Back in Session

THE LATEST…

The second year of the 120th Legislative Session began last Tuesday, January 14th. Each Session is two years and runs from the second Tuesday in January until the first Thursday in June. More than 1,200 bills were introduced during the first year of the Legislative Session (2013) and more will be introduced in 2014. Last Thursday, many of the Legislative Champions for the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy joined our board and staff for a press conference to present the latest teen birth data. The legislators that attended our press conference at the SC Statehouse were: Senator Katrina Shealy, Rep. James Smith, Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, Rep. Jenny Horne, Senator Brad Hutto, Senator Joel Lourie, Rep. Harold Mitchell, Rep. Bakari Sellers, Rep. Joe Jefferson and Rep. Robert Brown.

STATE BUDGET

During the first week of the Session, House and Senate subcommittees began meeting. Governor Nikki Haley unveiled her Executive Budget and will be delivering her State of the State address at 7 PM on Wednesday, January 22. Below are several highlights from her $6.6 Billion Executive Budget proposal:

• $97 million for children in poverty to provide a quality education for those living in our poorest communities. 
• $29.5 million reading coach program that offers funding for a reading coach in every public elementary school in South Carolina. 
• $1 million for firefighting equipment for the Forestry Department; Firefighters also received a 2% pay increase under the proposed budget
• $29.3 million to improving bandwidth to school facilities, bolstering wireless connectivity within school walls, and launching or enhancing the push to ensure that every student has a computer or tablet. 
• $21 million to public charter schools
• $30 million in non-recurring one time funds for the Local Government Fund
• $21.5 million to Department of Health and Human Services for Medicaid (The Governor mentions also wanting some consolidation of health agencies and to streamline Medicaid funding)
• 9.6% increase in recurring General Fund support for the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) 
• 10% General Fund increase for the Attorney General’s Office including $370,000 to hire five additional prosecutors. 
• $150,000 for the Department of Corrections’ information security needs, along with more than $1 million to staff the new perimeter towers at Lee Correctional Institution and to enhance perimeter security for the Broad River complex. 

A proposed $1.35 Billion additional road funding over the next 10 years – $106.9 million of additional General Funds likely to materialize in FY 2014-15 could be used to generate nearly $737 million for major construction projects (through a combination of “pay-as-you-go” and bonding) in addition to almost $614 million more for maintenance and repair over the course of the next decade. The Governor also clearly stated she would be opposed to a gas tax to fund road improvements. She cited the $1 billion for roads that the state spent last year without raising taxes. 

FEDERAL BUDGET

The recently adopted Omnibus Appropriations Bill includes a $30 million increase in funds for the Title V Funding for Maternal and Child Health Services. This increase restores about 87% of the funding received prior to sequester cuts in 2013. You can read more about teen pregnancy prevention funding on the federal level here. 

by Ashley Hunter, Legislative Consultant, SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Let's Recap: Summertime Vetos and Reproductive Rights

 To say this summer has been a busy one for reproductive rights may be
putting it lightly. For those of us working in the field it has felt a bit like a battlefield.

While many were all out celebrating our nation’s freedom, the SC governor was constructing a veto that seemed to add insult to injury for victims of sexual assault. On July 5, Governor Haley released a list of vetoes including Veto 51 that cut $454,000 that was to be given to the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC) to fund rape and sexual assault prevention programs across our state. To make matters worse, she claimed that providing these services to rape and sexual assault victims and their families was a distraction to the overall mission of DHEC. As if victims of rape and sexual assault do not feel isolated enough from society, Nikki Haley made a public statement that the small slice of normal they are given through the services of a victim advocate is nothing but a distraction for the community.

In a press conference held at the office of Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands on Monday, July 16, representatives from both sides of the political sector were present. The message from all of them was clear: rape and sexual assault can affect anyone at anytime no matter one’s race, gender, age or political affiliation. While women are targeted at a much higher rate (1 in 6 women are directly affected), it is estimated that one in every 33 American men will become a victim of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime [1].

It is imperative that funding to prevent rape and sexual assault be maintained in our state. Sexual assault has the ability to change a person’s life forever. Sexually abused teens are more likely to run away from home, use drugs, and experience psychological changes in the brain [2]. In addition, sexually abused adolescents are more likely to experience a pregnancy than non-abused teens [2]. Sexually abused adolescents are also less likely to use condoms or other forms of contraception [2]. Providing funding to organizations and programs who work around the clock to provide assistance to victims and their families deserve our support.

  I am proud to report that 111 House members and 39 Senate members were able to overturn this veto. It is near impossible for me to put into words how proud and appreciative I am of those House and Senate members who not only understood the importance of funding rape crisis centers, but had the courage to stand up for the victims.

When a person is victimized by sexual assault, the entire community is affected. In order to strengthen our community, we must protect every member.

References
[1] Rape Abuse Incest National Network (RAINN), http://www.rainn.org/
[2] Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2004, 36(3):98-105. Found online: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3609804.html

Poli-talks...My Least Favorite at Parties!

Traditionally, and even though I know friends that would scoff at this, I do not like to talk about politics.

When it starts at parties, especially in company of mixed views, I am quite certain it will kill the good time we are all having. To “Mighty Mouse” the situation I “come to save the day” and will suddenly bring up such a random subject that people can’t help but leave the “dirty poli-talks” for another day, sans Taylor.  (“My favorite for a while was, how about those Banana Slugs, did you see the game last night, whew!”  For those that don’t know what I am talking about, like most of my friends, click here.)

The one thing that ALL of my friends will agree that I L-O-V-E talking about is teen and unplanned pregnancy prevention.  I love to talk about what I do, because I also L-O-V-E what I do.  So I talk, and talk, and talk, and talk about contraception, and parent child connectedness, and how abstinence is the best option for our young people, but that they still need the education for when they decide to become sexually active to know how to protect themselves….talk, talk talk Wahwahwahwah wah wah wah wah….I am quite sure half of my friends believe I sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher.

But something has changed here recently.  I can’t talk about my FAVORITE subject without talking about my LEAST FAVORITE subject.  Just like the weird guy at the party, politics are sticking their nose into my convo.

The “political debate” about “contraception” feels so foreign to me, as it does to many of my friends.  To see this on CNN or on any other news channel is like mixing pickles and chocolate (NOT GOOD…DO NOT TRY).  A personal decision like when to have a baby and how to prevent having one until you are ready is not one for the floor of the House or Senate.  It isn’t even one for open discussion between elected officials behind closed doors.  It is between a sexually active person(s) and a medical professional.

I will not end my good time by debating the politics of contraception here, but I will say this. The whole point of this is that people have the right to select their method of family planning.  I do not care what others do for their pregnancy prevention, be that natural family planning or using long acting reversible contraception (LARC).  As Americans, we have the right to make our own plans for our own lives, individually, without the need to consult on the state or federal government level.  When folks stop remembering that and start wanting the family planning conversation to be a POLITICAL CONVERSATION, I start calling them the “Party Poopers” and will immediately change the subject “so how about those Banana Slugs…what a team, am I right!”

by:  Taylor Wilson, Communications Specialist