IN THE NEWS

News and Issues important to District 112

• Annexation laws under fire for 'shoestring' easements
  
  

  Rep. Hagood plans to begin the debate on the issue of annexation this month.  This land use issue needs to protect rural land from "zone shopping" by developers who are looking to build "dense subdivisions" with "loose restrictions."  Areas such as "doghnut holes," unicorporated land surrounded by a municipality, create problems in attempting to streamline public services. 

  CRBJ article by Scott Miller

  
  Date: 2/4/08
   
• Law Boost's School Chief's Clout
  
  The bill, H 4150, sponserd by Reps. Hagood, Stavrinakis, Limehouse, Miller, Scarborough and Young, puts Charleston County Superintendents in charge of the hiring and placement of teachers and principals.
  Date: 6/26/07
   
• New Guide for Regional Planning
  
  The Priority Investment Act (PIA), sponsored by Rep. Hagood, was approved by the Legislature and signed by Governor Sanford this year.  The PIA requires greater communication between the government and the public concerning land use issues.  Regional planning and land use issues are important to South Carolina as the state continues to grow.  The PIA provides a way for the public and the government to work together to create the best path for development and to preserve and maintain the character of our coastal region.
  Date: 6/18/07
   
• Hagood Focusing on State Energy Policy, Gorwth Management Issues
  
  

  Rep. Hagood discusses his priorities for the Charleston area and also State-wide iniatives.  Currently, Ben is helping to develop a State Energy Policy and he continues working on growth management issues.

  Ben is working to connect the economic and development with conservation through several avenues.  He is an appointee to the Governor's Climate, Energy, and Commerce Advisory Committee.  In addition, the Priority Investment Act, which Ben working on passing for four years, has a good chance of being passed into law this year

   The interview was printed in the Sunday paper on May 13, 2007.

  
  Date: 5/14/07
   
• Elliot's Folly
  
  Ben's Priority Investment Act (H 3881), which had passed the House and Senate committees, remains stalled in the Senate due to the objection of one Senator, Dick Elliot (D-North Myrtle Beach).  In an editorial published May 24th, Mr. Elliot's hometown paper chastised him for stalling the bill.  The Senate has now set the bill for special order.
  Date: 5/24/06
   
• House Judiciary kills proposal on eminent domain
  
  In a close vote, a House panel agreed Tuesday to drop a controversial proposal from a constitutional amendment limiting local governments' ability to take property through eminent domain.
  Date: 5/17/06
   
• Heed Sullivan's land request
  
  Post & Courier editorialized in favor of Sullivan's desire to purchase land from the State and encourages Budget and Control Board to begin negotiations. The Board, chaired by Governor Sanford, delayed any decision until next month.
  Date: 5/16/06
   
• Sullivans Island fights for land governor wanted auctioned
  
  State Budget and Control Board to consider future of land on S.I.
  Date: 5/15/06
   
• Give Islands Needed Protections
  
  

  Virtually every legislator in the Charleston and Beaufort delegations has endorsed a letter prepared and circulated by Ben in support of protective regulations limiting the construction of bridges to marsh islands. The Post and Courier urges the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee to pay heed.

  
  Date: 4/16/06
   
• Don't Spoil Eminent Domain Bill
  
  Editorial in Charleston paper supports Ben's stance on the eminent domain bill now making its way through the house. The bill includes a controversial provision dealing with the compensation of property owners for regulatory reductions in land use.
  Date: 2/26/06
   
• Significant Regional Planning Step
  
  In the lead editorial on Sunday, February 19th, the Post & Courier lauded House passage of the Priority Investment Act as a promising first step toward more effective developmental planning among governments.
  Date: 2/19/06
   
• (PIA) Bill Pushes Planning Awareness
  
  The favorable vote on the Priority Investment Act marked a victory for Ben and his allies who have pushed for some sort of regional planning legislation since 2003.
  Date: 2/17/06
   
• State ponders regional plan requirement: Bill would make counties, municipalities cooperate
  
  

  In article published in The Beaufort Gazette on Thursday, Greg Hambrick interviewed Ben aout the Priority Investment Act that will go before the full House next week.

  
  Date: 2/9/06
   
• Lowcountry legislators led veto overrides
  
  Ben was the only member of the lowcountry legislative delegation who consistently voted to sustain Gov. Sanford's vetoes and uphold the Governor's stand on fiscal responsibility for the State.
  Date: 6/1/05
   
• Sanford proposes vote on spending
  
  Gov. Mark Sanford offers to let the voters decide on the issue of governmental spending.
  Date: 5/28/05
   
• Gov. Sanford Praises "Growing Nucleus" of House Members
  
  In a press conference held earlier today, Gov. Sanford lauded a handful of Representatives, including Ben, as "taxpayer heroes" for voting to sustain a majority of his vetoes. Sanford praised certain House members for realizing that the "system of growing government at nearly three times the rate peoples' incomes are growing simply doesn't make sense."
  Date: 5/27/05
   
• House overrides Lowcountry vetoes
  
  The State House of Representatives wasted no time in overriding most of the Governor's vetoes. Only a few members, including Ben, voted in favor of fiscal responsibility.
  Date: 5/25/05
   
• Priority Investment Act needed to avoid land use battles
  
  Ben's opinion editorial which appeared in Sunday's Post & Courier discusses the need for the Priority Investment Act.
  Date: 5/15/05
   
• Misplaced glee over choice loss
  
  In refusing to allow debate on the amended "Put Parents in Charge" bill, the children of South Carolina have lost an opportunity to choose the quality of education they receive. That is not something for legislators to shout about.
  Date: 5/6/05
   
• Narrowed focus strengthens 'Put Parents In Charge' Act
  
  An amended version of Governor Sanford's "Put Parents in Charge" bill reaches a reasonable compromise that narrows the focus to those students who most need choice.
  Date: 5/4/05
   
• Time to plan and coordinate
  
  An editorial in The Greenville News extolled the benefits of developmental planning among local governments and Ben's PIA bill.
  Date: 5/1/05
   
• Nancy Hagood, Age 12, Training for First Cooper River Bridge Run
  
  The (Charleston) Post & Courier has been following Nancy and several other runners in training as they prepare for the April 9th Cooper River Bridge run, the last on the Perlman Bridge. This will be Nancy's first bridge run. She will be accompanied by her dad and about 42,000 other runners and walkers. Her mother and sister, Penn and Derrill (age 14), will be among the walkers. You can follow Nancy's progress in the Monday Health & Science section of the Post & Courier.
  Date: 2/7/05
   
• Hagood Supports Governmental Restructuring
  
  Rep. Hagood speaks out in support of a bill that would eliminate elections for two constitutional officers, the education superintendent and the agriculture commissioner.
  Date: 1/19/05
   
• 2005 General Assembly gets down to business
  
  Lawmakers gathered in Columbia as the General Assembly began it's 116th session today at noon.
  Date: 1/11/05
   
• Time for Senate Rules Reform
  
  A Post & Courier opinion editorial on September 30th called for a change to SC state Senate rules which allow individual members to kill important and much-debated legislation late in the session simply by placing it on the contested calendar. Such was the case with Ben's PIA bill which would require coordinated local planning to mitigate the effects of large-scale development. Near the end of the session a senator, who also is a real estate developer, put it on the contested calendar, ensuring its demise. Another bill actively supported by Ben that would give the state grand jury the authority to investigate environmental crimes was similarly killed, despite strong support in the Senate, and approval by the House.
  Date: 9/28/04
   
• Dealing with 'Phenomenal' Growth
  
  In a recent editorial, The Post & Courier warned area residents of even greater residential development along the SC coast. This came after an economic development forum wherein Santee Cooper chief executive Lonnie Carter predicted that the coast can expect "phenomenal" growth. Such an intensified development boom, stated the paper, will require meaningful cooperation among governments and agencies.
  
  The continuing real estate development boom should encourage governments to recognize the need for regional planning. The paper challenged the Legislature to make passage of Ben's bill to require regional planning a priority next year. H 4354, the Infrastructure Priority Investment Act, was derailed this year by the last-minute objections of Horry Sen. Dick Elliott, a real estate developer.
  Date: 7/30/04
   
• Gov. Sanford: "Determined to start changing mentality in Columbia"
  
  In an editorial that appeared in the Sunday, June 13th edition of the Post & Courier, Gov. Mark Sanford reviewed the recently ended legislative session.
  Date: 6/13/04
   
• "Wetlands Need More Protection"
  
  In a recent editorial, The Post & Courier supported Ben's efforts to increase freshwater wetlands protection and expressed deep concern that the House bill as it now reads could put hundreds of thousands of acres of freshwater wetlands at risk, many of which are located in coastal counties. The editorial ecouraged the Senate not to not to pass the current bill.
  Date: 5/6/04
   
• "Board OKs Change in School Governance"
  
  By a vote of 6 to 2, the Charleston County School Board agreed to pursue the changes proposed in Ben's bill which would alter the balance of power by giving more authority to the Superintent of Schools.
  Date: 3/23/04
   
• School Governance Reform - Journal editorial supports Ben's bill
  
  In an article published in the March 8-21 edition of the Charleston Regional Business Journal, Bill Settlemyer, Executive Publisher, took The Post and Courier to task for skirting the issue on school governance reform and called for support of Ben's bill, H4164, which would fix "the school district's dysfunctional governance structure".
  Date: 3/8/04
   
• Ben's Quality of Life bill would push communities to manage growth
  
  In an article published March 3, 2004, the Spartanburg Herald Journal urged lawmakers to support Ben's Priority Infrastructure bill.
  Date: 3/3/04
   
• House bill proposes schooling options
  
  The "Put Parents in Charge Act" proposed by the house and advocated by Governor Sanford would offer parents who meet certain criteria tax credits or scholarships for children. Benefits may include private school tuition, reimbursement of home schooling costs or "tuition" for attending a public school in another district.
  Date: 3/2/04
   
• Edge-ucation: What compels communities to build schools in the middle of nowhere?
  
  This article in the March 2004 issue of Goeverning magazine applauds Ben's efforts to coordinate growth through communication between state and local agencies.
  Date: 3/1/04
   
• "Examples for Regional Planning"
  
  The historical lack of cooperation among various jurisdictions, particularly with regard to the infrastructure in areas being pursued by developers, lends credance to Ben's bill which would have local and state government offices work together on regional planning.
  Date: 3/1/04
   
• "School Changes Not Worth the Risk"
  
  An editorial in The Post & Courier supported the Attorney General's opinion that the changes proposed by Ben's bill, H 4164, that would restructure the Charleston County School Board district governance system. Citing a portion of the opinion which stated that the changes "would clearly alter the legally protected status quo which the district currrently enjoys", the paper felt the risk of future litigation did not warrant the changes.
  Date: 2/26/04
   
• Editorial Supports Hagood Planning Bill
  
  An editorial in the February 25th edition of The Post & Courier came out in support of H 4354 which will "reduce potential conflicts over developments that threaten to consume farmland and forests, and promote suburban sprawl."
  Date: 2/25/04
   
• Change District Governance
  
  A Letter to the Editor by Jon Butzon, Executive Director of the Charleston Education Network, in support of H4164. Mr. Butzon predicts that passage of the bill will focus "the school district on the bottom line of improved achievement for every child. It raises the bar on accountability for the School Board and the administration".
  Date: 2/23/04
   
• "Tax Proposal Makes Sense"
  
  The Greenville News asserts that H 4765 "puts the state in the business of cutting the right tax".
  Date: 2/19/04
   
• Promote Regional Planning
  
  The Post & Courier saluted Ben for proposing "timely legislation", supported by Gov. Sanford, which is designed to coordinate land planning between local and state governmental offices.
  Date: 2/9/04
   
• District Power Shift Idea Gains Momentum
  
  Support is growing for H4164, Ben's bill that calls for the reduction of the power of constituent school boards in Charleston County and gives the superintendent more control over personnel decisions.
  Date: 1/5/04