Update – July 12 to July 18, 2010

The House of Representatives has adjourned for the 2010 session. I hope that you find this update helpful and informative:

Town Meeting: I held a town meeting on Tuesday, July 13 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Odell Weeks Center in Aiken. Over sixty people attended and we had a good discussion about what did and did not pass this past session at the State House.

S.C. Lottery: At the town meeting on Tuesday night, someone asked how the lottery money is appropriated. I have attached a chart showing the breakdown of appropriations since the lottery began in 2002: click here to view chart!

Top States for Business: CNBC released its 2010 annual rankings of the 50 states as to which are the best for business. South Carolina moved up from 37 in 2009 to 31 in 2010. While we made some improvement, our neighboring states North Carolina and Georgia are ranked number 4 and 10 respectively. The following article explains the rankings and the criteria used in coming to the rankings: click here to view article!

Interesting Information on Teen Drivers: A constituent passed on to me information about graduated driver licensing programs and a Johns Hopkins School of Public Health study showing that such programs have reduced the rate of fatal crashes among 16 year old drivers by anywhere from 11 to 20 percent. The following link compares the 50 states and their respective requirements as to teen drivers: click here to view the comparison.

Congratulations to Aiken 12 Year Old All Stars!: Congratulations to the Aiken 12 Year Old All Stars who won the South Carolina state tournament in baseball this past week and will head to Ocala, Florida to represent our state in the regional finals beginning on July 29. They are planning to do well in the regional finals and if they do, they will be there for about a week. The costs of traveling to and from Ocala and staying a week for the tournament are expensive and the City can only provide so much assistance. If you would like to contribute to help the team with their expenses, please make your check payable to: 12 Year Old All Stars c/o Aiken Elite and mail it to: 109 Sassafrass Rd.; Aiken, SC 29803.

Responding to Constituent Email: I am catching up on a large volume of constituent email that I received during the last two weeks of June.

Aiken County Public Library Summer Reading Program: The annual summer reading program for children through the 5th grade has started at the Aiken County Public Library. The Program runs through July 31. Children who read the required number of books will receive a medal and a certificate of completion. Reading is essential to doing well in school. Please encourage as many young people as you can to read this summer. For more information, call the Aiken County Public Library or simply click here.

Speaking to Groups Around the District: Several local groups have asked me to come to one of their meetings to provide an end of session report to their members. If you have a group that would like for me to come to a meeting during the next few months, please let me know. During the past week, I spoke to the Kiwanis Club and a meeting of graduates from the National Academy of Police Officers.

Email Updates: Many people in District 81 are receiving this email update. However, there are many others who do not receive them because I do not know their email addresses. If you know of people who do not receive my updates but they would like to, please email their names and email addresses to me.

Road Issues: If you see a road problem, you can call the SCDOT at 641-7665 or Aiken County at 642-1532 to report the problem. If you do not get a prompt response, please let me know at TomYoung@schouse.gov or call me. In the past six months, I have received many different reports of problems and I have relayed those to the appropriate agencies.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent you. Please let me know if I can help you in any way or if you have questions about these or other issues. Your feedback is meaningful and appreciated.

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