I wanted you to know that the nuclear reactor spending disaster continued to dominate the House session last week.

By a 119-1 vote, the House passed the third utility ratepayer protection bill, which blocks SCE&G from continuing to charge ratepayers $37 million a month for the abandoned reactor project and allows the Public Service Commission to strike down some previous SCE&G rate hikes for the project.

I remain committed to not only protecting SCE&G ratepayers, but also those of state-owned Santee-Cooper.

I spent some time this week with my House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. David Hiott, R-Pickens, preparing for a subcommittee hearing on the beachfront jurisdictional line legislation I introduced two weeks ago.

H. 4683 would reform the process for determining beachfront jurisdictional lines and allow a much better notification and appeals process for property owners. I'm appreciative the bill got referred to a committee and subcommittee on which I serve. I'm hopeful the Environmental Affairs Subcommittee hearing on the bill will be in two weeks.

On Thursday, I was pleased to introduce a Resolution that unanimously passed the House recognizing McClellanville Mayor Rut Leland for his leadership and dedicated service as one of the longest serving mayors (over 41 years) in state history. Last year, I was honored to be with Mayor Leland and his wife Kathy at the unveiling of his portrait at town hall. I'm proud Mayor Leland is a constituent of mine and appreciate the outstanding job he does for the town and coastal area.

On Friday, I attended the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study Policy Committee meeting in Surfside Beach. GSATS is the regional transportation planning agency for our area and I'm pleased to serve on the committee. We heard a presentation from SCDOT on the additional revenue from the gas tax increase and how it can be applied to GSAT's list of road projects. I'm hopeful we'll start seeing results from the extra tax revenue soon.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve in the House! Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Rep. Lee Hewitt

P.S. Please consider donating to my reelection campaign. With the election this year, I could sure use your help. Please click here today and make the largest donation that you can afford. Thank you in advance!