By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | It’s been said that your zip code is one of the best indicators of your health and life expectancy. Live Healthy South Carolina this week released its community health county snapshot reports that show life expectancy, health factors and outcomes.
The Alliance for a Healthier South Carolina led the development of Live Healthy South Carolina, with support from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and the S.C. Office of Rural Health.
One of the biggest takeaways on the life-expectancy maps was wide gaps exist for neighboring communities in several metropolitan areas, such as Charleston, Greenville and Columbia, In one neighborhood, for example, you may live to 81 years old, but if you cross the street or river in the same city, your life expectancy could be lower at 66 years old. See all of the reports here.
Here are a few snapshots from health outcome county maps:
- Beaufort County was ranked first for health outcomes and first for health factors. See the county map here.
- York County was ranked second for health outcomes and sixth for health factors. See the county map here.
- Charleston County ranked third health for outcomes and second for health factors. See the county map here.
- Other metros: Greenville County was ranked fourth in the state for health outcomes and third in the state for health factors. See the county map here. Richland County was ranked 12th for health outcomes and eighth for health factors. See the county map here.
- Rural outcomes: Allendale County ranked 43rd in health outcomes and 46th (last) in health factors, and Marlboro County ranked 46th in health outcomes and 45th in health factors.
In other recent news:
How high? The Senate may be warming to use of medical marijuana in the state, while others raised eyebrows by invoking 1950s language that characterized marijuana “the most dangerous drug.” S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson has since clarified a Wednesday statement to say it was dangerous due to being “misunderstood” and that he recognizes there is an opioid epidemic killing people. On Thursday, the Senate adopted a resolution calling on the Food and Drug Administration to remove barriers inhibiting research and development of medical marijuana. The resolution now goes to the House.
Foster care. The Trump administration has granted a religious freedom waiver request for an Upstate fostering agency, which is now allowed to eliminate potential foster families on the basis of religion. Read the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s letter on the waiver here.
Tax credits, local government fund up next week. The House budget-writing committee will take up six bills during a full meeting upon adjournment of the House Jan. 29 in room 521 of the Blatt building. The agenda includes:
- 3135, allowing tax credits for military veterans;
- 3136, providing an exception needs tax credit (Read the fiscal impact statement here); and
- 3137, re-adjusting the local government fund formula and tying it to revenues (Read the fiscal impact statement here).
State of the State. Gov. Henry McMaster gave his view of the current state of South Carolina and outlined his ideas for the future during an address Wednesday. The speech focused on education and further economic development. Read full State of the State address here.
Child advocate. The state is one step closer to having a dedicated child advocate. Last week, the deadline closed for applicants seeking to become the state’s first child advocate, as set out by legislation last year. According to S.C. Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington, the state received 89 applications. The new state position is slated to begin July 1.
Weekly update on Palmetto Priorities
Throughout the legislative session, we’ll provide you relevant updates related to our list of Palmetto Priorities, 10 big policy areas where major progress is needed for South Carolina to escape the bottom of lots of lists. Over the last week:
Taxes. The Tax Foundation released rankings of highest and lowest tax collections per capita by state. South Carolina came in as one of the lowest tax collections per capita at $3,435. It was in the company of Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Florida. The states with the highest per capita taxes included: New York ($8,957), Connecticut ($7,220), New Jersey ($6,709), North Dakota ($6,630) and Massachusetts ($6,469). Read more.
Guns. Two new Senate bills introduced this week took very different paths on guns. S. 400 (Grooms) seeks to allow a constitutional gun carry act and to change rules on concealed weapons, with several provisions. S. 423 (Hutto) would make it unlawful for a person to possess a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school or college or publicly-owned building, without permission.
Meanwhile, a Charleston symposium on the Second Amendment will be held Feb. 8. The 11th annual Law & Society symposium, presented at the Charleston School of Law with the Riley Institute at Furman University, will include panels to focus amendment’s strengths, interpretations, ethics and gun policy. To kick off the symposium, two Duke University law school professors will examine the second amendment as “Positive Law” and discuss how the amendment can be used to help curb violent crimes like mass shootings. Learn more and register here.
Looking ahead
Click below for other items coming up in the Statehouse:
- House calendar
- Senate calendar
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We Can Do Better, South Carolina!