COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A House committee’s proposal for better securing South Carolina taxpayers’ personal data would create a new computer technology agency that reports to the governor.

House Ways and Means Chairman Brian White explained Tuesday his proposed overhaul to the Senate’s plan for cybersecurity. The committee will continue discussions Wednesday.

Some committee members balked at creating a separate agency, saying that grows government.

Like the Senate plan, White’s proposal would extend credit protection services to taxpayers beyond the one year provided under the contract negotiated by Gov. Nikki Haley. But it specifies five years, rather than a possible 10.

The effort follows the massive hacking last fall at the Department of Revenue, when a cyber-thief stole unencrypted Social Security and bank account numbers of 6.4 million residents and businesses

Rep. Brian White pictured with Coastal Carolina trustees Bill Biggs and Larry Lyles, along with university President David DeCenzo.

Brian White, who represents Anderson County’s District 6 in the S.C. House of Representatives, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Coastal Carolina University.

White received the honorary degree Doctor of Public Service. He was selected by a group of faculty and staff, and approved by the university’s board of trustees. According to university leaders, White was chosen because of his diligent public service as a representative in the South Carolina General Assembly, as chairman of Ways and Means, and for his leadership on the State Budget and Control Board.

The degree was presented at the university’s fall commencement ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 15, where White participated with 385 graduating students. The ceremony was the first held at CCU’s new HTC Student Recreation and Convocation Center, located on its campus in Conway, S.C.

Rep. White serves as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees the state budgeting process in the S.C. House. He is a native of Anderson County and has represented District 6 in the House since 2001.

Committee will review all aspects of K-16 capital projects

 (Columbia, SC) – Today, South Carolina House of Representatives Ways and Means Chairman, Brian White (R – Anderson) announced the creation of a bipartisan K-16 building need and utilization study committee.  South Carolina has 85 public school districts and 33 institutions of higher education (including technical colleges) each exhausting significant resources on capital/building projects.  Over a two year period for which most recent data is available (FY 10 and FY 11), K-16 education incurred $2.4 billion in costs associated with building projects.  That represents $256 per resident per year in South Carolina.

Chairman White said today, “Regardless of how creative our schools get with financing their projects, the bottom line is they are all public institutions and ultimately tax payers are left holding the bill.  Through the creation of this committee I am not suggesting we place a state-wide, unconditional moratorium on all K-16 building projects, but I do think we need a better understanding on what we are doing as a state with regard to educational buildings.  One of our most important jobs as legislators is to make sure our students have access to a quality education that is affordable to parents and students at every level.”

The committee will be chaired by Chairman White and includes four Republicans and two Democrats.  The other members of the committee are – Rep. Kenny Bingham, Rep. Chip Limehouse, Rep. Roland Smith, Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, and Rep. Jackie Hayes.  Chairman White expects the committee to hold its first meeting by the middle of January.  Among the items that the committee will be asked to review are debt levels, building utilization, deferred maintenance and future need.

Chairman White was recently elected to his first full term as Ways and Means Chair.  He had previously been elected in May 2011 to serve a one year term following the resignation of Dan Cooper.  The South Carolina House of Representatives will convene the  for a new two year session on Tuesday January 8, 2013.

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Rep. Brian White was elected by his peers to serve as chairman of the S.C. House Ways & Means Committee, which is responsible for writing the state budget and is one of six standing committees in the House. White was first elected to chair the Ways & Means committee in 2011.

As Ways & Means chairman, White also will serve on the state’s Budget and Control Board, which oversees the state’s finances and other administrative functions.

“It is a huge honor to be elected to chair the budget-writing committee for our state,” White said. “My goals are to ensure our state continues to live within its means, to bring financial integrity to our state at all levels, and to help create an economic climate that will spur job creation.”

White is from Anderson and has represented District 6 in the House since 2001. He previously served as first vice-chairman of the House Ways & Means committee and chaired the health care subcommittee and the legislative, executive and local government subcommittee. In addition, he chaired the House Rules Committee, which acts as a legislative gatekeeper and helps determine which bills are debated on the House floor.

For more information about Rep. Brian White, visit BrianWhiteSC.com.

If you own a business, the governor has announced special steps you can take to protect yourself and your company following the cyber attack during which international computer hackers got into the SC Department of Revenue’s servers. Up to 657,000 businesses could be affected.

Starting tomorrow, Friday, November 2, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp will offer South Carolina businesses that have filed a tax return since 1998 a CreditAlert product that will alert customers to changes taking place in their business credit file. Even something as simple as a change to a business address or a company officer change would set off an alert to the business owner. The cost will be waived for business filing tax returns since 1998. Business owners can visit http://www.dandb.com/sc/ or they can call customer service toll free at this dedicated phone number 1-800-279-9881.

In addition, Experian is offering those impacted South Carolina businesses Business Credit AdvantageSM – a self-monitoring service that allows unlimited access to a company’s business credit report and score. Beginning Thursday, South Carolina businesses can sign up for Business Credit AdvantageSM at http://www.smartbusinessreports.com/SouthCarolina.

(Press release from SC Department of Revenue)–The S.C. Department of Revenue today announced that approximately 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers have been exposed in a cyber attack. Of the credit cards, the vast majority are protected by strong encryption deemed sufficient under the demanding credit card industry standards to protect the data and cardholders. Approximately 16,000 are unencrypted.

To protect taxpayers, the state will provide those affected with one year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection. Officials emphasized that no public funds were accessed or put at risk.

“On October 10, the S.C. Division of Information Technology informed the S.C. Department of Revenue of a potential cyber attack involving the personal information of taxpayers,” said DOR Director James Etter. “We worked with them throughout that day to determine what may have happened and what steps to take to address the situation. We also immediately began consultations with state and federal law enforcement agencies and briefed the governor’s office.”

Upon the recommendation of law enforcement officials, DOR contracted Mandiant, one of the world’s top information security companies, to assist in the investigation, help secure the system, install new equipment and software and institute tighter controls on access.

On October 16, investigators uncovered two attempts to probe the system in early September, and later learned that a previous attempt was made in late August. In mid-September, two other intrusions occurred, and to the best of the department’s knowledge, the hacker obtained data for the first time. No other intrusions have been uncovered at this time. On October 20, the vulnerability in the system was closed and, to the best of the department’s knowledge, secured.

“The number of records breached requires an unprecedented, large-scale response by the Department of Revenue, the State of South Carolina and all our citizens,” said Governor Nikki Haley. “We are taking immediate steps to protect the taxpayers of South Carolina, including providing one year of credit monitoring and identity protection to those affected.”

Anyone who has filed a South Carolina tax return since 1998 is urged to visit protectmyid.com/scdor or call 1- 866-578-5422 to determine if their information is affected. If so, the taxpayer can immediately enroll in one year of identity protection service provided by Experian.

Experian’s ProtectMyID™ Alert is designed to detect, protect and resolve potential identity theft, and includes daily monitoring of all three credit bureaus. The alerts and daily monitoring services are provided for one year, and consumers will continue to have access to fraud resolution agents and services beyond the first year.

In addition to the Experian service, state officials urged individuals to consider additional steps to protect their identity and financial information, including:

Regularly review credit reports;

Place fraud alerts with the three credit bureaus;

Place a security freeze on financial and credit information with the three credit bureaus.

If credit card information is compromised, the best protection is to have the bank reissue the card. Anyone who has used a credit card in a transaction with the Department of Revenue should check bank accounts regularly to see if any unauthorized charges have occurred. If so, the cardholder should contact the credit card issuer immediately by calling the toll-free number located on the back of the card or on a monthly statement, tell them what you have seen, and ask them to cancel and reissue the card. Consumers should also change any credit card web account passwords immediately when unauthorized charges are detected.

“From the first moment we learned of this, our top priority has been to protect the taxpayers and the citizens of South Carolina, and every action we’ve taken has been consistent with that priority,” Etter said. “We have an obligation to protect the personal information entrusted to us, and we are redoubling our efforts to meet that obligation.”

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(News release from S.C. Department of Commerce)

COLUMBIA, S.C. – April 10, 2012 – Michelin North America, Inc. today announced that the company will expand its Earthmover tire production in South Carolina with a $750 million investment expected to generate 500 new jobs.

“There is unprecedented demand for Michelin Earthmover tires throughout the world,” said Michelin Chairman and President Pete Selleck. “It’s a tribute to the productivity of our employees and the pro-business environment in South Carolina that the company is expanding its Earthmover capacity in the state where we first began manufacturing in the United States.”

When added to the $200 million announced last May in Lexington, this announcement brings the total Michelin investment in South Carolina to almost $1 billion in the last year.

“Michelin has been part of the economic and social fabric of South Carolina since the first tire rolled off the line in 1975 and has been one of our finest corporate citizens,” said South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. “It really is a great day in South Carolina when our largest manufacturer reaffirms its commitment to the state.”

“It’s always rewarding when new companies locate in South Carolina, but it’s even better when companies like Michelin that have been here for decades decide to expand and grow,” said Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt. “It is a tribute to Michelin and its 8,000 employees in the state that the company has decided to grow their presence here.”

“We are pleased to recognize the achievements of Michelin North America. The recent expansion of Lexington plants US#5 and US#7 greatly strengthened the economic activity in our area and helped to foster the growth that we are currently experiencing. Today we are excited about the two announcements and delighted to be able to celebrate this milestone achievement by Michelin North America. We are pleased that they are a part of our community and wish them continued success,” said Lexington County Chairman Bill Banning.

“We are extremely proud to continue and strengthen the long running relationship between Michelin, the SC Department of Commerce and Anderson County,” said Tommy Dunn, Anderson County councilman, District 5. “I’m grateful for the hard work and dedication of Burriss Nelson and his economic development team in their efforts to cultivate relationships that can benefit from Anderson County’s unique mix of a skilled and willing workforce, the support of Tri-County Technical College and our area’s outstanding quality of life. This is another great day in Anderson County.”

Central SC Alliance Chairman Jim B. Apple said, “Michelin’s announcement today of continued expansion in Lexington County, S.C. reaffirms the pro-business environment, quality workforce and strategic location of Lexington County and Central South Carolina. We congratulate Michelin Corporation on their continued success and we congratulate Lexington County on the continued growth of this great corporate citizen.”

“Michelin’s increased investment in the Upstate speaks volumes to their belief in the South Carolina workforce and its business climate. We are grateful for their contributions to our region and for the jobs they bring to our citizens,” said Upstate SC Alliance President and CEO Hal Johnson.

“Michelin is currently one of the Port of Charleston’s largest customers, and I am very pleased to learn of their plans to expand their manufacturing footprint in South Carolina. Michelin has been a consistent partner and ardent supporter of the deepening of the Charleston Harbor to accommodate the new, larger cargo vessels.  This announcement today solidifies the company’s relationship with our port and our state,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina State Ports Authority.

State and local incentives were approved for Michelin’s expansion.

About Michelin North America, Inc.
Dedicated to the improvement of sustainable mobility, Michelin designs, manufactures and sells tires for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy-duty trucks and motorcycles. The company also publishes travel guides, hotel and restaurant guides, maps and road atlases. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America (www.michelinman.com) employs more than 22,200 and operates 18 major manufacturing plants in 16 locations.

H 4894 offers several options for parents and students to have expanded educational opportunities in the state.

Deductions:

The bill provides for tax deductions as follows: parents sending their children to an independent school may take a deduction not to exceed $4,000 for tuition paid, parents who home school their children may take a deduction not to exceed $2,000 and parents choosing to enroll their children in a school outside of their resident school district may take a deduction not to exceed $1,000.

Scholarship Granting Organizations:

Further, the bill allows for the creation of scholarship granting organizations that may provide scholarships as follows: $5,000 or 75% of the cost of tuition for children who are eligible for free or reduced lunch and $10,000 or 75% of the cost of tuition for children who have exceptional needs as defined in the bill. Any institution receiving scholarships must at a minimum submit to a compliance audit each year. To ensure the academic accountability the schools must offer a curriculum which includes courses set forth in the states diploma requirements and where the students attending are administered national achievement or state standardized tests, or both at progressive grade levels.

Accountability:

To further ensure that the system is working as intended the Education Oversight Committee will establish an advisory committee to suggest regulations and then promulgate regulations, ensure participating schools meet the criteria outlined in the bill and will publish a list of the schools, publish the test scores by school on its website and will provide triennial reports on the program.

K-12 Funding:

Public education remains of paramount importance in South Carolina. While the state is continuing to recover economically and funding is still below 2008 levels, the General Assembly provided more than $105 M new dollars to education in the last budget. In the budget just passed by the House and of the $500 M new dollars available for appropriation, education received more than $200 M dollars with $153 M directed towards the Base Student Cost.

Rep. Brian White and 10th Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams are among the eight local “celebrities” to participate in the Sixth Annual Dancing for Our Heroes event to be at 7 p.m. April 13 at the Civic Center of Anderson.

Produced by the Rotary Club of Greater Anderson, the event is modeled after the popular ABC TV show “Dancing With the Stars.” It is being held to raise money for eight local charities and the PolioPlus initiative of the Rotary Foundation.

Rep. White will dance with Mary Ann McBride for Anderson Interfaith Ministries. Solicitor Adams will dance with Wayne Conover for the Cancer Association of Anderson. Other contestants are Dr. Stuart Barnes, to dance with Lisa Burns for the Anderson Free Clinic; Chad McBride, public information office for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, to dance with Yvonne Conover for Foothills Alliance; Christie Dove, RN, to dance with Dennis Adams for Hospice of the Upstate; Elisha Price, a National Guard soldier on active duty in Anderson, to dance with Craig Smith for the S.C. Military Family Care Association; Mary Gay Drake, RN, and Scott Drake, to dance for United Way of Anderson County; and Shirley Davis and mortician Marcus Brown, to dance for the Westside Community Center.

The theme this year is “On Broadway,” and a theatrical decor is planned. A full dinner will be provided by Cromer Food Services and the admission price covers soft drinks, tea, wine and beer. In addition, there will be opportunities for attendees to dance to deejay Ben Phillips’ music after the competition ends. An array of items and services will be auctioned off during the evening.

A ticket costs $40 and a table for eight may be purchased for $320. Individual tickets are available at the Main Street office of Park Sterling Bank (formerly Capital Bank). Tables may be purchased by contacting Amelia Nelson at 864-934-9000.

Dancers will compete before judges Randy Spearman, a two-time winner of Dancing for Our Heroes; Rotary District Governor Gary Goforth; and ballroom dancer Dave Thomas.

In addition to the Judge’s Choice award, dancers are selling votes for a dollar apiece to win a People’s Choice Award. All the money they raise will go to their individual charities and the profit from the evening will be divided among the charities with a smaller donation going to Polio Plus.

Check out Dancing for Our Heroes on Facebook for photos of the couples rehearsing and for photos from the 2011 competition.

For more information, call Kathryn Smith at 864-202-7093.