Wanted: stronger Arizona immigration bill Recently, when a U.S. District judge suspended many key provisions in Arizona’s controversial illegal immigration law, the impact made it all the way back to South Carolina. A couple of bills were filed in the last legislative session that were based on the law, and the State Senate appears poised to act again next year.

State Sen. Larry Grooms, R–Bonneau, was one of the senators pushing the legislation. He said that he will look at refiling a bill next year, depending on how the case goes through the courts. State Sen. Larry Martin, R–Pickens, said the court’s decision is only the beginning of the process, but Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell, R–Charleston, was a little stronger in his message.

We see today’s decision as only the first step in an important legal struggle,” McConnell said in a statement. “This ruling will not deter me from continuing to work on this issue. I am committed to continuing full steam to have a bill ready for the Senate and for us to pass a stronger Arizona style immigration bill when we return in January.”

Senator wants to cap tuition hikes

The steadily-increasing tuition hikes by the state’s public colleges and universities are getting a look by State Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R–Florence, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. For years, the University of South Carolina has been cited as charging higher tuition rates than comparable southern schools, and the gnashing of teeth about rising tuition has become a annual ritual across the state.

Leatherman told the schools in a letter he would try to limit budget cuts and the like in what’s bound to be another tough year of budgeting in 2011. USC is raising tuition 3.6 percent for in–state students compared to the prior academic year, while Clemson approved a 7.5 percent hike. College of Charleston’s hike was nearly 15 percent. Leatherman wants to cap tuition raises at 7.3 percent.

Ethics law needs to address

conflict–of–interest problems

A report by the Legislative Audit Council says the General Assembly hasn’t been doing its job on providing oversight on former state employees who go to work for businesses that have dealings with the former employees’ agency. Three years ago, the LAC recommended that the ethics law be modified to address conflict–of–interest problems, but there’s been little action in the meantime.

In particular, the report singles out the Department of Health and Environmental Control, especially because of the close working relationship needed by the nature of the regulations and the businesses regulated.

Wolfe is the proprietor of WolfeReports.com and

has written for 11 publications in five states.