need for workers’ compensation reform. Scarborough is vice president of Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Company of Charleston, a family-owned business. He has been in the House for eight years and this past year chaired the Insurance Subcommittee for Cato. Haley also works in a family business. She is chief ďŹ nancial ofďŹ cer in a high-fashion retail operation in West Columbia. Haley has served just two terms in the House. Half of that time she has served on the LCI. Last year Cato appointed her to head the Banking Subcommittee in her second year on the committee. Haley spoke to the IIABSC Spring Conference in 2007, reviewing key legislative issues. Committee members keep their own counsel about chairmanship races, so there is no publicly known headcount at this time. There will be at least four vacancies in the LCI ranks of 18 members when the House meets to reorganize in December. Cato is likely to move up, three other Republican members have retired: Skipper Perry of Aiken, Dr. Tom Dantzler of Goose Creek and Glen Hamilton of Taylors. New appointments to the committee could decide who will chair it. Another signiďŹ cant change for the next General Assembly will be a new Majority Leader. Although Democrats say they expect to gain some seats (they hold just 51 of 124 now), it is most likely that the House majority will continue to be the Republicans. The Republican Caucus limits their leader to two terms so Majority Leader Rep. Jim Merrill of Daniel Island must step down. Three House members are presently seeking the post: Kenny Bingham of West Columbia, Mike Pitts of Laurens and Alan Clemmons of Myrtle Beach. Bingham heads an engineering firm he owns and has been in the House eight years. He served one year as Chair of the Insurance Subcommittee before receiving a sought-after appointment to the Ways and Means Committee. Pitts, who retired from the Greenville Police Dept., represents a district that covers parts of Laurens, Abbeville and Greenwood counties. He has been in the House six years serving on the Agriculture and Environmental Affairs and Ethics committees. Alan Clemmons is an attorney who has also served three terms. He is Secretary of the Republican Caucus, a member of the Judiciary Committee and Vice Chair of Rules. He is noted for giving his colleagues neck ties or scarves each year that display the state seal. Members, stay tuned to the monthly Agent News email newsletter for updates as we get them. We were pleased to play host to the SC House Majority and Minority leaders at the Political Roundtable during this month’s annual convention, just in time to talk about next month’s general elections and the upcoming legislative session.
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Fall 2008 â&#x20AC;˘ South Carolina Agent & Broker
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