Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

The Senate assembled at 11:00 A.M., the hour to which it stood adjourned, and was called to order by the ACTING PRESIDENT, Senator COURSON.

TO:   The Clerk of the Senate

The Clerk of the House

FROM:   C. Tyrone Courtney, Chairman

Jt. Legislative Screening Committee to Review Candidates for the SC Consumer Affairs Commission'

DATE:   May 18, 1999

In compliance with the provisions of Act 391 of 1996, Title 2, Chapter 20, of the South Carolina Code of Laws, it is respectfully requested that the following information be printed in the Journals of the Senate and the House.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Sen. C. Tyrone Courtney, Chmn.     /s/ Rep. George Bailey
/s/ Sen. Robert W. Hayes, Jr.           /s/ Rep. James N. Law
/s/ Sen. Glenn G. Reese               /s/ Rep. Teddy N. Trotter
/s/ Sen. Dick Elliott                 /s/ Rep. Willie McMahand

The Screening Process

Pursuant to Act No. 391 of 1996, Title 2, Chapter 20, of the South Carolina Code of Laws, the Commiteee has considered the qualifications of candidates seeking election to the positions of the South Carolina Consumer Affairs Commission.

The Commitee's report includes the Transcript of the Proceedings before the Screening Committee on May 12, 1999. The Transcript does

APPEARANCES:

James Bell, Esquire

Director of Research and Attorney to the Committee

Sen. C. Tyrone Courtney, Chairman

Sen. Robert W. Hayes, Jr.

Rep. Teddy N. Trotter

Rep. Willie B. McMahand, Sr.

SEN. COURTNEY: Okay, let's go ahead and call our meeting to order. I want to thank all of you for being here and tell you that this shouldn't take very long. It's not very painful, but it is a process that we do have to go through. Obviously, have some fairly formal questions that we have to ask each candidate today and then we'll open up to the committee to see if anybody has any particular questions they would like to ask you. We do this one at a time. Ms. Bloom, alphabetically, you'll go first and then we'll bring Mr. Macomson in and ask him similar questions. Then, sometime probably a week ... James? ... or so we'll have a report ...

MR. BELL: Next Tuesday.

SEN. COURTNEY: Just to remind you that you're not allowed to ask for commitments from anybody until the report is published. We'll let you know when that is published so that you can timely hit the ground running and feel like you need to do anything special as far as drumming up support and so forth. Hopefully, we'll get that out as soon as we can. Then the election, I think, is two weeks from today, which will be in the House of Representatives. If you have any particular questions, we'll be glad to try to answer those for you, too, while you are here. If there's not anything else to bring up, we're going to, Mr. Macomson, ask you to leave the room and then we'll proceed with Ms. Bloom and then bring you back shortly. Thank you. Ms. Bloom if you'll come on up and have a seat up front here. Ms. Bloom, welcome again to our screening committee this morning and I think you've been through this before, so you have a little idea what it's about. As I said, it's not very painful to go through but we have to go through the process and all before we give the names of the nominees to the General Assembly. At this time, I'll ask Mr. Bell, our staff attorney, to ask you some general questions and then we'll see if there are specific questions any of the members of the committee have and questions we have as we go.

MR. BELL: Good morning, Ms. Bloom. If I could swear you in.

LILLIAN C. BLOOM, being duly sworn:

MR. BELL: I have a few questions for you. Do you or any member of your family own or operate any business which contracts with state or federal government?

A: No.

MR. BELL: Do you or any member of your family own or operate any business that receives state or federal funds from the agency, board, commission?

A: No.

MR. BELL: Have you ever been arrested, charged, or held by federal, state or other law enforcement authorities for violation of the law, regulation or ordinance?

A: No.

MR. BELL: Have you, to your knowledge, ever been under federal, state or local investigation for possible violation of a criminal statute?

A: No.

MR. BELL: Has a tax lien or collection procedure ever been instituted against you personally by federal, state or local authorities?

A: No.

MR. BELL: Have you ever been disciplined or cited for a breach of ethics or unprofessional conduct by any court, agency, association or professional group?

A: No.

MR. BELL: Are you now or have you ever been employed as a lobbyist or acted in the capacity of a lobbyist principal?

A: No.

MR. BELL: Do you know of any reason you would have difficulty performing the duties of this position?

A: None at all.

MR. BELL: If you would like to make a brief statement about yourself and explain why you want to serve, I know you have been serving for a number of years now, but please do so now.

MS. BLOOM: Well, I've been on the commission for seven years now. This would be my third term. I have considered it a distinct privilege to be serving in this area. I think it's a very fine commission. I think they're always concerned with the welfare of the consumer and it is something that I have particularly enjoyed working towards. My expertise is essentially in the area of education in trying to make the consumer more aware of their rights and responsibilities. I think I've tried to do that effectively and I believe I have made a contribution to the commission and I certainly enjoyed working with them and I would hope that I could continue to do so.

SEN. COURTNEY: Ms. Bloom, you work with Mr. Porter fairly often. What's the usual way that you meet with him, how often and how does he report to you and so forth?

A: Well, we meet the second Tuesday of every month. He gives a report as the consumer advocate, as the administrator of the agency. And all of the staff, the deputy consumer advocates, the attorneys, the public information professional all give us reports.

MR. BELL: I don't know if you're aware, but there's been some controversy about the consumer advocate, at least as far as the Senate side is concerned this past year as well as this year. For instance, in the area of auto insurance reform. When the Senate Subcommittee was traveling and so forth in trying to come up with some way to reform our insurance system and get out of the re-insurance facility and recoupment fee and all that, Mr. Porter continued to maintain that the old system was the best system for South Carolina and advocated staying with the recoupment fee and so forth and we felt, the Senate side at least, he really did not look into the interest of the consumer. It got to the point where maybe three Senators took the floor of the Senate

A: Well, I knew that before the new legislation went into effect on March 1st, there was a distinct ... one of the deputy consumer advocates really worked hard to get competitive rates out. Apparently, the insurance companies said that the new law prohibited public hearings. Well, in order not to have ... if they wanted not to have the rates out before that, it meant that the consumer wasn't in a position to shop around for the best kind of insurance for them. And I think it was finally adjudicated that they would have to post their rates before the March 1st legislation went into effect. I guess there is differences, but I know that Mr. Porter's is always on the side of the consumer. Now, there may be a difference of opinion between the Senators that opposed what he wanted to do, but I think he is essentially working on the behalf of the consumer and I can't see it otherwise.

SEN. COURTNEY: But you weren't made aware of any complaints by members of the General Assembly?

A: Not to my knowledge.

SEN. COURTNEY: And you were told by the consumer advocate and his deputies that this lawsuit where one government agency actually sued another government agency, which was the Consumer Advocate sued the Department of Insurance, because of the Department of Insurance hiding information?

A: Well, not revealing the rates beforehand. Now, you must understand, I, too, am not a lawyer and some of the legal technicalities escape me.

SEN. COURTNEY: Were you told that the General Assembly, the Senate and the House had to pass new legislation to overcome the lawsuit that was brought by the Consumer Advocate against the Department of Insurance to prevent problems in the new insurance law?

A: Well, those details, as I say, I ... I'm just not that knowledgeable about it.

SEN. COURTNEY: Well, you wouldn't be unless you were told by ... So you were not told?

A: He reports very completely. Now, when you say "he told ...", we get such detailed reports at every meeting that perhaps that escaped me.

SEN. COURTNEY: Did they come to you before filing suit and ask you and discuss it with the commission or even ask approval from the commission to sue another government agency before they did so?

A: If they did, as I say, it escaped me. They might have.

SEN. COURTNEY: Questions from the committee? Senator Hayes?

SEN. HAYES: What do you have on your agenda as far as what the Department of Consumer Affairs should be doing or looking into next? Do you have anything that you're particularly interested in?

A: Well, I think it's an agency that should always be concerned with greater public awareness. You know, when you're in the Columbia area, where in this area, apparently, there are more people that seem to be aware of the agency. As you branch out into the state, you've got to make every effort to publicize the agency and to do this. Now, the public affairs and education professional does a tremendous job. She speaks all over the state. I, myself, have had two courses set up for the Furman University Learning and Retirement Program at Furman where I brought some of the staff members. I'm also on the Senior Advisory Committee of the Council of Governments and there, too, I try to have the staff person come and make presentations. On that committee there are many professionals serving in six counties so that they were made aware of a lot of the scams, fraud, and deceptive practices that go on to which the aging population is particularly vulnerable. Now, I've tried ... I know here, Mr. Porter, writes a very fine column for that periodical that comes out once every two weeks with the State. I think it's called "Money-wise". I tried to get ... and you people may read it, I think they're wonderful articles teaching the public of some of the issues that they may be confronted with. I tried to get the senior editor of the Greenville News to do the same thing. Well, he's thinking about it. I haven't seen him really do anything. But I think that's a very worthwhile way of educating the public. The public information and education professional, she addresses people in mental health half-way houses because they are particularly vulnerable to credit card consumption and don't know how to use them. She even speaks to people who are in half-way houses from prisons so they, too, may be available. They've had a wonderful program where the high schools

SEN. HAYES: Thank you. No further questions.

SEN. COURTNEY: Any other questions? Ms. Bloom, anything else you'd like to tell us this morning?

A: No. I think ... I would certainly like to continue on. And if not, it has been a wonderful experience for me and I shall always treasure it.

SEN. COURTNEY: Well, I'm sure I speak for all of us when we say we know you're a fine person and look out for the consumer as best you could. In the future, if you are re-elected, I can tell you from a personal standpoint, we would like to see the commission more involved with the Consumer Advocate as far as details of what actually is going on and what it's working toward and the actions that he is taking, because we feel like there's been a little bit of disappointment there, at least from some of us that work with closely on some of these issues that we've had to deal with. I'll leave that with you for what it's worth. Thank you for being here this morning and thank you for the service that you've already given to the State of South Carolina.

A: I might add that he is certainly trying to be in contact with the legislators, perhaps more than he has been. But it is very difficult for him to manipulate a lot of the committees that he has to appear at and to deal with just the management of the agency. But he is making this a priority for the coming year.

SEN. COURTNEY: Thank you. Thanks for coming and we'll be in touch, I would assume, by Tuesday to let you know exactly when the

A: Now, when you say ... Can I seek ... can I just write letters before then asking for support, if not commitments?

SEN. COURTNEY: No, ma'am. I don't think you can ask for support. I think that would be interpreted as a commitment.

A: Okay, I will wait.

SEN. COURTNEY: You may write that you are up for re-election and at the appropriate time that you will be contacting them to seek their support or their commitment.

A: Okay, thank you all.
(Off the record)

SEN. COURTNEY: I want to thank you again for being here for the screening committee this morning. Like Ms. Bloom, you had to drive a pretty good ways to be here also. It's not going to take long, but it is a process that we do have to go through to make sure that anybody who offers as a candidate is qualified. At this point, I'll ask Mr. Bell to ask you some formal questions that have to be asked of everybody. If you'll just respond to those, then members of the Committee may have some questions for you also following that and if you have any questions of us about Consumer Affairs or the roles and responsibilities there, anything you'd like to ask, we'll try to answer those for you as well.

REV. TONY MACOMSON, being duly sworn:

MR. BELL: Good morning, Mr. Macomson. I have a few questions for you. Do you or any member of your family own or operate any business which contracts with state or federal government?

A: No, sir.

MR. BELL: Do you or any member of your family own or operate any business that receives state or federal funds from the agency, board, commission?

A: No, sir.

MR. BELL: Have you ever been arrested, charged, or held by federal, state or other law enforcement authorities for violation of the law, regulation or ordinance?

A: No.

MR. BELL: Have you, to your knowledge, ever been under federal, state or local investigation for possible violation of a criminal statute?

A: No.

MR. BELL: Has a tax lien or collection procedure ever been instituted against you personally by federal, state or local authorities?

A: Not in ... No.

MR. BELL: Have you ever been disciplined or cited for a breach of ethics or unprofessional conduct by any court, agency, association or professional group?

A: No, sir.

MR. BELL: Are you now or have you ever been employed as a lobbyist or acted in the capacity of a lobbyist principal?

A: No.

MR. BELL: Do you know of any reason you would have difficulty performing the duties of this position?

A: No, sir.

MR. BELL: Okay, you can now make a personal statement about why you would like to serve on the Commission and your qualifications to do so. Thank you.

REV. MACOMSON: Well, I think as a community leader, I believe that also as a citizen, that ... what little I do know about the Commission, I could be a help for my community and for the state. It's my desire to be more involved in some of the things that are going on here in the State of South Carolina.

SEN. COURTNEY: Mr. Macomson, let me ask you a few things. Consumer Affairs Commission kind of overseas the actions of the consumer advocate. The consumer advocate is the person who represents the interests of consumers in South Carolina, specifically dealing with legislation that comes before the General Assembly and any complaints that we receive also from the public, whatever happens to them out there in their own private lives and so forth. Just looking through some of the letters that have been sent for you here, I see some words, "active", "tenacious". I think when it comes to representing consumers, those are traits that we kind of look for for somebody with the consumer advocate. What kind of things have you been involved in in the community as far as helping disadvantaged people or people that couldn't help themselves and so forth? Have you had involvement with any local governments or organizations or anything like that where you've kind of taken the lead or represented them and so forth?

A: In various areas in Cowpens I've done some things. Of course, I've served on the rescue squad commission and I think that's been one thing. I've served in the YMCA, director board; I've served with the ... I'm president of the NAACP, working with some things to help for disadvantaged people; I've served as a advisory counsel to the school systems and to the Security Dad, those things that I've done. Beyond that, I think that's pretty much those things I've served with. Fire

SEN. COURTNEY: So various organizations in the community and so forth?

A: Yes. I could ... as community organizations, I can name some of them that I've had experiences in --Assistant Chaplin to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center; Deputy Chaplin to Spartanburg County Sheriff's Department; I've also served with the ... member of the South Carolina Education and Missionary Baptist State Convention; been president of Fellowship Ministry that deal with a lot of activities toward helping and aiding people, Gaffney; Greater Spartanburg Ministerial Alliance, has been some things that I've served in. Like I said, member of the Improvement Board, Broome High School; member of the Improvement Board and Security Dad at Granard High School in Gaffney; Board of Directors of the YMCA; Member of the County of Spartanburg Emergency and Rescue Squad Units Commission; a member of the Sewer Commission in Cowpens; member of the Fire Department and Bicentennial Speaker. Those are just some other things.

SEN. COURTNEY: Let me ask you, describe yourself a little bit. When I see words like "active",
when I hear "tenacious", something like that, do you feel that you're somebody that sits back and lets things happen or are you willing to speak out if you feel like you see something not being done like you think it should be?

A: Very much so. I would speak out against anything that's ... that I feel is not right. I will go to a limit to try to make sure that it's right again, especially if it's something done against someone else or a community. I will stand to try to be very active in pushing to make sure that goes forward.

SEN. COURTNEY: The reason I ask that question is that some of us in the Senate and House felt that the Commission, Consumer Affair Commission has been a little complacent maybe in allowing the Consumer Advocate to take the role that he has, which some of us feel is not being as active as it should be as far as helping the consumer. Do you feel that you have any hesitation in criticizing him if you felt that he was not doing what he should do?

A: That's a big concern of mine, is that, you know, that the right thing be happening for the people. So if he did something that I felt that wasn't right, then I would not support that, very strongly would not support that. I would stand up against anything that I felt was against

SEN. COURTNEY: Okay, Mr. Macomson, Senator?

SEN. HAYES: I just wanted to ask, do you have any particular ideas on directions that the Department of Consumer Affairs should take? I know you haven't served on it before, have you?

A: No, sir.

SEN. HAYES: Do you have any ideas, an agenda for what you think actions they should take?

A: Well, I just think that from my understanding from what I understand at this point and in trying to understand more about the Consumer Board, I think that the actions should be taken to ... for the community, for the people, that the right things should be done for the people in those directions. My actions would be to see that this Commission of Consumer Affairs would be really working toward the goals to make things better for the people.

SEN. HAYES: How did you become aware of the idea of running for this?

A: I heard about it through the letter in the paper, through Senator ... I heard about the Commission.

SEN. HAYES: No further questions.

SEN. COURTNEY: Any other questions? Mr. Macomson, you, as I stated before, may not seek commitments or support from any member of the General Assembly at this time. We'll be in touch with you by Tuesday of next week to tell you when the report becomes public. At that time you are able to contact members of the General Assembly and ask for their support and their commitment to vote for you. The election will be two weeks from today. There will be a violation if you seek any support or commitment from anybody until the report is published, and as I say, we will let you know when that is. In the meantime, you are able to write members of the General Assembly if you'd like and let them know that you are running for this position and that once screening is completed, that you would be contacting them at that time. Do you have any questions at this time yourself that you'd like to ask us about the commission?

A: This commission, do they deal with mainly ... and what I was really trying to understand, because this will be my first time serving or seeking a position of this magnitude and I feel here at the State ... down in the State Capital, this commission deals with it ... I want to make sure I understand about it, deals with the different things that the consumers pays for, am I right? And how does it deal with the interest of the bank and stuff like that?

SEN. COURTNEY: Consumer Affairs Commission is involved with representing the interest of consumers in South Carolina and dealing with any problems they may have as consumers and also appointing and electing a consumer advocate who is kind of the point man for the
commission and deals with the General Assembly regularly in considering legislation that we might have before us to either advocate or oppose legislation that he feels is in the best interest of the consumer or it might hurt the consumer and deal with the public in general with problems they may have with various businesses or whatever that they have out there in the public as consumers.

A: That's what I was thinking, I just wanted to make sure that in asking that ... I wanted to make sure that I was considering ... that's about all I have. Hopefully I can learn more about it as I continue to go.

SEN. COURTNEY: We appreciate you coming and we appreciate your interest and we'll be in touch with you probably early next week.

A: Thank you.

SEN. COURTNEY: I'll just ... at this point I think we just need to take a formal vote and from what I can see both candidates certainly qualify to run and all that. So, if there is no further, I ask for a motion.

SEN. HAYES: So moved.

SEN. COURTNEY: We find both candidates qualified, seconded. All in favor say "aye".

MEMBERS: Aye.

SEN. COURTNEY: Aye's have it. We find both qualified and once the report is done, notify them and get that published. Thank you.
(There being nothing further, the screening was   concluded
at 10:00 a.m.)

Summary

The following persons were unanimously qualified for Seat #3 on the SC Consumer Affairs Commission:

Mrs. Lillian C. Bloom
Rev. Tony L. Macomson

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Sen. C. Tyrone Courtney, Chmn.     /s/ Rep. George Bailey
/s/ Sen. Robert W. Hayes, Jr.           /s/ Rep. James N. Law
/s/ Sen. Glenn G. Reese               /s/ Rep. Teddy N. Trotter
/s/ Sen. Dick Elliott                 /s/ Rep. Willie McMahand

The following Bill was read the third time and having received three readings in both Houses, it was ordered that the title be changed to that of an Act and enrolled for Ratification:

H. 3970 (Word version) -- Reps. Scott, Bales, J. Brown, Cotty, Harrison, Howard, Lourie, Neal, Quinn, Rutherford and J. Smith: A BILL TO AMEND SECTION 7-7-465, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE DESIGNATION OF VOTING PRECINCTS IN RICHLAND COUNTY, SO AS TO ESTABLISH NEW PRECINCTS AND RENAME CERTAIN EXISTING PRECINCTS.

(By prior motion of Senator GIESE, with unanimous consent)

The following Bills were read the third time and ordered sent to the House of Representatives:

S. 839 (Word version) -- Senators Elliott and Glover: A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR PAYMENT FOR THE ATTENDANCE OF MEETINGS BY THE DILLON COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE.

(By prior motion of Senator ELLIOTT)

S. 840 (Word version) -- Senators Elliott and Ravenel: A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR PAYMENT FOR THE ATTENDANCE OF MEETINGS BY THE HORRY COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE.

(By prior motion of Senator ELLIOTT)

The following Bill having been read the second time, was ordered placed on the third reading Calendar:

S. 849 (Word version) -- Senator Rankin: A BILL TO PROVIDE THAT STUDENTS IN ANY SCHOOL WITHIN THE HORRY COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM WHO PARTICIPATE IN INTERSCHOLASTIC SOCCER OR AS A MEMBER OF A SCHOOL SQUAD MAY PARTICIPATE IN ORGANIZED SOCCER WHICH IS INDEPENDENT OF THE CONTROL OF THE SCHOOL UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, AND TO PROVIDE THAT A SCHOOL OR STUDENT WITHIN THE HORRY COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM IS NOT INELIGIBLE FOR PARTICIPATION IN INTERSCHOLASTIC SOCCER BECAUSE OF THE PARTICIPATION OF THE STUDENT OF THE SCHOOL AS A MEMBER OF AN ORGANIZED SOCCER TEAM.

(By prior motion of Senator RANKIN)

At 11:30 A.M., on motion of Senator GIESE, the Senate adjourned to meet next Tuesday, May 25, 1999, at 12:00 Noon.

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