They should call the statute the 1998 Toyota Code. The exemptions have not changed since 1979 (except for the homestead increase last year). With the new allowance for automobiles (5k), a debtor gets to keep his or her 1998 Toyota Camry with 120,000 miles on it. Is that asking too much? We’re talking about the time value of money here. A dollar in 1979 isn’t the same dollar in 2008.

The governor’s veto letter was equally puzzling, stating that the exemptions were bad because they did not discriminate between, in essence, the good debtor and the bad debtor. Does he not know that most debtors file because of (1) job loss, (2) divorce, and (3) medical debt? Either he’s ignorant or just a waterboy for the credit card industry.

Yes, call your rep. and senator. His veto is baseless and shameful.

Hi Russ! Thanks for commenting. I love your name for this Act by the way - Dana W. shared it with the SC Bankruptcy Debtors’ bar group and we all think it’s spot on.

The governor’s ignorance of equal protection concepts troubles me greatly. ALL exemptions are applied without consideration to circumstances. And, as you rightly point out, the vast majority of the clients I see have NEVER spent themselves into this mess, as he intimates. Rather, the big 3 you mention (and I’d add the foreclosure and subprime/ARM crisis as a fourth) are what drive them into ruin.

[...] Sheryl told you about Governor Mark Sanford’s veto of a new exemption bill, which determines how much property can be protected from creditors. The South Carolina statutory amounts hadn’t been changed since 1979. The good news is that lawmakers in Columbia voted overwhelmingly to override the governor’s veto, and the new measure has become law. “We needed it to be more in line with modern times,” said George Cauthen, a bankruptcy attorney who primarily represents lenders. “The whole idea behind exemptions is to leave every individual … to leave them with a little dignity and the basics of getting by in life. [...]