Legislative session begins with whimper

OFF THE WIRE
House, Senate were legally required to meet Tuesday but icy roads kept many members away....
By GINA SMITH - gunsmith@thestate.com 

In the most unusual start to a legislative session in recent history, the South Carolina Senate, House and the lobby in between their chambers were all but deserted Tuesday.
Icy roads from Monday’s winter storm meant only 20 of 45 senators made it for the Senate’s scheduled noon start. Senate Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, recessed the group until 5 p.m. in hopes of gathering enough senators to conduct a bare-bones agenda of assigning bills to committees and electing new officers.
“We are legally and constitutionally required to meet today,” McConnell explained to the senators present at noon, some of whom just barely slipped in before the first gavel fell on the new two-year session.
The scene was similar in the House, where leadership abandoned its usual practice of starting at noon, opting to start the new session at 3:30 p.m. Some lawmakers wore blue jeans and overcoats — instead of their usual coats and ties.
“I don’t ever remember anything like this happening before,” said 26-year state Rep. Grady Brown, D-Lee, of the nearly empty lobby and small gathering of House members. “But, for those who live in the far-reaching parts of the state, it is a challenge to get here.”
House members also carried out a thin agenda Tuesday, assigning bills to committee. The House already has elected its officers.
The day felt particularly odd for outgoing Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who will don his purple robe and preside over the Senate for a few moments today before incoming Lt. Gov. Ken Ard, a Florence Republican, is sworn in along with Gov.-elect Nikki Haley and other statewide officers.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Bauer, 41, who served two terms as lieutenant governor after terms in the House and Senate. “I was first elected when I was 26. I’ve been here most of my adult life. It’s going to be a big change.”
The lobby, usually overcrowded with lobbyists and citizen groups on the session’s first day, was empty except for about 20 members of ABATE of South Carolina, a motorcycle rights group. Despite the bad weather, the group made its annual trip to the State House to speak with lawmakers about bills they support, including one to restrict drivers from talking on cell phones and texting, and another to allow non-profits to hold raffles.
The group has shown up on the first day of the session since the early 1980s.
“Good weather or bad, we want to let senators and House members know we take an avid interest in laws and what they’re considering changing,” said Austin Coates, assistant coordinator for ABATE’s Lexington chapter.
Lawmakers will not get down to serious work — including cutting the state’s budget for next year by $830 million — until Thursday. They will spend most of today at inaugural events.