09/15/2012
Vote DescripƟon
1. 2009 SƟmulus Budget
2. Roll Call recalled from commiƩee
3. Roll Call subcommiƩee vote
4. Roll Call commiƩee vote
5. Rule change to accept statutory Roll Call
6. 100% against Roll Call poison pills
7. Roll Call 3rd reading
8. NASCAR tax incenƟves
9. RetroacƟve economic incenƟves
Legend
10. Expansion of state health care
11. Voter ID
12. $105 million extra to school districts
13. Refund excess tax collecƟons
14. Amazon sales tax exempƟon
15. Economic IncenƟve Transparency Act
16. I-95 Corridor Authority
17. EliminaƟon of Budget and Control Board
18. Largest budget in state history $22 billion
- voted for limited government, the free market, and
individual liberty and responsibility
- voted against limited government, the free market,
and individual liberty and responsibility
- did not vote
- not eligible to vote either because the Senator was
not on the commiƩee where the vote was cast or, in
the case of Gregory, was not yet elected.
Palmetto Liberty 2011 Senate Score Card v2 (ranked)
Vote Details
The following is a short description of each vote that was included in the score
to the right. After each description is an explanation of what each or
means. Remember, a is a vote for limited government, the free market, and
individual liberty and responsibility.
1.
2009 Stimulus Budget. Remember the stimulus money that was accept-
ed by our state in 2009? Here is the key vote that accepted the money
that created the budget difficulties of 2011. Senator Bright made a mo-
tion to carry over the budget, which would have blocked accepting the
stimulus money. Senator Leatherman countered with a motion to table
Senator Bright’s motion, effectively killing it and accepting the Stimulus
Money.
Motion by Leatherman to table Bright’s motion to carry over the budget
that accepted the stimulus money passed 34 – 12 on May 13th 2009.
– voted for tabling (for stimulus)
– voted against tabling (against stimulus)
2.
Roll Call recalled from committee. The Roll Call bill is what eventual-
ly created a law that requires a public record be kept of how every legis-
lator votes on each new law that is passed and on each section of the
budget. In 2010 the Senate Judiciary Committee blocked the Roll Call
bill and refused to recommend the Roll Call bill to the full Senate. Sena-
tor Shane Martin made a motion on the floor of the Senate to recall the
bill, H3047, effectively bypassing the committee. Unfortunately, the bill
died on the Senate floor when the session ended a few days later.
The Roll Call bill, H3047, was recalled from committee by a vote of 15 –
13 on May 27th 2010.
– voted to keep Roll Call in committee
– voted to bring Roll Call to the Senate floor
3.
Roll Call subcommittee vote. One tactic used to kill or delay the roll
call bill was to make it effective only after a constitutional amendment is
passed rather than being effective as soon as it is signed by the Governor.
A Senate judiciary subcommittee made this change to H3004 February 9,
2011 on a vote of 3 – 2.
The Roll Call bill was amended to make it dependent on a future state
constitutional amendment in a subcommittee meeting on February 9th
2011 by a vote of 3 – 2.
– voted for the amendment
– voted against the amendment
– not on the subcommittee
4.
Roll Call committee vote. The full Judiciary Committee had an oppor-
tunity to kill the delaying amendment to the Roll Call bill, H3004, that
was approved by the subcommittee. However, they voted to recommend
the delaying amendment to the full Senate.
The Judiciary committee approved the delaying amendment by a vote of
13 – 9 on February 15th 2011.
– voted for the amendment
– voted against the amendment
– not on the subcommittee
© PalmeƩo Liberty PAC 2011 All Rights Reserved
Each Senator’s score is the % of their eligible marks that are a
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
D
R
R
D
R
D
R
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
Bright
Davis
Bryant
S. Martin
Shoopman
Ryberg
Rose
Massey
Thomas
Grooms
Peeler
Verdin
Gregory
Campsen
Courson
Cleary
McConnell
Cromer
L. Martin
Alexander
O'Dell
Campbell
Hayes
McGill
Knotts
Fair
Setzler
Leatherman
Leventis
Rankin
Williams
Anderson
Elliott
Jackson
Land
Matthews
Coleman
Lourie
Nicholson
Sheheen
Ford
Hutto
Malloy
Pinckney
Reese
Scott
% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
88
82
81
76
76
75
71
59
56
50
50
50
45
44
44
41
41
38
33
31
31
28
25
25
24
19
19
13
13
12
12
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
* Gregory was elected April 12, 2011
Palmetto Liberty
2011 Senate Score Card (v.2)
(Continued from other side)
5.
Rule change to accept statutory Roll Call. One of
the main points of dispute over the Roll Call bill
was whether or not a law could be used to tell the
Senate when to record their votes. Some Senators
S586, the expansion of state health care passed the
maintained that only the Senate Rules could dictate
Senate by a vote of 27 – 6 on May 11th 2011.
when they must record their votes. In order to settle
– voted for expanding state health care
that dispute Senator Rose proposed to change the
Senate Rules so that they would require a recorded
– voted against expanding state health care
vote whenever a law required it. Senator Larry
Martin made a motion to table the proposal, effec-
11. Voter ID. Just the idea that someone can vote with-
tively killing Rose’s rule change.
out showing identification is laughable. Yet, this
was one of the more controversial bills passed this
Larry Martin’s motion to kill Rose’s Senate rules
year. Its fate is not yet decided, with the United
th
States Justice Department opposing it.
amendment passed 30 – 14 January 19 2011.
– Voted for tabling Rose’s rule change
– voted against tabling Rose’s rule change
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Expansion of state health care. S586 is a bill that
not only expands who is eligible to enroll in the
state health care plan, but extends incentives to
encourage them to do so. Why would we want to
encourage people to abandon their private health
care plans to enroll in the state plan, especially at a
time when budgets are tight and government needs
to be contracted rather than expanded?
The Voter ID bill, H3003, passed the Senate on a
vote of 26 – 16 on May 11th 2011.
100% against Roll Call poison pills. During the
– Voted against requiring photo ID to vote
Roll Call bill debate on the floor of the Senate there
– Voted for requiring photo ID to vote
were a series of amendments offered that were
meant to slow it down or kill it entirely. These
12. $105 Million extra to school districts. During the
were “poison pill” amendments. We notified Sena-
2011 budget debate the state’s estimated tax reve-
tors in advance that we expected a NO vote on all
nue grew by more than $200 million. Instead of
amendments. We scored anyone who voted for any
returning this money to the taxpayers, Senators
one of these amendments with a . Otherwise, they
found ways to spend the money. One item that
were scored with a .
Senator Leatherman proposed was to give $105
million to the schools. This, he said, would allow
No poison pills passed.
local school district to reduce taxes. Most school
districts probably did like Lexington District One.
– voted for any poison pill amendment
They took the money from the state and raised
property taxes then bought iPads™ for every high
– voted against every poison pill amendment
school student in the district. Senator Bryant made
a motion to table Senator Leatherman’s amendment.
Roll Call 3rd reading. This forced the legislature to
make a public record of how each legislator votes
on every new law that is passed and on every sec-
Motion to table the 2011 budget amendment No.
tion of the budget. It is what made this report card
181 failed 10 – 35 on May 18th 2011.
possible. This was the final vote for passage.
Thanks to everyone who made this happen!
– voted not to table the amendment
– voted to table the amendment
The Roll Call bill, H3004, passed on a vote of 33 –
11 March 17th 2011.
13. Refund excess tax collections. During the 2011
budget debate the state’s estimated tax revenue
– voted against Roll Call
grew by more than $200 million. Senator Davis
– voted in favor of Roll Call
introduced a budget amendment, No. 173, that
would require the excess money to be returned to
NASCAR tax incentives. Amendment 152B add-
the tax payers. Hugh Leatherman and Larry Martin
ed a tax incentive to the budget for NASCAR ven-
spoke against the amendment.
ues in the state. Ostensibly, it was to keep NAS-
CAR races in South Carolina. Does anyone really
Budget amendment to return excess tax collections
think NASCAR is ever going to leave Darlington?
failed 23 – 17 on May 19th 2011.
Another example of the well-connected getting
– voted against the amendment (for tabling)
preferential treatment from the government.
– voted for the amendment (against tabling)
The NASCAR tax incentive passed 36 – 6.
14. Amazon sales tax exemption. Many people were
alarmed when they heard that Amazon.com was
– voted for the tax incentive
– voted against the tax incentive
being offered a sales tax exemption that was not
available to other internet sellers with a physical
presence in our state. It was rightly seen as another
S533 retroactive economic incentive. This tax
incentive is the most ridiculous I have ever seen.
case of the government picking the winners and
Normally, our legislature justifies tax incentives as
losers among private businesses. Amazon.com
launched a huge PR campaign backed up by intense
necessary in order to attract new out of state corpo-
rations to South Carolina. This one, however, was
pressure by the Lexington County delegation and
for the Institute for Business and Home Safety in
the Chairman of the Lexington County Republican
party.
Chester County, a company that moved to South
Carolina years ago. This company ended up with a
check for $1 million from the SC Treasury as retro-
Senators who were opposed to the tax credit voted
for it in hopes that they could amend it to make the
active credit for taxes already paid.
process transparent (see vote 15). They failed, on
both counts. Amazon’s tax exemption passed the
The retroactive tax incentive passed the Senate on a
Senate 43 – 0.
vote of 29 – 9 on March 10th 2011.
– voted for the retroactive tax incentive
– voted against the retroactive tax incentive
– voted for the tax exemption
© Palmetto Liberty PAC 2011 All Rights Reserved
15. Economic Incentive Transparency Act. An esti-
mated $1 billion is given in economic incentives to
private companies in South Carolina every year.
It’s all negotiated behind closed doors. In order to
bring transparency to the process, Senator Tom
Davis introduced the Economic Incentive Transpar-
ency Act and made a motion to amend it to the tax
incentive bill for Amazon.com (see vote 14). The
Senate President, Ken Ard, ruled this motion out of
order because, he said, the amendment was not
germane to the bill that gave economic incentives to
Amazon.com. Tom challenged the ruling. The
entire Senate voted on the challenge and sustained
the ruling of the president.
The Senate President’s ruling was sustained by a
vote of 33 – 9 on May 25th 2011 killing the Trans-
parency Act.
– voted to sustain the ruling of the chair
– voted to override the ruling of the chair
16. I-95 Corridor Authority. Quietly passed by the
House and Senate, S211 creates a new government
agency with a mandate to implement the 64 recom-
mendations of the I-95 Human Needs Assessment.
The mandate gives this agency the authority to
manage the economy, education, infrastructure, and
even leadership of the 17 South Carolina counties
along I-95. This agency is central planning on
steroids; the antithesis of the free market. The
Governor vetoed this bill. The Senate overrode the
veto.
The vote to override the Governor’s veto of S211
passed by a vote of 30 – 10 on June 15th 2011.
– voted to override the veto
– voted to sustain the veto
17. Elimination of the Budget and Control Board.
An amendment was introduced to a government
restructuring bill that would have eliminated the
Budget and Control Board, likely the must unac-
countable government body in the nation. Because
it was late in the session, it required 2/3 vote of the
Senate in order to even consider the bill.
Vote to allow consideration of the Davis restructur-
ing amendment under Sine Die failed 25 -17 on
June 21st 2011.
– voted against considering under Sine Die
– voted for considering under Sine Die
18. Largest budget in state history $22 billion. The
largest budget in state history, appropriating more
than $22 billion, was passed this year. Senator
Massey, in an attempt to force a reduction, moved
to table the Report of the Committee of Conference
on the 2011 Budget. Tabling the committee report
would have forced the General Assembly to contin-
ue working to reduce the budget.
Motion to table the $22 billion budget failed 27 –
14 on June 22nd 2011.
– voted not to table
– voted to table
An electronic copy of the Palmetto Liberty 2011 Sen-
ate Score Card can be found at:
www.palmettoliberty.com/voting-records
You can contact us at:
P.O. Box 293
Lexington, SC 29071
[email protected]
803-767-1152
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