My friend, Andy Brack over at the South Carolina Statehouse Report has a cartoon of yours truly.

By Nathan DiBagno Published: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 2:34 PM CDT Editor

news@powdersvillepost.com

ANDERSON COUNTY – Since stepping into office in 2004, S.C. Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, has pushed for government reform and the need to put the brakes on government control.

“Since the beginning, we’ve been pushing for reform, pushing for getting away from the good ole’ boy system,” says Bryant, a pharmacist and president of Bryant Pharmacy and supply.

And while the taxpayers’ paychecks haven’t increase much in the past few years, government has grown about 40 percent, he said.

Some of legislators’ efforts to cut taxes have been successful recently. “We’ve eliminated the lowest bracket of income taxes, we eliminated the sales tax on groceries. And that’s simply puts more money in the pockets of our consumers, which in turn grows our economy. Had we returned more to the taxpayer than we did, than certainly some of our economic problems wouldn’t be as great.”

Some reform efforts have also been successful, he said.

“We’ve did meet some of those goals, reforming the Department of Transportation, which will make is more efficient,” he said.

Family values

“I was excited to see marriage defined in our Constitution,” Bryant said, referring to an amendment that passed in 2006 that specifically defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Also, Bryant was one of the main proponents of a bill that requires abortion clinics to offer an ultrasound to women who are considering having an abortion.

“This simply makes that very difficult choice of a person in a very difficult situation more informed,” he said.

Government accountability

Bryant has called for more government accountability, and was one of the proponents in the “Truth in Spending Bill,” which would require that state agencies, counties, municipalities and school districts post online all expenditures of at least $100.

“The Freedom of Information process we have now is backwards. The taxpayer has to jump through hoops now to get information they paid for to begin with. The burden should be on the government to provide that information,” he said. “I believe that the accountability alone will save millions of dollars.”

Education

Bryant said he was pleased that legislature eventually passed a bill to get rid of the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test, which was often criticized for merely testing students without actually assessing their needs.

Bryant said he – as well as other legislators – initially opposed the first bill that proposed scrapping the PACT because it had a “vague description of a new test.”

In the end, legislature passed a bill that scrapped PACT without a test to replace it.

“I was disappointed that (State Superintendent of Education) Jim Rex was pushing this bill to go through, to eliminate PACT and start a new test,” he said. “I was getting hundreds of e-mails, and I would respond and tell them the whole story. They were only getting half the story.”

But education still needs more changes, he said.

“We need to deregulate education, combined with more choices,” he said.

Although he doesn’t want to spend more on education, he wants to simplify the funding process and get more money to the teachers and classrooms, he said.

Energy

If states end up having the right to choose whether to drill offshore, and if gas prices continue to rise, more people will be in favor of drilling offshore, Bryant said.

Bryant said he would be in favor of offshore drilling if South Carolina is allowed to choose, especially if doing so meant that the United States would stop relying on oil from overseas.

Meanwhile, the state should continue to give out tax credits and incentives for energy efficient mobile homes and appliances.

“We’ve got some incentives to try to push the market in this hydrogen research. It’s a long way down the road, but it probably needs to be the direction we need to go towards,” he said. “It’s perfectly safe for the environment.”

Bryant said he would also support a study committee regarding having a refinery in South Carolina.

Health care

“The easiest message is raise taxes, dump money into health care. And we’ve never seen that solution work – for any problem,” he said. “The reality in the position I’m taking is: there needs to be more market-based incentives into the health care system.”

Bryant said a tort reform bill in recent years put a limit on frivolous lawsuits against medical practitioners.

Cutting back on frivolous lawsuits against doctors and making the medical field more desirable should help drive down health care costs in the state.

“We passed a bill .. that allows small businesses to pull together to make a larger group to purchase insurance to make it more affordable,” he said.

Bryant also said he’s a “strong believer” in health savings accounts – tax-free accounts that allow individuals to save for medical expenses.

“Health savings accounts I think would be utilized much more if we could do a better job explaining to the public how it works,” he said. “It’s administered by an insurance company. The money you put into a savings account is tax free, and it can only be spent on true medical expenses, but it puts the consumer back into the picture.”

Bryant said he believes that the upcoming race with Marshall Meadors will be an interesting one. Although their political views may differ, Bryant said he has a lot of respect for Meadors.

“I have many customers that are his patients,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for the way he practices medicine. … He spoils his customers, and he pays them a lot of attention.”

But regardless of who his opponent it, Bryant said he has the same message and beliefs.

“There’s nothing new out of Bryant for Senate than there was four years ago,” he said.

 

 

The Self Reporting Tax Return (Form L-2123) can be found on the SCDOR website.

DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

GUIDELINES FOR REPORTING OF BIODIESEL, SUBSTITUTE FUEL AND

RENEWABLE FUELS PRODUCED FOR PRIVATE USE OR SALE
Product Produced for Private/Personal Use

Producers/Users of biodiesel, substitute fuel and/or renewable fuels on which the motor fuel user fee, inspection and environmental fees have not been previously paid are required to obtain a Motor Fuel License. The license is required if the fuel is to be used in the propulsion of highway vehicles. This requirement to obtain the license and to report and pay the appropriate fees applies but is not limited to cooking oils and biodiesel. A Miscellaneous Motor Fuel License is required for which there is no license fee or bond requirement. The monthly return (Form L-2123) is required to report the gallons used and to calculate and remit the motor fuel user fee ($0.16), inspection fee ($0.0025) and environmental fee ($0.0050) Producers/Users of biodiesel, substitute fuel and/or renewable fuels should report the gallons used in highway vehicles on the Form L-2123, Line 2 under the “Blending Components” column of the report. The type of fuel used should be written on Line 1 above the gallons reported. The monthly report is due by the 22nd day of the month and is required to be filed even if there was no liability or gallons used for the month. Product Produced for Sale and Use Producers/Sellers of biodiesel, substitute fuel and/or renewable fuels are required to obtain a Motor Fuel Manufacturer License. This equirement to obtain the license and to report and pay the appropriate fees applies but is not limited to cooking oils and biodiesel. There is no license fee but there is a bonding or financial statement requirement. The monthly return (Form L-2195) is required to report the gallons manufactured and to calculate and remit the motor fuel user fee ($0.16), inspection fee ($0.0025) and environmental fee ($0.0050). The monthly report is due by the 22nd day of the month and is required to be filed even if there was no liability or gallons manufactured for the month. Please contact the Motor Fuel Section at (803) 896-1990 to request the license application or if you need additional information.

 

Overview of Modern Roundabouts

    Modern roundabouts are the prettiest and safest form of traffic control in the world. Roundabouts slow all vehicles, provide refuges for pedestrians, and are the only traffic control device in which trees can be planted, fountains can bubble or spray, statutes can sparkle into the next century. When constructed as part of new road construction they are cheaper to build than signalized intersections. If used instead of traffic signals they save us all money. Their maintenance cost is almost zero. They require no electricity, no regular tune-ups, no annual replacements of parts, suffer no blackouts and cannot be blown away.

The senator’s excuses for opposing the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act don’t withstand scrutiny.
by Kevin Vance The Daily Standard 08/13/2008 12:00:00 AM

IN MARCH 2003, registered nurse Jill Stanek submitted a statement to the Illinois Senate Health and Human Services committee in which she reported that infants who survived abortions at her Oak Lawn hospital were sometimes “taken to the Soiled Utility Room and left alone to die.” Stanek was lobbying the committee to approve the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, which would have recognized any infant born alive after an abortion as a human being deserving legal protection. Barack Obama, then the committee chairman, defeated the bill with his fellow Democrats in a 6-4 party-line vote.
                         
Obama’s campaign website offers two reasons why the senator opposed the bill in 2003. First, the website claims that Obama did not support the state legislation because it lacked language “clarifying that the act would not be used to undermine Roe vs. Wade.” The website cites Obama’s assertion that he would have supported the similar federal born-alive bill, which included language clarifying that it would not undermine Roe v. Wade when it unanimously passed the Senate in 2001.
                    
In fact, the federal legislation and the final version of the Illinois senate bill were essentially the same. On Monday, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) released documents that showed that the Illinois senate committee unanimously approved an amendment that made the state legislation almost identical to the federal legislation. The amendment provided that the act should not be “construed to affirm, deny, expand, or contract any legal status or legal right applicable to any…