Sen. Alexander updates Legislative Proceedings

Budgeting and planning for the new fiscal year have kept State Senator Thomas Alexander of Walhalla busy in Columbia. As chairman of the Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee, Senator Alexander gives an update on legislative proceedings. “We’ve pretty well have finished up for the year, we’ve got the Budget Conference Committee working on finalizing the budget to take effect July 1. It is certainly an education budget with a lot of money going in for K-12 and higher education as well as a lot going in for workforce development. We continue to see good economic growth with jobs coming into communities across South Carolina and so that means we need additional training for our citizens to meet those challenges. We are putting a lot of focus on workforce development to make sure we have trained employees to be able to be successful. We are certainly doing additional efforts with the prison system after the unfortunate situation with the riots there, we have additional funding going in to make sure they can manage the prisons and have the resources they need. We have additional funding also going in for school buses, so that all of those that are on the road today that are prone to catching on fire. So, with this funding all of those buses will be off the road and that to me is one of the most significant things that we can do because it is the safety of children first and foremost from that standpoint.” Alexander has served the citizens of Oconee and Pickens counties in the State Senate since October of 1994.