Q&A with Shannon Erickson, S.C. House District 124 candidate

Name: Shannon Erickson (R, incumbent)

Age: 53

Office: S.C. House District 124

Challenger: Bobby Green (D)

Family: Husband Kendall, daughter Mariah and son-in-law Randall, son Josh, and grandson Wilson

Education: B.A. early childhood education, USC Beaufort.

The latest timeline for the Port of Port Royal sale to close is the middle of 2017. How might you respond if the sale drags past another deadline with no deal?

Since the sale of the Port resides with the S.C. Department of Administration, a new entity that has provided us a timeline of their sale action plan, the Beaufort Legislative Delegation is hopeful that they will produce what the S.C. Ports Authority did not — a viable sale of this valuable asset. Our hope was and is that the Department of Administration which falls under the Governor's office will be the most responsive entity to handle the sale since the Governor is directly elected by the citizens of South Carolina. That said, our delegation has already had some discussion about a next step should it be necessary and we will not hesitate to make further change in the sale administration, perhaps to one of a more local nature, if one is not produced in this round.

What is one issue affecting families you hope to address during the upcoming term, and how?

For many years, South Carolina has been ranked at the top or next to the top for women killed by men in Domestic Violence instances. In 2015, I was honored to lead the charge in the SC House, work with leadership and key sponsors in the Senate and get comprehensive domestic violence reform passed in a bi-partisan bill. That is not the end, though. We put many new pieces of data collection in place and it is now imperative that we monitor this new information, feedback from stakeholders and keep improving so that the rate that we're seeing drop slowly will continue. I will continue to press for new policies and/or legislation that comes from that feedback and makes our state safer for families.

The issue most brought to me is the status of our state's infrastructure, roads and bridges which affect everyone in our state, including families. My position on this has not wavered. Our state has one of the highest amount of state-owned roads and one of the lowest gas taxes. We must fully reform SCDOT and responsibly increase our gas and dedicate it specifically to that infrastructure. What we accomplished last session was partial SCDOT reform and extra funding to SCDOT for specific repairs, no new construction. We need to finish the job so that our families are travelling on safe roads and bridges. That includes finishing the agency reforms and working out secured and dependable funding.

What is the most important issue related to education in District 124, and how will you address it?

In both K-12 and higher education, Beaufort County does not receive the funding it deserves in per student allocation. We have for several years been a donor county when it comes to taxes paid by our citizens and remitted to the state for K-12 education funding. Our district has looked rich on paper but in reality has some of the greatest needs in our state with high populations of children with special needs in both ends of the spectrum, large numbers of families eligible for free or reduced lunch programs and children who speak English as a second language. Best practices and research tell us these are the most expensive children to educate yet, it's just been in the past couple of years that our Beaufort Legislative Delegation has been successful in having those children weighted more heavily in the funding formula and are receiving more funding than ever before, but it is still not what we're paying in. For higher education, our University of South Carolina - Beaufort and Technical College of the Lowcounty receive smaller allocations than many other state supported schools. Again, we have been moving incrementally toward parity with diligent work from all of our Beaufort Delegation but this push must continue. Having been appointed to the SC House Ways and Means Committee last session and serving on the Education subcommittee, I am well-placed to make these initiatives a reality for our county and repatriating our tax dollars is the largest issue that I will work on this next session.

What is another key issue you would address if elected, and how?

I am currently serving on the S.C. House Comprehensive Tax Study Committee. With less than half of our citizens filing tax returns with less than $50,000 in income, our top personal income tax rate of 7 personal taking effect after approximately $14,000 of income, our sales tax system exempts more sales than it collects and local governments are forced to put fees and charges in place that increase costs of permits, business licenses, etc., there is plenty of proof that our tax system is broken. Most citizens do not ask for their taxes to go away - they ask for them to be fair and accountable. They want to see value for their hard-earned dollars. It is imperative that we lower rates to make the cost of government more evenly distributed and transparent and with the weight of this bi-partisan committee in tow, I will sponsor bills that reform these laws this session.

This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 10:39 PM with the headline "Q&A with Shannon Erickson, S.C. House District 124 candidate."