Time is running out for Congress to pass legislation that would allow Grand Strand hotels to have glass pool enclosures. Hoteliers say if those pool enclosures are outlawed, it could mean millions of dollars in lost business for them, potentially costing three thousand jobs.
The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce is making an all out effort to lobby Congress on the bill.
Chamber president Brad Dean is in Washington this week to lobby for the legislation and other chamber members are frantically calling Congressional offices.
Many Grand Strand oceanfront hotels use the glass enclosures to turn their outdoor pools into indoor pools during winter months. There were no complaints about the practice for many years, but in 2007, the Federal Emergency Management Agency found out about the glass enclosures and decided they could be hazardous in a hurricane. FEMA threatened to outlaw the enclosures.
Chamber leaders thought they had the problem solved last summer, when the House passed legislation to fix the problem, but the bill never came up for a vote in the Senate.
But a FEMA bill that would allow the pool enclosures is now being debated in Congress, where South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint plays a key role on the Senate banking committee. Chamber members are lobbying again for this latest version.
"We're working hard to try to get businesses to contact our congressional delegation," said Stephen Greene, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association "Obviously Senator DeMint has done a lot for us and this is a time where he can really step up and really help our business community a great deal."
Grand Strand Business Association President Mike Wooten says DeMint promised chamber leaders that he would insert language into the bill to allow the pool enclosures, when it came up in the banking committee. But Wooten says DeMint did not do that.
"He has his reasons, none of us understand those reasons, but he has those reasons," Wooten said. "Hopefully, he and his staff will be able to take care of the issue before it comes to a final vote."
Wooten said there's still a chance the language could be inserted into the FEMA legislation before the bill comes up before the full Senate. "We are hoping Senator DeMint would do what he promised us he would do. If not, we do know that Senator Graham is poised and ready to do his best to insert the language into the bill before it comes to a vote on the Senate floor."
In the meantime, Wooten said he hopes local hotel operators will put some pressure on DeMint and others in Congress to pass the bill. "That's one thing about politics, pressure in the right direction usually gets some results."
Wooten said he knows DeMint's office has received at least a hundred calls from Grand Strand hotel operators and their staff. "We're not leaving anything to chance. We're pulling out all the stops, doing everything we can to make this happen."
If the FEMA bill is not voted on by the end of this month, Wooten said it could be up to six years before it could come up again.
NewsChannel 15 contacted Senator DeMint's office Tuesday, but did not get a call back.
