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I stand before you today humbled by the awesome responsibility of this office but confident in the system and the people of South Carolina. Standing at the top of these grand stairs moments ago, my mind raced through South Carolina history. I thought about the 112 people who came before me - some during wars - others during economic uncertainties. But through it all, they and their people persevered. They did it with hard work, with vision and with boundless faith in their destiny as a people - a people called South Carolina. Our rich heritage of leaders is unbroken. For about three decades one man has served the people with dedication and integrity and his wife has been right there all along. I want to thank Nick and Emilie Theodore for their fine contributions to our State and ask that you join me in thanking them. There's another couple I want to recognize. Two teenagers from Greenville discovered each other some time back. I dare not say how long ago it was. But time has been good to them and to the people they served in the legislature, Congress, and the Governor's Office. Carroll Campbell is leaving office the highest rated Governor in America. He has taken us to new economic heights. His leadership saved lives. His stewardship reformed government. Because of programs he and Iris championed, fewer babies are dying at birth and more children are being immunized. There's not a person in this State who has not been touched by their leadership. To Carroll and Iris Campbell, I say the people of South Carolina love you dearly and on behalf of them thank you for everything you've done. The last two years were a wonderful education for Mary Wood and me. Ours was the privilege of getting to know South Carolina one community, one street, one family at a time. Yes, we are a diverse lot, we South Carolinians. But, even though we are of different religions, races, and politics, we can agree that before the institution of government, there was another institution already created. It was the institution of family. Let us agree that it's time to put families first in South Carolina. We will put families first by declaring that government exists to serve them not vice versa. We will put families first by making sure that decisions made around government conference tables do not conflict with decisions made around family dinner tables. Our highest calling is not to perpetuate bureaucracy but to offer opportunity. State government is poised to provide such opportunity as never before. For the first time some of the most important agencies in government are directly accountable to the people because they

Are they needed?

How can they be carried out more efficiently?

and, the most important question - Is every program and policy pro-family and pro-business? We will reject policies that hurt our efforts to create jobs and rebuild families. There are other changes in which agencies under my direction do business. As a legislator, I was appalled by turf protecting and narrow-minded bureaucrats who competed for scarce tax dollars. The big picture did not seem to matter to some. Elected officials were constantly thwarted by special interest groups promoting their own agendas. This often led to overlap and duplication. No longer. Agencies under my direction will work together. They will work for the people, not themselves. They will be in tandem with the governor in providing opportunity, and they will get out of the way as individual initiative flourishes. That's a promise. The foundation of opportunity is an education and a job. You can't have one without the other. To the business community, I say that we will continue our efforts to maintain a climate in which you can create jobs and wealth which will benefit all of us. We will give you the skilled work force. We will be your partner to develop rural South Carolina. We will assure you of fair tax policy. We will grow our economy by helping business grow, not by following the pied pipers of higher taxes and gambling. And we must prepare our people to perform jobs the private sector creates. The average person changes jobs seven times in a lifetime. Our technical, vocational, and university systems must be retooled to accommodate the demands of an information-based society. Our public schools must be adequately funded, our teachers adequately paid, to prepare our children to enter the world of technology...and we must embrace innovation in the schools. But opening the school doors to innovation does not require closing the doors on time-tested principles. C.S. Lewis, the Oxford don, wrote, "We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst." Thirty years of value free social experimentation in society at large and the public school system have heaped disaster upon disaster...a virtual moral meltdown. Value free means that nothing is right and nothing is wrong. If, then, there is no right and wrong, no ultimate truth, there are no parameters. And if there are no parameters, then anything goes. Juvenile

The Senate returned to the House with concurrence the following:

H. 3226 -- Rep. T. Brown: A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION CONGRATULATING THE CHOPPEE INDIANS FOOTBALL TEAM OF GEORGETOWN COUNTY ON WINNING THE 1994 STATE CLASS A FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP.

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

The House assembled at 10:00 A.M.

Deliberations were opened with prayer by the Chaplain of the House of Representatives, the Rev. Dr. Alton C. Clark as follows:

O God, it is easy to do right when it is easy, but, oh, so hard when it is difficult. Teach us to know that the only chance we have of doing what is right is by following Your will and relying on Your strength. So when we are tempted to run away from the storms of life, lead us straight into the paths You would have us to go. Hold us secure in our discipleship even when the shadows fall enabling us to hear clearly Your words of assurance: "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

Thank You, Lord, for this privilege of prayer. Amen.

Pursuant to Rule 6.3, the House of Representatives was led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America by the SPEAKER.

After corrections to the Journal of the proceedings of yesterday, the SPEAKER ordered it confirmed.

Rep. FLEMING moved that when the House adjourns, it adjourn in memory of Michael and Alex Smith, which was agreed to.

Dear Mr. Speaker and Members of the House:

I am hereby returning H. 4820, R-609, the 1994-95 Appropriations Act, with my vetoes.

Unlike previous years, revenues for next year's budget provide opportunities to fund numerous items which previously did not receive the desired level of financial commitment from the State. Nevertheless, I am concerned about some excessive spending commitments in both the Supplemental and General Appropriations Act which threaten to lead the State down an imprudent path.

I am pleased that the past eight budgets have not included general tax increases. However, there are several areas that concern me.

First, efforts by the General Assembly to increase appropriations for the Departments of Corrections, Juvenile Justice, and Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services underscore our financial commitment to provide the facilities and infrastructure necessary to house those individuals determined by the courts to require incarceration and other custodial programs. The Department of Corrections is receiving almost $24 million in additional funding in this budget while Juvenile Justice and Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services have received an additional $5.7 million and $5.9 million respectively.

I believe this budget clearly indicates the State's commitment to provide the necessary financial resources to remove itself from the 1986 consent decree entered into by the Department of Corrections in the Nelson v. Leake (Plyler v. Evatt) lawsuit. These funding levels should also help convince the Court in the current litigation involving the Department of Juvenile Justice (Alexander, et al. v. D.J.J., et al.) that the plaintiffs' request for relief are unnecessary. The appropriations include monies for new facilities, staffing, and alternative sentencing programs to reduce populations at existing adult and juvenile facilities. The General Assembly adopted legislation to limit offenders sentenced in magistrate's

Second, I am concerned about the budgetary commitments to new and unnecessary expenses which may impose long-term obligations on the State. These long-term obligations include new programs with goals that may be speculative at best and contrary to encouraging the preservation of families at worst. In my State of the State Address, I asked the General Assembly to amend our tax laws to double the exemption for each child under six years of age from $2,350 to $4,700, and you have done so. This is a good start toward relieving the economic strain on working families caused by taxes, but cannot alone stem the rising tide of juvenile crime and delinquency. Our laws should be further amended to provide incentives that encourage parents to provide the kind of attention and supervision that our children need to develop and mature into productive citizens. Instead of the State continuing to bear the increasing burden of trying to repair broken families after the damage has already been done, I believe that redirected funds should go toward measures which prevent the breakup of families and encourage family unity.

I strongly encourage the General Assembly to adopt additional family incentives to address the front end of this problem in future legislative sessions. The additional projected surplus for 1993-94 is estimated to be $20 million above the $174 million currently appropriated under the Supplemental Appropriations Bill. My vetoes from the General and Supplemental Appropriations Bills total $18 million. Those amounts combined equal $38 million that could be used by the General Assembly to design additional tax relief programs for families in South Carolina. I believe we should consider either extending the exemption to children over 6 years of age or further increasing the amount of per child exemption.

Of course, parental responsibility is paramount. But if the General Assembly continues to resist general tax increases and adopts similar tax relief measures for families, we will finally begin to address constructively some of the family pressures that threaten the future of our children. The State cannot be the surrogate parents of our youth, particularly after years of neglect, but it can provide economic incentives which give families greater freedom to care for and support their children.

Thirdly, Section 107 in Part II of the 1994-95 General Appropriations Act was intended to correct what I believe to be an unfortunate decision

I believe the General Assembly acted responsibly by providing the necessary funds to eliminate existing deficits. I sincerely hope that the adoption of the language in Part IB, Section 17G.36, will ensure that other State agencies do not run deficits and provide additional safeguards to force appropriate cuts in expenditures. To permit this practice to continue, in effect, circumvents the constitutional requirement of a balanced budget. Additionally, as I review this Bill, I am concerned about an earlier decision to consolidate line items in the Appropriations Bill. While it does allow a clean document, it restricts a governor's ability to assert constitutional line item veto authority and could violate Art. IV, Section 21 of the South Carolina Constitution. Because of this, I have had to veto lines not directly related to my concerns simply to get a like amount of budgeted revenue.

My vetoes are as follows:
Veto 1 Part I, Section 16, Election Commission, page 53, line 24, Aid to County Boards of Registration - $220,300

The Election Commission received $700,000 for the updating of paper ballot counties to automated voting systems. I do not believe that there are enough paper ballot counties to warrant this total amount of money and believe $500,000 is a more appropriate sum. For that reason, I am vetoing this line. I do not intend to eliminate the function supported by the vetoed line, and I will support transfer requests to the Budget and Control Board to help the agency manage the reduction.
Veto 2 Part I, Section 20, Educational Television Commission, page 210, line 26, Reception Match $250,000

I do not intend to eliminate the purpose of this line and will support transfer requests to the Budget and Control Board to help the agency manage the reduction. However, I believe this is another example of where State agencies need to control their growth.

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