spartanburg on Oct. 17, 2011

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley held a town hall meeting on Monday, Oct. 17, 2011 on the campus of Spartanburg Community College, to discuss where SC is right now and where it is going in 2012. I attended this town hall and this piece summarizes what I heard and noted as Governor Haley spoke to SC citizens and business leaders.

S.C. State Employees New Greeting

Governor Haley addressed community and business leaders in SC Monday evening saying “It’s a great day in SC!” She remarked that it is a time to celebrate SC’s successes, such as the 15,000 jobs that have been added since Jan. 2011 and the new businesses that have come to SC. She also told the audience “It’s a great day in SC, how may I help you?” is the new greeting she has asked all state employees to use when they answer the phone, and that the press had missed the mark regarding her purpose for it. She said that’s how businesses do it, and that is the way for government to do it. The greeting is a way to remind government employees WHO they work for, and that is SC residents! It is also a reminder for state employees to be proud of whom they work for. “They are there to solve problems, answer questions, and get them to where they need to go” stated Gov. Haley.

Haley’s Purpose for Town Hall Meetings

Haley said her Town Hall meetings purpose is “You shouldn’t have to go to Columbia to find out what’s going on, I’m going to keep coming to you.” They provide an opportunity to have a dialogue, answer questions, and for her to share where SC is and where SC is going in 2012 and beyond.

SC’s Legislative Report Card

Haley’s SC legislative report card came to fruition as a result of a promise she made while on the campaign trail. She intended it to be a tool to inform SC residents and others how our legislators voted on issues brought to them by her, starting in January 2011, and to recognize and thank those who got the job done on the issues brought before them and act as an incentive for those who didn’t. She stated on this year’s report card, the House did a great job in getting everything done, but where the Senate was concerned, “they still had some work to be done.” She encouraged the citizens to use the Legislative Report Card as a conversation starter with our representatives and let them know what we want and expect from them.

Governor Haley’s Agenda for 2012 (Where is SC going?)

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs is Haley’s top priority for SC. She wants to “take care of businesses we already have.” If we take care of them other businesses will see that and follow. Haley said there have been 15,000 jobs added in SC since Jan. 2011. She mentioned for example, Bridgestone just 2 weeks ago announced an addition of850 jobs in Graniteville, SC with an investment of $1.2 billion dollars. Continental Tire came to Sumter bringing 1700 jobs and an investment of $500 million. Honeywell is expanding in Greer, and 200 jobs were brought to Denmark.

Haley mentioned the following items as issues that businesses are interested in when considering moving to SC. These are the things the State is working on in order to attract as many businesses to our area as possible.

#1 – Infrastructure, roads, bridges, ports, rails, etc. Haley is making sure SC has money for these projects.

#2 – Cost of doing business in SC (is low). Tort reform passed.

#3 – Permitting- Haley has replaced president of the DEHEC board.

#4 – Efficiency of our Agencies-Haley’s office is checking into State agency worker’s cell phone usage, inventory of State cars (mileage to and from home, etc.) and internet usage.

#5- Make sure SC stays a strong Right to Work State.

Haley said she asks two things from businesses who come to SC. First, promise to take care of the ones who take care of you, the employees and have a direct relationship with their employees, keeping them informed about what is going on at all times to reduce the need for unions in SC.

Second, Haley asks new businesses coming to SC that when doing their contracts, use only SC contractors, our small businesses, and hire SC residents.

SC Governor Haley’s Next Legislative Session (What will it look like?)

Job training will be a main focus. Haley has hired Gen. A. Turner who was in charge of training all recruits at Fort Jackson. Haley said he knows how to connect workers and jobs by re-skilling, and it will involve better matching between the two, more direction, and should not cost SC more to accomplish this.

Tax Reform will be done not just the first year, but every year necessary. Haley intends to phase out the corporate income tax and simplify individual taxes by reducing from 6 brackets down to only 3 brackets. Haley also wants to reduce manufacturing tax which is currently at 10.5 which (big businesses don’t have to pay anyway). This will help small businesses in SC who employ 200 people or less. They will in turn hire more employees and expand their businesses.

According to an article in TheState newspaper published 10/22/2011, South Carolina’s unemployment rate dipped to 11 percent for September 2011, which is still above the national rate of 9.1 percent. SC’s unemployment rate was at 11.7 percent in January 2010, so it has declined some over a 16 month period.

Dept. of Administration (under the direction of Governor’s office) is another item on Haley’s agenda for 2012. This new Dept. of Administration would consolidate and handle each state agency’s departments such as Human Resources (HR), Information and Technology (IT), and other back office functions, freeing up the State Agencies to do their “core” mission for the people and not have to worry about anything else. Haley stated that this item needs to be passed before February so SC can catch up with the other 48 states already doing this.

Restructuring

Merging probation, pardons, and parole with the Dept. of Corrections is another goal of Governor Haley. She said the House has passed it, but it has stalled in the Senate.

The “Superintendent of Education needs to be appointed by the Governor, stated Gov. Haley. She believes there only needs to be one person held accountable and that she should be that person.

Reforming the SC Retirement system is also on Haley’s agenda for 2012. She wants to make sure that there are no special perks for legislators and they will be matched with state employees so the system will be fair. Haley stated that after getting the new retirement director and actuary, she asked them to come up with the current and accurate unfunded liability amount of the state. They provided Haley a new number of $17 billion dollars which has grown from $1.9 billion in the early 1990’s.

Haley said it will take SC 37 years to pay back the $17 billion debt which will cause SC to lose its credit rating unless we can reduce it to less than 30 years. She said it is critical that changes be made in this next legislative session. Following are the changes she will present to accomplish this goal:

-SC employees will have to work 30 years before retiring versus 28 currently.

-The retirement rate of return rate may change from 8 percent to 7.5 percent.

-There would be no more automatic cost of living increases (COLAS), but would be on a year to year basis in the future.

– New state employees would have to pay more into the retirement system, work longer before retiring, and receive less in return. (These are the people who will hurt the most from the changes proposed).

– Current retiree COLA’s may be less but would get what they should be getting.

-Higher education would be based on accountability and evaluated on a point system.

Haley believes these proposed changes will be passed during the next legislative session mainly because of SC’s critical need to preserve its current credit rating.

Haley commented that unemployment taxes need to be reduced for small businesses. Haley’s goal is for all small businesses to see a huge decrease in unemployment cost packages by 2014.

Haley says SC must operate within its means by placing a cap on spending. Haley recognized Rep. Gary Smith for his ongoing fight for spending caps in SC. For 2012, Haley plans to take the 2011 budget add population plus inflation, and that’s it! Any overages left at the end of 2012 would be used for debt retirement.

The Governor then held a Q&A session which I plan to cover in a separate article that will be published soon.

Is it a great day in SC for you?

Source:

Personal notes of author taken at: SC Governor’s Town Hall held Monday evening, Oct. 17, 2011 @ 6pm in the Tracey Gaines Building on the campus of Spartanburg Community College, in Spartanburg SC

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