NEWBERRY — Senator Ronnie Cromer and Representative Rick Martin gave State House updates and County Administrator Wayne Adams gave County updates during the Newberry County Chamber of Commerce Annual Legislative Breakfast.
Cromer was up first, with the first topic being education. He said that he and other senators pre-filed a Bill to try and get a five percent raise for all S.C. teachers, and other state employees.
Cromer also talked about a Bill that would redefine the terms of prostitution.
“Reason we go into that is because of how much human trafficking is going on now, and we are trying to stop it. I didn’t realize how much actually goes on, not just in South Carolina, but all over the U.S. and we are hoping to be able to help curb some of that,” Cromer said.
Cromer also discussed the Marijuana Bill, which would legalize medical marijuana. Cromer said he does not dispute that it does help in some cases, but said it has caused problems in states like California and Colorado.
“Law enforcement is against it, they’ve got so many cases from other states they present to us, not a good thing,” he said.
Cromer said about four or five years ago, they passed a Bill involving Cannabinol as a commercial project, that is taken by capsule.
“To me, having a five year old with seizures smoking a joint, you don’t know the potency, what kind of dose, also doesn’t look good in public. We need to allow them (professionals) to experiment and come up with the other natural ingredients in it, let them purify it, and have a standardized dose,” he said.
Cromer also touched on the subject of litter, he said he spoke with the secretary of the Department of Transportation and asked her to consider taking over Palmetto Pride.
“They (Palmetto Pride) get about six million a year, I said we’ll get them that money and other money. She said it would take 12-15 million dollars to pick up all the litter,” Cromer said. “We’ve got an eyesore, I told her I’d give her about four months before I got back to her.”
Moving on to the House side, Martin said there were nearly 500 pre-filed Bills.
“A lot of them are filed just for show, I don’t believe in doing that,” he said. “After pre-file, there are 20-25 Bills being filed every single day, going across the speaker’s desk.”
Similar to the Senate, one of those Bills is medical marijuana. Martin said whether you are for it, or against it, it is coming up. Martin said he is still torn, saying he can see the benefit of it.
“There are people right here in Newberry County that take themselves or their children to other states because they have seizures, they smoke a marijuana joint and don’t have seizures for at least a week,” Martin said. “But, looking at the statistics, every single state that legalized it starts off with medical marijuana, then goes to recreational use. Every single state.”
Martin added that when you look at the statistic, crime goes up in every form, and every police force has turned against it, including SLED.
“I’m torn, I don’t want the crime, I want to keep our people safe,” Martin said.
Another issue that is coming up in the House involves Data Mining.
“Your personal information, everything about you. The state of South Carolina wants to sorta data mine it,” Martin said.
Martin says he can see the point of it, and it will not be given to any public entity, and won’t go out so sales companies can get information and sell products. Martin said it is supposed to be used for educational purposes, so the state can track students to see exactly where they are going, where the state needs to steer it, like two year technical schools or four year colleges.
“Remember when the state got hacked a few years back? All this information got out, if it is there it can be found, you can lock your door, but that only keeps an honest person out,” Martin said. “Thief is going to find it, they are going to get it.”
Martin said he is “totally against it.”
Another Bill that is making its way back is Constitutional Carry, which says, according to Martin, if you are a law abiding citizen, no felonies what so ever on your record you do not have to get permission from the state to exercise your Second Amendment Rights.
“It has come back up, and I’m co-sponsoring it this time,” Martin said.
Martin added that he is still for training.
On the County level, Adams gave updates in economic development.
Adams first touched on Samsung, which has now surpassed 800 jobs created in Newberry County, according to Adams.
“They have also begun construction of their new warehouse. Some of you might recall that another company, SWM, had to relocate to the Mid-Carolina Commerce Park to make room for this warehouse. SWM is now fully operating out of its new facility at the Mid-Carolina Commerce Park,” Adams said.
Adams added that the county is currently recruiting a Samsung supplier – a metal stamping operation with 50 to 60 jobs and maybe a $10 million investment. That company would also locate in the Mid-Carolina Commerce Park.
Speaking of the Mid-Carolina Commerce Park, Adams said the County is partnering with Newberry Electric Cooperative to build another Speculative Building at the park.
“This one will be 100,000 square feet in size. The County will contribute the land, about 18 acres, and half a million dollars. The Cooperative will pay annual marketing and carrying costs; they will also backstop a buy guarantee on the building, if it is not sold or leased to a new industry in seven years,” Adams said.
Adams said the County “would not be enjoying the economic development success we have had recently without Newberry Electric Cooperative.” When it comes to building a new Spec Building, Adams points to how the first Spec Building brought industry to the county.
“MM Technics, our first BMW supplier, would not be here providing good paying metal stamping jobs. MM Technics came to Newberry to look at the original spec building, even though they ended up building their own facility from scratch,” Adams said. “Without the spec building – which thankfully, MM Technics did not purchase – there would not have been a place to relocate SWM quickly enough to meet Samsung’s timetable. We would have missed out on what was to be the statewide project of the year, creating nearly a thousand jobs and $350 million of new investment.”
