Derham Cole for State House

Today we remember the innocent lives lost ten years ago on September 11, 2001. The attacks changed our nation forever. We have moved forward as a nation, but we will never forget that Tuesday morning.

We also will never forget those who died helping others. Many people were saved due to the heroic actions of police, firefighters, and the brave passengers of United Flight 93.

Heroism did not end on September 11. Our men and women in uniform continue to fight to keep our nation safe from terrorism. Many of them have given their lives in this pursuit, and we honor their sacrifice as well.

Lastly, we remember the family and friends of all those who died in the attacks on September 11 and throughout these years of war. Their loss is incomprehensible, but we pray that they will have peace.

Kind regards,

Derham Cole

Please join me on August 22 for a town hall meeting to recap the 2011 Legislative Session.

When: Monday, August 22, at 6 p.m.

Where: Spartanburg High School Atrium, 500 Dupre Drive, Spartanburg, S.C. 29307

Topic: The 2011 Legislative Session in the S.C. House. Other members of the Spartanburg delegation will be in attendance as well.

Please attend, bring a friend, and participate in what I hope will be an opportunity for you to learn more about what we accomplished for you in this year’s session and to give me feedback on how to best represent you in the 2012 session.

Rep. Derham Cole discusses the Congressional redistricting plans along with a town hall meeting he will soon hold.

Rep. Derham Cole gives an update on redistricting and other continuing work at the State House.

This is the last official week of the 2011 legislative session.

The main items on the calendar this week will be the Senate’s amendments to the budget and the tort reform bill. Next week, I will be back in Columbia for House Judiciary Committee meetings on the redistricting plan.

Although this is the last official week of session, the House will be back on June 14 to complete redistricting, finalize the budget, and take up potential vetoes.

Please contact me via my website, Facebook or Twitter to stay updated on House legislation and to let me know your thoughts and concerns on issues coming before the State House.

Kind regards,

Derham Cole

Yesterday, Gov. Nikki Haley signed the Voter ID bill into law, requiring voters to present a photo ID at the polls. The legislation will strengthen the integrity of our elections.

The House also passed the “Amazon Amendment” that would give the online distributor a temporary exemption from collecting sales taxes from South Carolina consumers. The amendment passed 97-20 and will lead to 2,000 new jobs and $125 million in direct investment in our state. Amazon’s presence will also generate secondary economic activity beneficial to South Carolina. After 4.5 years, Amazon will be required to collect and remit sales taxes.

Please watch my latest legislative update!

This week, the House unveiled its initial redistricting plan. In the coming weeks, the plan will be debated in committee and on the House floor. You may view the maps by going to www.schouse.gov and clicking on the “Redistricting” link.

Please let me know your views and these and other issues by contacting me via Twitter, Facebook or my website or e-mail.

Yesterday, Gov. Nikki Haley signed the Voter ID bill into law, requiring voters to present a photo ID at the polls. The legislation will strengthen the integrity of our elections.

The House also passed the “Amazon Amendment” that would give the online distributor a temporary exemption from collecting sales taxes from South Carolina consumers. The amendment passed 97-20 and will lead to 2,000 new jobs and $125 million in direct investment in our state. Amazon’s presence will also generate secondary economic activity beneficial to South Carolina. After 4.5 years, Amazon will be required to collect and remit sales taxes.

Please watch my latest legislative update!

This week, the House unveiled its initial redistricting plan. In the coming weeks, the plan will be debated in committee and on the House floor. You may view the maps by going to www.schouse.gov and clicking on the “Redistricting” link.

Please let me know your views and these and other issues by contacting me via Twitter, Facebook or here on my website.

Rep. Cole discusses the upcoming legislation that will be addressed in the SC House before the close of this year’s session.

This was the week before the “cross-over” deadline in the House, the date before which a House bill must be sent to the Senate to be considered this year.  The “Moped DUI” bill, which Rep. Tallon and I prefiled, passed the House by a vote of 98-7!  The bill would allow moped riders to be charged with alcohol-related traffic offenses, most notably, driving under the influence.  I hope the Senate will act quickly on this bill to help our dedicated law enforcement officers keep our streets safe.

The House adopted the Conference Committee report on the Voter ID bill.  The bill will require a person going to the polls to present a government-issued photo identification.  If the Senate adopts the Conference Report, it will go to the Governor’s desk for signature.  This legislation is very important to the preservation of the integrity of our elections.

Please click on the image below to view my latest legislative update!

The so-called “Amazon Bill” was hotly debated in the House. Amazon had been planning to build and operate an order fulfillment center in Lexington County.  One of the deal points was that Amazon would be exempt from collecting sales tax for a five-year period, a provision which had been in law since 2005 but had recently expired. The bill would have extended the exemption from collecting sales tax for another five years.  There seemed to be some confusion as to whether or not the bill granted Amazon an exemption from paying sales tax.  That was not the case. There was much back-and-forth as to whether the State had made a “promise” to Amazon on the collection exemption issue. Many House members, including me, were not pleased with the way this deal was presented.  We felt as though the Department of Commerce and the former Governor had made commitments that we were expected to fulfill or risk damaging the State’s reputation future economic development efforts. Going forward, there must be better communication between the Department of Commerce and the General Assembly if economic development deals depend on items the General Assembly must approve.

After much consideration, I voted in favor of extending the sales tax collection exemption.  My rationale was this:  Many South Carolina residents currently order merchandise from Amazon, which has no physical presence in South Carolina.  Amazon, therefore, does not collect sales tax from South Carolina residents.  If the sales tax collection exemption had been approved and Amazon built a distribution center in South Carolina, South Carolina residents would still be ordering merchandise from Amazon, and Amazon still would not be collecting sales tax from South Carolina residents (for a five-year period).  In other words, South Carolina would not have lost any additional sales tax revenue because of the approval of the exemption.  The competitive position of South Carolina businesses with respect to Amazon would not have changed at all because of the deal because people are already buying from Amazon.  The only difference is that by locating here, Amazon would have directly created 1250 jobs in South Carolina with a total payroll of $60 million.  It also would have paid income and property taxes in South Carolina.  The activity at the distribution center would have created a ripple effect, as shipping traffic would have increased as Amazon filled orders. The benefits, actual and potential, were tremendous, without costing the State anything or imposing additional burdens on existing businesses.

Yesterday, I had the honor of recognizing two local heroes who may very well have saved the life of a young man involved in a wreck outside of the Subway at I-85 and Hwy. 221.  Quentin Cagle and Ryan Sherwood, who are Subway employees, witnessed a wreck while they were at work.  When they went to assist, the discovered a young man trapped under the vehicle.  Mr. Cagle and Mr. Sherwood were able to lift the vehicle off the young man until emergency personnel arrived.  The injured young man faces a long recovery, but thanks to Messrs. Cagle and Sherwood, the Highway Patrol and the Cherokee Springs Fire Department, he is alive today.  We owe these heroes a great debt of gratitude.

Thank you for the privilege of representing you in Columbia.  If I can assist you in any way, please call me or email me.  Please keep current by visiting my website, Facebook page and following me on Twitter.

Kind regards,

Derham Cole

Before going on furlough, the House dealt with some significant legislation:

Keeping our Roads Safe

The Education and Public Works Committee passed H. 3163, which I pre-filed with Rep. Eddie Tallon. The bill would subject moped riders to the same DUI laws that apply to all other drivers of motor vehicles in South Carolina. The bill is now on the House calendar. Law enforcement and prosecutors support this bill, and I will be working to make sure they have what they need to keep our roads safe.

Encouraging Investment in South Carolina

The House opened new avenues of funding for our state’s small businesses by passing new tax credits for “Angel Investors.” Angel investors provide critical funding for start-up companies that cannot secure funding from banks. Typically, these are high-risk, but high-reward businesses. For example, angel investors provided critical funding for Google when it was just a small website with a couple of employees.

The House bill was one of the projects former Greenville Rep. Bill Wylie was working on when he passed away last fall. My colleagues renamed the bill in his honor.

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and angel investors provide critical capital to get these businesses started. If we can help fellow South Carolinians get their ideas off the ground, we all win.

The bill provides a tax credit for people who provide capital to specific types of small businesses in our state – including manufacturing, warehousing, wholesaling, and technology, among others. It specifically excludes investments in other businesses, such as construction, from claiming the credit. Angel investors can claim up to a $100,000 tax credit over 10 years, and only $5 million can be credited by the state each year to all angel investors. Half of the states in the United States have similar tax credits for angel investors – including North Carolina and Georgia.

If this bill entices more people to get involved and help our state’s small entrepreneurs, that is a recipe for more businesses and more jobs here in our state.

Protecting the Integrity of our Electoral Process

Unfortunately, the Voter ID debate continues instead of becoming law.

This week the Senate voted down the “clean” Voter ID bill – a bill that requires voters to present a government-issued picture ID to prove his or her identity when they go to vote. When the bill went back in front of the Senate this week, the Senate insisted on including the same unrelated provisions that killed Voter ID last year.

Voter ID is about securing our elections, pure and simple. It is a major plank in the South Carolina Republican Party platform, and Chairman Karen Floyd came out this week in support of the House version of the bill.

The Republican Caucus hopes that a compromise can be reached on the House’s constitutionally appropriate clean Voter ID bill. If the joint conference committee becomes deadlocked because of an insistence on the Senate’s unconstitutional and unrelated additions, this bill will be put on the same fatal track that killed last year’s bill.

Last week, the House looked at the Senate version of the Voter ID bill, removing certain amendments that made the bill unconstitutional, according to South Carolina’s Attorney General Alan Wilson. The House passed a clean version of the bill, and I hoped that the Senate would pass the House’s version of Voter ID so that we could quickly and easily protect South Carolina’s voting system. However, the Senate chose to reject the House version. Now, the two bills will go to a committee for reconciliation.

The House will be on furlough next week, but if I can assist you in any way with state government issues, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for the privilege of representing you in Columbia. Keep current on legislative issues by visiting my website, my Facebook page and following me on Twitter.

Kind regards,

Derham Cole