Law keeping SC elderly in homes advances

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Legislation to help elderly South Carolinians live on their own has advanced in the state House.

A House subcommittee on Wednesday unanimously approved ‘Uncle Preston’s Law’ to let family members pay a 4 percent property tax assessment ratio on a house occupied by a relative 65 years of age or older.

Currently, property not claimed by owners as their legal residence is taxed at 6 percent.

The bill does not apply to relatives paying rent.

Republican Rep. Bill Herbkersman of Bluffton says he named the bill after a friend struggling to keep an uncle in his home.

The measure now heads to the House Ways and Means Committee.