South Carolina Association of Realtors

In keeping with the South Carolina Association of Realtor´s vision statement, we will be changing the name and the look of the Legislative Updates to the South Carolina Association of Realtors Quality of Life Report. Every issue we deal with at the statehouse impacts your quality of life and we want to make sure that your association focuses on these issues.

One quick question--if I created a statehouse blog (live reports from the statehouse) would you have any interest? (more importantly would you read it?!)

Some examples of South Carolina political blogs include (some are more serious than others):

http://scbarbecue.blogspot.com/ http://www.laurinmanning.com/blog/ http://crunchygop.blogspot.com/ http://www.schotline.blogspot.com/ http://www.scsolon.blogspot.com/ http://waggingtheblog.blogspot.com/

I understand that last week's email was in all CAPS--sorry about that--I think I have it fixed this week. Let me know if you have any suggestions for improving the weekly updates.

REAL ESTATE PROPERTY TAX REFORM MOVES FORWARD IN SENATE

The House this week passed two bills that will eliminate almost all real estate property taxes on owner-occupied homes by increasing the state sales tax by 2 cents.  Of course this will affect Greenville SC real estate, Greer SC real estate, Mt. Pleasant Sc real estate, Charleston SC real estate.  Not only Greer SC homes, Greenville SC homes, but Greer SC land, Greenville SC land, and all property within the state of South Carolina.

The first bill passed, a constitutional amendment to move real estate property tax  reassessment to a point-of-sale system, will go to the voters in November. That measure was approved 102-17. The second bill to swap a 2-cent state sales tax for the virtual elimination of real estate property taxes on owner-occupied homes passed by a vote of 86-31 and includes an amendment that limits local spending. School district spending will be restricted to increases in student enrollment, and local government spending is restricted to annual percentage increases in state personal income growth or percentage growth in population. The bills now move to the Senate.  Greenville SC real estate and Greer SC real estate would be affected.

It also eliminates the sales tax from groceries. That means that if you have a $1,000 real estate property tax bill, you have to spend more than $37,500 a year on taxable items (not groceries, your rent or mortgage, insurance, etc.) to pay higher taxes.

The House-passed real estate property tax bill is out of balance by an estimated $100 million, leaving the burden of making up the difference to the General Fund.

The Senate has been working to pass their real estate property tax plan that includes a constitutional amendment to address reassessment by keeping all taxpayers on the tax rolls and providing for incremental increases of 3 percent per year, not to exceed 15 percent over a five-year period. South Carolina taxpayers would have the option of accepting the new plan or keeping the current five-year reassessment program when they go to the polls in November. It is set for special order debate in the Senate on Tuesday.

Real Estate and Eminent Domain

The House Juduciary Committee will meet on Tuesday to consider H.4502 and H.4503, sponsored by Rep. Tracy Edge, which address our state's eminent domain laws with regard to real estate.  With all the Greenville SC real estate and the Greer SC real estate available, and constant Greenville SC homes and Greer SC homes, in addition to Mt. Pleasant SC real estate, the eminent domain ruling affects anyone.  It used to be if you owned Greenville Real Estate and the City of Greenville SC wanted to put a road in, they could claim it by eminent domain.  Now if you own Greenville Sc real estate or Greer SC real estate, or any SC real estate, if the city or town you live in thinks it will pay more taxes if a hotel or restaurant or shopping mall is placed on your property, the city or town has the rite to take your real estate at fair market value.  A Greenville county gentleman just one a 2.5 million dollar settlement due the city of Greenville SC taking his property for public use.

Our state constitution reads that "private property (real estate) shall not be taken for private use without the consent of the owner, nor for public use without just compensation being first made."

The bills update the definition of "public use" so that government can not take your land and give it to another private party. In the Kelo case, the private property (real estate) was given to a developer for his own profit.

Just compensation is also defined to include regulatory takings, not just actual takings of your property. Under the bill, if your property is de-valued due to a land use regulation, you may have a right to bring a claim based on the loss of the use of your property (real estate) and your investment-backed expectation.

The bill should pass out of full Judiciary for full debate on the floor of the House the week of February 20th.

AMENDMENT TO REAL ESTATE PRACTICES ACT: INDUCEMENTS

H.3478, by Rep. Chip Huggins, updates the real estate practice act to allow inducements. The bill passed the House last year and had a hearing in the Senate LCI subcommittee last week.

An amendment was added to the bill that will require that any rebates or other inducement to list or buy, will be required to be in writing and be reflected on the HUD-1 settlement statement.

The bill should be in full Senate LCI in early March.

Education Roundup

A school choice bill that allows parents to send their children to any school in the state, so long as the desired school has room and parents can provide transportation, passed a House subcommittee this week with amendments. One amendment expands the definition of capacity to include considerations other than space and examines current and future capacity needs. Another requests that the Department of Education study a school if more than 3 percent of the school's population transfer out of the district.

Four-year-old kindergarten continues to be discussed in the General Assembly. Pre-K funding was the focus of a Ways and Means subcommittee this week. Members are studying methods to fund the program and considering to which entity approved funding would flow.

The House returned the charter school bill to the Senate with amendments. The bill is expected to move to a conference committee to iron out the differences.

IMPROVING OUR ROADS

This week Sen. Scott Richardson and others proposed an amendment to a bill dealing with surplus revenue from the General Fund. The proposal would fund maintenance of the secondary road system, the most under funded and deadliest roads in the state, after other obligations such as the Statewide Accounting and Reporting System (STARS) and the Department of Education funding for school buses were met. Many senators opposed the amendment because it had not gone through the full committee process. As a result, the amendment was tabled.

S.984, currently in the Senate Finance Committee, is similar to what Richardson and others proposed on Wednesday.

On Monday, Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill authorizing tolls to finance construction of Interstate 73 running from Michigan to Myrtle Beach. It appears that South Carolina's portion of the road will cost approximately $2 billion without federal funding.

CHANGES AT COMMERCE

Current Secretary of Commerce Bob Faith met with a House subcommittee this week to ask for badly needed funding of the state agency, which is tasked with recruiting companies to South Carolina. Faith requested $14.6 million in increased funding to improve recruiting, marketing, and overall Department operations, which has experienced many cuts in recent years.

On Thursday, Gov. Sanford announced that Columbia businessman Joe E. Taylor Jr. would replace Faith. Taylor is the retired chief executive of Southland Log Homes.