The State House Gavel: House to debate budget next week, OKs renaming roads after Kirk and Trump

It's Friday, March 6.

That's a wrap on Week 8 from the South Carolina Statehouse.

There are 10 more weeks and 30 more days until sine die May 14.

Of course, that does not count the House taking two weeks of furlough in March and April, and the Senate's plan for a perfunctory floor week after Easter.

You're reading The State House Gavel, your daily reporter notebook by Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson that previews and captures what goes on at the South Carolina Statehouse.

This week had plenty of people talking, from Supreme Court Justice John Few disrupting the high court contest to an overhaul of the Public Service Commission membership, and plenty of legislative activity in both chambers.

But if there's one week to watch the South Carolina Legislature — whether you're a policy wonk, lobbyist or average state taxpayer — it's next week, when the House debates the $15 billion state budget plan.

Notebook highlights:

• From budget prep to provisos, House readies for long week to tackle spending plan, tax policy.
• Over Democrats' objections, House votes to rename roads for Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump
• Senate to pop the tab on hemp consumables
• Gov. Henry McMaster has already signed legislation into law. What's been signed and what's awaiting his key signature

Andre Bellamy/SCETV

House to debate budget next week

The House will gavel in at 1 p.m. Monday to start debate over the chamber's $15 billion state spending proposal that includes millions for tax cuts, infrastructure, education and health care.

Like every year, House budget writers called it one of the best budgets they'd seen. But that doesn't mean it's without challenges.

First, unlike in some past years, the House did not get the advantage of new revenue projections. State economists have mentioned, repeatedly, that while South Carolina saw a wave of money after the COVID-19 pandemic, the state, despite its growth, revenue increases have started to come back down to earth.

And we mention growth because South Carolina is now considered the fastest-growing state in the country, with a population expected to grow to 6.6 million residents by 2040.

"A lot of people want to say that South Carolina's not doing well. That is just not accurate. Anybody who is campaigning on the idea that things aren't going very well in the state of South Carolina, either don't live here or aren't paying attention," Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, told his colleagues at a budget briefing for legislators on Thursday. "We've actually got one of the best economies in the country."

Going back to the money the House has to spend, Bannister said while the $15 billion general fund budget number is exciting, $13.25 billion of that figure is for services the state already provides year after year.

In new dollars, the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office reported:

• $733.9 million in new annual dollars to spend
• $1.7 billion in new one-time dollars to spend

S.C. HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE

What those numbers mean, and what the graph shows, is not everything state agencies — and lawmakers — want will get funded.

Also, keep in mind House and Senate budget writers say they intend to pass some tax policy legislation — that's another costly expense off the top.

You can listen to Bannister's introduction below:

What's in the budget? Here are a few highlights:

• About $125 million to reduce the state's top income rate from 6% to 5.39% — what was in the original income tax proposal passed by the House last year. The Senate amended the bill, lowering the rate to 5.21%. The Senate will be responsible for finding the additional dollars when they amend the spending plan.
• About $66.9 million for a 2% state employee base pay raise
• About $23.2 million for the state Education Scholarship Trust Fund, raising the 10,000 student enrollment cap to the next phase of 15,000 students
• $8 million for S.C. State University's public safety building replacement
• About $10 million for the University of South Carolina's health-related initiatives, and $1.5 million for the college's Center for American Civic Leadership and Public Discourse
• A scrap of what's been called tuition mitigation spending, a multi-year deal where colleges and universities get operating money in exchange for freezing in-state tuition. Instead, through a proviso budget attachment, colleges would get "SC First" dollars tied to STEM programs that lead to in-demand workforce development
• About $102 million for costs to maintain the state's Medicaid program
• About $34 million changes in federal funding match requirements for SNAP benefits
• $7.5 million for beach renourishment grants
• $32 million for the Captain Sam's Spit settlement, coastal land in Kiawah Island that's been tangled up in litigation
• About $249.2 million for bridge modernization, $125 million for interstate acceleration, $25 million for the road buyback program and $100 million for local county transportation funds
• About $150 million to raise South Carolina's starting teacher pay up to $50,500 — a Gov. Henry McMaster priority request

S.C. HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE

The process:

If you've never watched a budget floor debate before, the roughly two-day stretch of debate will start Monday with the "non-controversial" sections, or sections of the budget (see here) that House members do not plan to try to amend.

Then the House will wade into all of the state agency sections with proposed amendments.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who are outside of Ways and Means usually have little success trying to alter line-item spending in the state budget while it's being debated on the floor. More often they propose amendments and try to hook proviso changes onto the spending plan.

Despite a minimum two-day process, budget debates are not quick. And, as recently as last year, they have been known to stretch into midnight with a third, perfunctory vote done after a mere few hours of sleep.

So, if you're a watch-from-bed kind of observer or planning to hang in the Statehouse lobby, pack snacks, lots of them.

But that's not all the House plans to do in Week 9.

On Thursday, the House put on special order:

• H. 4216: The chamber's income tax legislation, which, after Senate changes, would lower the top income tax rate in the first year to 5.21% — a cost of nearly $309 million
• H. 3368: The chamber's tax conformity bill, which would conform the state's tax code with the federal government's for one last year. The one-time cost is $288.5 million.

In past years, the House has wrapped its budget work and gone home. Instead, leaders intend to keep the members in Columbia to pass both tax bills.

Maybe pack even more snacks.

MAAYAN SCHECHTER

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SCETV

House votes to rename roads after Charlie Kirk, Trump

Speaking of the House, the House on Thursday also passed three road and bridge naming resolutions over Democrats' objections.

• H. 4573: Sponsored by Rep. Luke Rankin, R-Laurens, requests that a portion of U.S. Highway 76 in Laurens County from the Laurens/Greenville line to the state Highway 101 be named the "Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway." Kirk was a conservative activist and founder of youth-focused conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA, who was assassinated on a college campus last year.
• H. 5000: Sponsored by Rep. Daniel Gibson, R-Greenwood, requests that a bridge across Little River along U.S. Highway 378 in McCormick County be named the "Charlie Kirk Memorial Bridge."
• H. 4982: Sponsored by Rep. Heather Crawford, R-Horry, requests a portion of the proposed Interstate 73 project, covering Dillon to Horry, Marion and Marlboro counties, be named the "President Donald J. Trump Highway."

Both Democratic state Reps. Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg, the longest-serving legislator in the House, and Hamilton Grant of Richland spoke against the Kirk resolutions, arguing the controversial conservative activist's rhetoric should be enough to vote down the measures.

Rankin, one of the youngest House members at 28, told reporters that Kirk's death affected him "deeply and profoundly."

“People need to know that Charlie Kirk was a champion of the pro-life cause, was a strong and devout Christian (who) advocated for family values," Rankin said, reported by the SC Daily Gazette.

All three concurrent resolutions will go next to the Senate.

While they don't require the governor's signature, they do require approval by the state Department of Transportation.

Read more:

• The State: Road, bridge in SC closer to being named for Charlie Kirk. Will Trump get a highway?
• Post and Courier: SC Statehouse Black lawmakers protest naming roads after Charlie Kirk
• SC Daily Gazette: SC House votes to name roads after Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump, over Democrats’ protests

SCETV

Senate Week 9 preview

After senators gaveled out Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, told reporters that next week the chamber will tackle hemp consumable regulation legislation.

Massey couldn't say Thursday how debate over the bill — H. 3924, sponsored by Rep. Chris Wooten, R-Lexington — would go. It passed with broad support in the House last year, and has since been heavily amended.

The bill would in part:

• Prohibit anyone under age 21 from buying or using certain hemp-derived products
• Prohibit synthetic cannabis products
• Keep CBD products legal and under current regulations

And it would more strictly regulate Delta-9 hemp-derived THC drinks, including where they can be sold and how many milligrams of THC the drinks can have.

The legislation does not deal with THC gummies, though we do expect some kind of gummy-related amendment.

What legislation comes next?

Massey told reporters the so-called "bathroom bill" legislation — a proposal that restricts restroom and locker room use in public K-12 schools and colleges by biological sex at birth — is expected to come out of committee and hit the floor. And the Senate's transportation department proposal — S. 831 — could also come next after the hemp debate.

That will get the chamber through March, Massey added.

Next week will mark the midpoint of session.

"We're moving along pretty good," Massey said. "Things are going about how I expected. There’s going to be a lot of activity in the last nine weeks, but we’re in a good spot.”

The GOP leader did add, however, he wished the regulations bill was moving faster, noting there's more work to be done on it.

GAVIN JACKSON

Training extension, NIL bills reach McMaster's desk

Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, and House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, on Thursday ratified eight pieces of legislation, moving the bills to the governor's desk.

That includes H. 5261, a joint resolution extending the deadline of the state's required alcohol server training, part of the new liquor liability bill, to May 1.

And it includes H. 4902, the name image and likeness bill that would seal revenue-sharing contracts between colleges and student-athletes from public records requests.

Gov. Henry McMaster has not said whether he plans to veto the NIL bill, or in another rare option let the bill sit without his signature for it to become law.

But he has reiterated his concerns with the bill's transparency.

McMaster said he and staff spoke with several top University of South Carolina officials Tuesday afternoon.

"I’m studying that. We’ve had a lot of conversations about it. I’m very concerned about the direction of college athletics. I think when you get big money in that like it is now, it’s not like a college team anymore, it’s like professional football, and I think that’s bad," McMaster told reporters. "... I think this is a good example of a slippery slope, … and I think that’s what’s happened. But, on the other hand, that is the direction this ocean is going, and we don’t want to put ourselves at a disadvantage. But there needs to be some action taken at some point, perhaps at the federal level to clean this mess up that we’ve gotten ourselves into."

McMaster has, so far, signed eight bills into law this year.

They include designating the "strikingly beautiful" prothonotary warbler as South Carolina's official state migratory bird, and legislation tweaking school district requirements on excused absences for specific activities.

You can see the full list here.

GAVIN JACKSON

Statehouse clips from around the state

• 2 SC governor candidates detail different approaches to eliminate state income tax (The State)
• Home health care workers grapple with low pay, high turnover. They want SC lawmakers to help. (SC Daily Gazette)
• Lawmakers advance bill allowing some pregnant women to delay prison sentences in South Carolina (WLTX)
• SC's Santee Cooper makes a power move with a Florida utility (Post and Courier)
• SCDOT spends more than $1B on road repairs, upgrades so far this year (The State)
• Long-anticipated SC boat tax cuts nearing governor's signature. Revenue loss would fall to local governments (Post and Courier)
• SC environmental regulators halt operations at solar panel manufacturer following 2nd chemical spill (SC Daily Gazette)
• South Carolina bill would put Ten Commandments in schools. What to know (Greenville News)
• Polluting industries in SC could face the wrath of cities, counties (The State)
• The SC House is set to take up its spending plan. A fight with the Senate is already expected (Post and Courier)