Journal of the Senate
of the Second Session of the 111th General Assembly
of the State of South Carolina
being the Regular Session Beginning Tuesday, January 9, 1996
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Printed Page 1410, Mar. 29
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Printed Page 1420 . . . . . Friday, March 29, 1996
There are other people who called in and wanted to file and were not allowed or were told you can't because the time period has run. While our system may not be perfect and we may need to improve it, it was in place. And I am very concerned that if we do not leave the system in place for this particular time, Mr. Darby, I understand has made a great contribution and has been an excellent Trustee, and I hope he will consider running in the future. But I worry if we open this thing up now, how can we not open up every other race that we've screened. I don't see any possible way we cannot open up everything out there if we did that. If we do that it'll be a mess. It will set a precedent and we will have a mess from now on. So, while I understand his busy schedule and all, I would respectfully express my opinion that I don't see how we possibly could open this race up.
SENATOR WILSON: Mr. Chairman.
THE CHAIRMAN: Senator Wilson.
SENATOR WILSON: How many people filed late at the last meeting? And I'm not critical of anybody.
THE CHAIRMAN: I don't ...
SENATOR WILSON: Was it three that filed late? Is that ...
THE CHAIRMAN: I think only two really submitted.
SENATOR WILSON: Two.
THE CHAIRMAN: Several inquired the day after and the next day.
SENATOR WILSON: I'd like to reiterate that my motion will only pertain to those that filed late, not people who made calls. And another question for Mr. Darby. Did the school ever notify you? Until it was too late or?
MR. DARBY: They notified me on the 16th, Senator Wilson. The day after the filing, telling me that I had missed the deadline. They had tried to reach me, I think, prior to that, but being out of town I did not make contact with them until the 16th.
THE CHAIRMAN: We had this letter received on the 16th and back dated to the 14th.
SENATOR WILSON: Well, Mr. Chairman, I have been through this before. Eighteen years ago, in this building, we had a circumstance where for filings for public office, a number of people didn't file for the first time in statements of economic interest and we had a hearing here in this building to disqualify a number of candidates. And then, during the course of disqualifying, in effect, challengers, it was discovered that some of the incumbents had filed late too. And so they reopened it. And so we have a process of reopening and I have been working on that for a number of years, if there's good showing. And I know that two years ago there
Printed Page 1421 . . . . . Friday, March 29, 1996
was a lady, I believe, sent here from Florence, who was a lady from Florence who wanted to serve on the Wil Lou Gray Board and didn't know about it until late, and I tried to make an effort at that time that she be able to file, because she was not aware. And so, I, over the years, I've always been in favor of trying to open up the process, because people can't know all the things that we know and I feel like Mr. Darby has shown that he didn't know and I'm not blaming the school or anybody but he didn't realize about the filing. And so I would move that it be reopened.
SENATOR GIESE: Mr. Chairman.
THE CHAIRMAN: Senator Giese.
SENATOR GIESE: I was particularly interested in the beginning part of your testimony. I served on the particular Committee, both in the South Carolina State. I know about the forty problems. It's down to thirteen. They've still got work to do in order to fiscally be somewhere even close to being stopped. And I've also checked and with the administration and the people, I would reiterate to the group here the tremendous job you've done and the responsibility that they look forward to you to carry on, because of the fiscal problems. Any way you look at South Carolina State, its Board of Trustees has been its problem. They absolutely have not exercised any control whatsoever. And I think, as a Committee, Mr. Chairman, making an exception in this particular case, would be by far the wisest, not the easiest. You know, it's easy to exactly follow the rules and say that somebody is going to ... we're going to have whole mess if we make an exception, but in my opinion we would be doing South Carolina State a real disservice by not allowing this election to take place. I know the other gentleman. I'm sure ... and I've read his credentials. But the unusual part about this particular member of the Board, if he would be reelected, is he can play a leadership role in solving South Carolina States problems. And they've been fiscal. The management, as you know, can you imagine the comptroller running off with $800 or whatever it was, writing checks to himself and all that. There just hasn't been management. And I would agree with Senator Bryan that it might possibly cause us a problem, if we made an exception and reopened this. It's the kind of mistake I would make. But I don't think that on a Board it's the same thing as making a mistake and running for an office where you're going to have three or four months of build up and spend thousands of dollars. This is a position of honor, and one in which he can feel exceptionally well. He hasn't won the job if we open this up to him, because he still has to be elected. But I hope we would temper to use our judgement about whether we're going to settle on a date like this and it
Printed Page 1422 . . . . . Friday, March 29, 1996
was very, very close, or think of the contribution I think he can make to this school.
THE CHAIRMAN: Senator Bryan.
SENATOR BRYAN: I honestly don't think 24 hours would have been any different than seven days. There's a date and you have to have a filing date. And I don't doubt this gentleman's contribution to it, but you have one other that filed late. I know personally of one who wanted to file and realized he missed the deadline and did not file. Are you going to open it up for him, when he was told, no, it's too late, and he did not submit his application? Do you open it up for him? It's not just a possible mess. You will have a mess. More than likely you'll have a legal mess with this one. And I think you ... this whole Committee may have a mess with other ones who wanted to file. How do you go back to the legislature and tell people who had people in their district who wanted to file and missed the deadline, we opened it up for one, but we're not going to open up for the rest of them. And I think it is a monumental mess if we open it up for one and don't open it up for all of them. And if you open it up for all of them you create another mess on top of that. So, you know the notion that you can just do it on this one, because he happens to be standing here and was a nice guy and was a good Trustee? I don't think the issue is the quality of his Trusteeship. I don't think the issue is, as you indicated. I think the issue is the integrity of this process, which once again, may not be perfect, we need to look at it, maybe try something else, some other way to notify them. Maybe we should notify the candidates. If you notify the candidates, then, once again, you get into someone saying, well you're favoring the incumbents and so it's a touchy situation there. I would ask the Committee to vote not to reopen this matter, because I think that we are really creating a can of worms if we do. And this ... if you are to reopen it today, you will hear from this again. This won't be the last day you hear about this.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any question as the motion to reopen filing for the State University?
SENATOR GIESE: I would second the motion.
THE CHAIRMAN: Senator Giese, moves to second.
SENATOR GIESE: May I ask one other thing, Mr. Chairman? That is of my friend and colleague next to me. How often do we sit in the Senate and say we don't have a ... we're doing business without a quorum, and unless it's challenged, we do business without a quorum. I think yesterday or the day before we were passing something that we questioned whether it was constitutional. Do you remember how many times we talked about that? And we passed it, recognizing that there might be some
Printed Page 1423 . . . . . Friday, March 29, 1996
conflict or challenge and it takes, we thought that was in the best interest of what we were doing. Subcommittee meetings, two people don't show up, unless someone questions a quorum we do business. I think that this dictates that we consider circumstances and the eventual outcome. And, again, I think the easiest thing to do is to take a vote and say here's ... I mean, I'd be happy to go by the rules, but there are exceptions that we have to consider.
THE CHAIRMAN: Those in favor of opening up say aye, opposed no. The nos have it. The Chair entertaining a motion?
SENATOR BRYAN: We adjourn.
THE CHAIRMAN: Senator Bryan moves to adjourn, all in favor say aye, opposed no. The ayes have it.
(The Committee adjourned at 10:02 a.m.)
Findings of Fact
The Committee to Screen Candidates for Boards of Trustees of State Colleges and Universities finds the following candidates for Boards of Trustees qualified. Background reports from the State Law Enforcement Division show no felony charges against any of the candidates.
The Citadel - Two seats (at-large)
Col. Leonard C. Fulghum, Jr. (Charleston)
J. Palmer Gaillard, III (Charleston)
Douglas A. Snyder (Columbia)
Xavier Starkes (Columbia)
Clemson University - Three seats (at-large)
T. Moffatt Burriss (Eastover)
Joel W. Collins, Jr. (Columbia)
Louis B. Lynn (Columbia)
Davis T. Moorhead (Pendleton)
Howard N. Rawl (Gilbert)
Virginia C. Skelton (Clemson)
William C. Smith, Jr., (Columbia)
Allen P. Wood (Florence)
College of Charleston - Seven seats (six congressional districts and one at-large)
1st District, Seat 2
Cherry Daniel (Charleston)
John B. Williams (Moncks Corner)
2nd District, Seat 4
Joel H. Smith (Columbia)
Printed Page 1424 . . . . . Friday, March 29, 1996
3rd District, Seat 6
J. Philip Bell (Greenwood)
4th District, Seat 8
Merl F. Code (Greenville)
5th District, Seat 10
J. Vincent Price, Jr. (Gaffney)
6th District, Seat 12
Marie M. Land (Manning)
At-large, Seat 14
Timothy N. Dangerfield (Aiken)
Francis Marion University - Seven Seats (six congressional districts and one at-large)
1st District, Seat 2
J. Michael Murphree (Summerville)
2nd District, Seat 4
Gail Richardson (Barnwell)
3rd District, Seat 6
William A. Collins (Greenwood)
4th District, Seat 8
Alex Kiriakides, III (Greenville)
5th District, Seat 10
Lorraine H. Knight (Hartsville)
6th District, Seat 12
William W. Coleman, Jr. (Florence)
At-large, Seat 14
M. Russell Holliday, Jr. (Galivants Ferry)
Lander University - Seven seats (six congressional districts and one at-large)
1st District, Seat 2
Nancy J. Cash (Charleston)
2nd District, Seat 4
George R. Starnes (Columbia)
3rd District, Seat 6
Jean T. McFerrin (Aiken)
4th District, Seat 8
C. Tyrone Gilmore (Spartanburg)
5th District, Seat 10
S. Anne Walker (Columbia)
6th District, Seat 12
Walter D. Smith (Florence)
Printed Page 1425 . . . . . Friday, March 29, 1996
At-large, Seat 14
Ann B. Bowen (Greenwood)
Glenas Deloris Green (Greenwood)
Medical University of South Carolina - Six seats (Congressional districts (three from medical and three non-medical professions)
Medical
4th District
Dr. Charles B. Thomas, Jr. (Simpsonville)
5th District
Dr. Cotesworth P. Fishburne, Jr. (Rock Hill)
6th District
Dr. E. Conyers O'Bryan (Florence)
Non-medical
1st District
Melvyn Berlinsky (Charleston)
2nd District
H. Donald McElveen (Columbia)
3rd District
Jack F. McIntosh (Anderson)
Fred Moore (Honea Path)
South Carolina State University - Two seats (at-large)
At-large, Seat 11
John Williams, Jr. (Orangeburg)
At-large, Seat 12
Walter L. Salters (Orangeburg)
Johnnie M. Smith (Greenville)
University of South Carolina - Eight seats (Judicial circuits)
2nd Circuit
Patrick D. Cunning (Aiken)
Miles Loadholt (Barnwell)
4th Circuit
J. DuPre Miller (Bennettsville)
6th Circuit
James Bradley (Lancaster)
8th Circuit
Herbert C. Adams (Laurens)
10th Circuit
Brian A. Comer (Anderson)
Robert N. McLellan (Seneca)
14th Circuit
Helen C. Harvey (Beaufort)
Printed Page 1426 . . . . . Friday, March 29, 1996
15th Circuit
M. Wayne Staton (Conway)
16th Circuit
Samuel R. Foster, II (Rock Hill)
Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School - Four seats (at-large)
Dr. Marvin Efron (Cayce)
Wilhelmina McBride (Columbia)
Mary F. "Frankie" Newman (West Columbia)
Suzanne Turner Reynolds (Gaffney)
Olive Wilson (Williamston)
Winthrop University - Two seats (at-large)
Jane C. Shuler (Orangeburg)
Walter H. Smith (Columbia)
David A. White (Rock Hill)
Respectfully submitted,
Rep. Eugene Stoddard, Chm. .......... Senator "Joe" G. Wilson, V.Chm.
Rep. Curtis B. Inabinett .......... Senator James E. Bryan, Jr.
Rep. Lanny F. Littlejohn .......... Senator Warren K. Giese
Rep. Jennings G. McAbee .......... Senator Maggie W. Glover
On motion of Senator GIESE, with unanimous consent, ordered printed in the Journal.
ORDERED ENROLLED FOR RATIFICATION
The following Bill and Joint Resolution were read the third time and having received three readings in both Houses, it was ordered that the titles be changed to that of Acts and enrolled for Ratification:
H. 4791 -- Reps. Walker, Littlejohn, Allison, Cato, Davenport, Wells, D. Smith, Lee, Lanford and Phillips: A JOINT RESOLUTION TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN SCHOOL DAYS MISSED BY STUDENTS OF SPECIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN SPARTANBURG COUNTY FOR SCHOOL YEAR 1995-96 WHEN THE SCHOOLS WERE CLOSED DUE TO WEATHER OR OTHER CONDITIONS ARE EXEMPTED FROM THE MAKE-UP REQUIREMENT OF THE DEFINED MINIMUM PLAN THAT FULL SCHOOL DAYS MISSED DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER OR OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES BE MADE UP. (By prior motion of Senator COURTNEY, with unanimous consent)
Printed Page 1427 . . . . . Friday, March 29, 1996
H. 4369 -- Reps. Cato, Kirsh, Riser, Vaughn and Meacham: A BILL TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 41-39-40 SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR THE VOLUNTARY WITHHOLDING OF STATE AND FEDERAL INCOME TAXES FROM UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.
(By prior motion of Senator PASSAILAIGUE, with unanimous consent)
SECOND READING BILL
The following Joint Resolution having been read the second time was ordered placed on the third reading Calendar:
S. 1309 -- Senator Holland: A JOINT RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A REFERENDUM TO BE HELD AT THE TIME OF THE 1996 GENERAL ELECTION ON THE QUESTION OF PROHIBITING PAYOFFS ON THE OPERATION OF COIN-OPERATED VIDEO GAME MACHINES WITH A FREE PLAY FEATURE IN ANY COUNTY WITH A POPULATION OF NOT LESS THAN FORTY-THREE THOUSAND NOR MORE THAN FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND AS OF THE 1990 UNITED STATES CENSUS.
(By prior motion of Senator HOLLAND)
MOTION ADOPTED
On motion of Senator WILSON, with unanimous consent, the Senate stood adjourned out of respect to the memory of Mrs. Sarah Bishop Aiken of Columbia, S.C., formerly of Laurens, S.C.
ADJOURNMENT
At 11:13 A.M., on motion of Senator LANDER, the Senate adjourned to meet next Tuesday, April 2, 1996, at 12:00 Noon.
* * *
Printed Page 1428 . . . . . Tuesday, April 2, 1996
Tuesday, April 2, 1996
(Statewide Session)
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
The Senate assembled at 12:00 Noon, the hour to which it stood adjourned and was called to order by the PRESIDENT.
A quorum being present the proceedings were opened with a devotion by the Chaplain as follows:
Beloved, as we move through a week called by many "HOLY WEEK," hear words from Psalm 66 (vv.5-7) (NRSV):
"Come and see what God has done:
He is awesome in His deeds among mortals.
He turned the sea into dry land; they
passed through the river on foot.
There we rejoiced in Him,
Who rules by His might forever,
Whose eyes keep watch on the nations..."
Let us pray.
Our Father, in every age and for every generation You have been the faithful God to Your children of faith.
In crisis time You have manifested Your power in so many ways:
In the days of Noah You brought redemption through a Great Flood and the Ark!
From Egyptian slavery You brought the Hebrew children through the night of the Passover when the Angel of death gave life to the Hebrew children when they saw the blood on the door. You held back the waters so the faithful could flee across the sea.
For Christians You touched the dead body of Jesus and He became our Living Lord.
In the glow of Your miracles help us to live lives of faithful stewards.
Amen.
Point of Quorum
Senator SETZLER made the point that a quorum was not present. It was ascertained that a quorum was not present.
Printed Page 1429 . . . . . Tuesday, April 2, 1996
Call of the Senate
Senator SETZLER moved that a call of the Senate be made. The following Senators answered the call:
Alexander Boan Bryan
Cork Courtney Drummond
Elliott Fair Ford
Giese Gregory Hayes
Holland Jackson Land
Leatherman Martin Matthews
McConnell McGill Mescher
Moore O'Dell Passailaigue
Patterson Peeler Rankin
Rose Ryberg Saleeby
Setzler Smith, G. Smith, J.V.
Thomas Waldrep Washington
Wilson
A quorum being present, the Senate resumed.
Presence Recorded
Senators LANDER, SHORT and REESE recorded their presence subsequent to the Call of the Senate.
The PRESIDENT called for Petitions, Memorials, Presentments of Grand Juries and such like papers.
MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
March 8, 1996
Mr. President and Members of the Senate:
I am transmitting herewith appointments for confirmation. These appointments are made with the "advice and consent of the Senate," and are, therefore, submitted for your consideration.
Respectfully,
David M. Beasley
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