Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

This past week, South Carolina legislators have become belligerently defensive to their constituents when they were asked to vote against H.4927 and S.915, correctly dubbed the “Health Czar” bills.

Previously, we reported the overview of these bills and the power of the new Secretary of Health position in our first article. Next, we took a closer look at the pharmaceutical companies behind these bills and the unilateral power this position would have to force local law officers to enforce their orders in our second article. I highly suggest checking out these articles if you have not yet.

H.4927 was debated on the House floor on Wednesday February 28, 2024. It was clear that many representatives were offended by their constituents telling them to vote against the “health czar bill” that would “bring Dr. Fauci to South Carolina.” So what did these legislators do? They started lying. We have been accused of spreading “misinformation” and “fake news” because we have shared many quotes from the bills with you.

Let’s take a look at some of the myths that you may have encountered when speaking to your legislator:

Myth #1: The Secretary of Health Is Just Restructuring DHEC

This is the most common theme that came up the most during the House floor debate. This argument is a bait and switch, and then another switch. So let’s look at the facts:

DHEC (Department of Health and Environmental Control) was led by a governor appointed board made up of 7 individuals. This board had the authority to appoint the Director of Health. The governor had the power to removed the members on the board at anytime if he did not approve of them or a decision that was made. If they appointed someone the Governor didn’t agree with, Governor McMaster could simply fire the chair and replace the chair with someone who would appoint the director that the governor would prefer.

Last session, the General Assembly voted to restructure DHEC (S.399) into two different agencies: Public Health and Health/Environmental Control. However, this bill created a more limited position under the Governor. In the very first line of S.399, the Governor (with the advice and consent of the Senate) would appoint a Director of Public Health by July 1, 2024. This director could be removed by the Governor at any time.

Truth: the General Assembly has already created a limited director that would go into effect on July 1, 2024. Now, the General Assembly wants to create a more powerful position over Public Health and six other agencies that would seep unilateral power from the Governor and the General Assembly by recommending health regulations, firing/hiring whoever they wish, wielding complete power over all county health boards, just to name a few. S.399 already created a plan to replace DHEC. Now, the General Assembly is just creating more centralized power to a NEW position over already established positions and (as mentioned in our last article) will create, at minimum, numerous new positions and several boards that will be appointed by and under the Secretary of Health.

Myth #2: It Doesn’t Create New Policy

This position and the positions created under the Secretary of Health + the new State Health Plan have not been in existence before and the terms for these positions are not clearly defined in either bill, therefore this is new policy.

In order to not have any confusion, here is Cambridge Dictionary’s definition of Policy: “a set of ideas or a plan of what to do in particular situations that has been agreed to officially by a group of people, a business organization, a government, or a political party”

For reference, here is the Cambridge Dictionary definition for New: “recently created or having started to exist recently”

@legislators, let us not redefine words like our counterparts, we know what a woman is and we know what new policy is. I should not have to quote a dictionary for words that we learned in elementary school.

Myth #3: It Will Make All Agencies More Efficient

Representative Joe White said it best during the House floor debate on February 28th. Efficiency doesn’t equate to more government. If you want to be efficient, start striking current law instead of just adding more to it OR write agency cooperation into the law which would not come with the high price tag of health restructuring and an added layer of bureaucracy. Adding more jobs and consolidating power will not guarantee that it will become more efficient.

Myth #4: It’s The Same as Florida’s Surgeon General

Many legislators are now citing other positions like Florida’s Surgeon General to convince their consituents that South Carolina needs a Secretary of Public Health.

Florida’s current Surgeon General is Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo. He has a very long and impressive list of qualifications, including (but not limited to): an established physician, a health policy researcher with emphasis on reducing the population burden of cardiovascular disease, several professorships/faculty positions, BS from Wake Forest, MD and PhD from Harvard.

In comparison, the current Director of SC DHEC, Dr. Edward Simmer, is a military psychiatrist who served in Guantanamo Bay.

Both H. 4927 and S. 915 do not establish any required qualifications for the Secretary of Public Health. South Carolina’s current Public Health director is a glorified therapist who prescribes pills and don’t expect for this new position to be any different. Rep. Adam Morgan and Rep. Josiah Magnueson offered Amendment 6 to H. 4927 that would prohibit lobbyists from becoming the new Secretary of Public Health at least five years from the time they lobbied. It was quickly rejected by the majority. If this Health Czar initiative passes, not only does your new Secretary not have to be a physician, they can also be a lobbyist with no term limits.

Myth #5: It Will Save Taxpayers Money

These bills are one of the few bills that does not have a fiscal impact statement listed. That means the General Assembly, their lawyers, and their researchers, have no idea what this bill will cost the state. One legislator threw out the number $10,000. I could be wrong, but a bill that creates three of the most powerful positions in South Carolina is going to cost more than $10,000. Each state legislator receives more than that by the state for their seasonal work.

Rep. Bill Herbkersman was asked that same question by Rep. Josiah Magnueson. Watch as Herbkersman fumbles for an answer and his buddies Rep. Jay West and Rep. Weston Newton rush over to save him. Spoiler alert: they don’t know.

Governor McMaster have already started to outline some of the costs in their new executive summary budget proposal. Well over $100 million is proposed so far for the continued DHEC restructuring (which is more money for this project on top of last year’s budget) and around $200,000 is allocated to the Boston Consulting Group, the master behind all of these plans who already has been paid $5 million and so much more (which we will get into in our next article…)

This is not a Fiscally Conservative Move.

While it seems that the majority of the General Assembly has not read the entirety of these bills, SpartanburgCAN created a bullet-pointed sheet that summarizes H.4927 and S.915 that you can access here.

You, the constituents, have crawled under the skin of the General Assembly. During the House debate, representatives could not stop explaining how this bill was “not installing a Health Czar.” Watch the full debate from the House on February 28th here. Legislators are now frazzled over the facts you are telling them and the pressure they are receiving for their support of these dangerous bills. Keep the pressure on.

We will have a few more articles following this one that dig into this issue further, with updates. Keep an eye out for them. In the meantime, continue contacting members of both chambers. S.915 is sitting in the House Judiciary Committee and H.4927 is waiting to be introduced in the Senate. Ask you state representative to vote against S.915 and ask your state senator to vote against H.4927. Feel free to send this article to your legislator.

Many legislators have taken to Facebook, Twitter, and their newsletters to dispel the “fake news” spreading about the contents of the Health Czar initiative thanks to pesky “bloggers.” Guess what? These “bloggers” are not going anywhere and we will continue to disseminate and spread the truth. We have a duty to protect the freedom of our state, our legislators have decided that they have a duty to protect the interests of pharmaceutical companies. Keep reminding your elected officials who they answer to at the end of the day.

“Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.”

Proverbs 10:9