It's Thursday, April 2.
The Senate has already started their Easter weekend and has no plans to take the floor next week, so that the Senate Finance Committee can finalize work on their version of the state budget.
The House gavels in at 10 a.m. today before they furlough all of next week.
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.
A bit of Bavaria came to the Statehouse Wednesday.
Rolling up in a fleet of BMW X-series SUVs — manufactured at the German automaker's Spartanburg plant, of course — German Minister President of Bavaria, Dr. Markus Söder toured the Statehouse, visited both chambers and received the honorary Sandlapper award from Gov. Henry McMaster.
The award is given to people who are neither natives nor current residents of South Carolina as a way to recognize the person's contributions to the state or its residents for leadership, service or other achievements.
On his visit to the Statehouse, Söder got to hold the House mace (the real one), and he gifted House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, a stein from the famous Bavarian Hofbräuhaus brewery.
Germany is South Carolina’s top export partner with $5.1 billion in sales revenue, a 3.5% year-over-year increase, according to the commerce department.
Notebook highlights:
- Name, image and likeness revenue-sharing legislation in play after Senate overrides governor's veto
- Legislation over federal immigration efforts clears the House. It was not the only bill the chamber passed
- How the war in Iran is affecting South Carolina's port, and other challenges outlined by the new president and CEO
- Four of seven GOP candidates for governor met on the debate stage for the first time
Colleges can keep contracts with athletes secret
South Carolina senators on Wednesday voted to override Gov. Henry McMaster's veto of legislation that shields college and university name, image and likeness and revenue-sharing contracts with athletes from public disclosure.
The Senate voted 30-12, joining House action last month, which now makes H. 4902 law.
The override is a major win for South Carolina's colleges and universities — in particular the University of South Carolina, Clemson University and Coastal Carolina University — which for months lobbied lawmakers to make the contracts private.
"If we don’t override, in-state schools will be put at a competitive disadvantage compared to out-of-state peers," Sen. Tom Young, R-Aiken, told his colleagues Wednesday as he asked them to override the governor's first veto of the year.
McMaster vetoed the bill back in March, saying he could not sign the legislation because it "presents a conflict between serious concerns and a clear principle."
Though McMaster said the exemption for specific athletes has "merits," the law's additional shielding of how much individual college programs get he said does not.
"In the one hand are privacy rights of student-athletes and the competitive interests of our state's collegiate athletic teams," he said. "On the other hand is the right of the people to know how public funds are being spent. Both sides offer compelling considerations."
A number of senators who agreed with the governor's veto ultimately voted to pass the bill Wednesday. A few told SC Public Radio they were ultimately swayed by one of a few factors:
- A possible NCAA effort requiring colleges and universities in the future to disclose payments to individual programs as part of their yearly financial disclosures
- A proviso budget attachment that senators plan to affix to their version of the state budget this month that would further expand the prohibition of public dollars to NIL from going to revenue-sharing contracts
- Staring down the fact that South Carolina would be an exception to states that bar disclosure of revenue-sharing contracts
Read more:
- SC Daily Gazette: SC colleges don’t have to disclose payments to athletes — for now
- Post and Courier: SC law now says college athletes’ pay is a secret as legislature overrides governor’s veto
- The State: USC, Clemson win fight to keep NIL revenue-sharing contracts, sports split from public
What's next for the Senate?
The Senate is off Thursday, and is off the floor all next week.
When they return, senators plan to regroup over two bills:
- S. 508, sponsored by Sen. Danny Verdin, R-Laurens, which partly prohibits the removal, disturbance, alteration or relocation of certain monuments and memorials, expanding on the 2000 Heritage Act law. The legislation was moved to a final third reading with all amendments carried over, meaning if it passes it won't require an additional vote
- S. 76, sponsored by former solicitor and Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, seeks to tackles criminal gang activity and offenses, while also creating new penalties under a new anti-racketeering act, or RICO
House OKs bill enforcing immigration enforcement
The Republican-controlled House on Wednesday passed legislation requiring local governments that run detention centers help enforce federal immigration law.
The bill — H. 4764, sponsored by Rep. Travis Moore, R-Spartanburg — passed the lower chamber 85-30 along political party lines.
Moore's proposal comes as Congress battles over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the agency over the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
The same day Moore's bill passed, U.S. House and Senate Republican leaders announced a deal to fully fund DHS, seeking an end to a partial government shutdown.
Moore's legislation requires that any law enforcement department which runs a jail is required to partner with federal immigration agencies to join ICE's 287(g) program, which delegates certain immigration enforcement to state and local law enforcement agencies.
Moore told colleagues the legislation would allow law enforcement officials to administer warrants within detention centers "where everybody is safe," he said, rather than doing it out in the community.
Democrats unsuccessfully tried to alter the bill Wednesday, including adding an amendment that would have sought to require law enforcement to issue warrants away from hospitals, child care facilities and places of worship.
What else did the House do?
- In a 106-2 vote, the House passed H. 3034, sponsored by Rep. Neal Collins, R-Pickens — the "Fargo's, Hyco's, Rico's, Coba's, Wick's, and Mikka's (and now) Bumi's Law" — which would increase penalties for anyone who taunts, torments, teases, beats, assaults, or uses a desensitizing drug of some kind on a dog or horse used by a law enforcement department
- In a 96-17 vote, the House passed an expansive H. 4817, sponsored by Rep. Gary Brewer, R-Charleston, which partly seeks to increase oversight over insurance fraud, and create penalties for violations of policyholder protections
Port of call
Micah Mallace, the South Carolina Ports Authority president and CEO, gave his first ports report to the Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday.
Mallace, who is about six months into the job, said supply chain and logistics, plus a global freight recession and tariffs, continue to be challenges.
“We have seen those challenges realized in our financial and volume results,” Mallace said Wednesday. “We have to reset. We have to think about things differently.”
To trim labor costs, Mallace said the port has begun offering early retirement packages to some employees.
The ongoing war in Iran and diesel prices, he said, have also squeezed the industry, posing a global problem if the Strait of Hormuz in Iran remains closed.
“We see a need to address costs. And, candidly, the war in the Middle East is not a major risk for us on the volume side — it’s much more of an issue for us on the cost side,” Mallace said. “Fuel is a major component of transportation spend.”
Meanwhile, the Ports Authority is still negotiating with railroad operators CSX and Norfolk Southern as it relates to the Navy Base Intermodal Facility railyard project near the Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston.
“We need a modern rail facility in order to ensure the 25% to 27% of our business remains competitive," he said. "Regional expansion of our business is needed to continue to generate more income for the ports.”
4 GOP gov hopefuls meet in first debate
There are fewer than 70 days until South Carolina's June 9 statewide primaries.
Of the seven Republican candidates vying for the party's nomination for governor, four took the debate stage for the very first time after months of squabbles over social media.
With nearly 400 people in attendance, it was a quick one-hour debate at the Newberry Opera House, where candidates got a mere 45 seconds to answer questions about why they were more fit to be governor.
For the most part, the gloves tended to stay on.
Topics ranged from issues most important to South Carolinians, like affordability, and included gun safety measures, the war in Iran and where to cut government — an area all four candidates who've held public office for years seemed to agree on.
Candidates were also asked about gambling in South Carolina, one particular topic that separated the hopefuls from one another.
Fifth District Congressman Ralph Norman and Attorney General Alan Wilson told moderators they strongly opposed any casinos.
State Sen. Josh Kimbrell of Spartanburg County and 1st District Congresswoman Nancy Mace left some wiggle room, as Kimbrell said there is a way to do it as long as South Carolina does not become an "Atlantic City."
Mace said she would back the will of voters, floating the idea of putting gambling measures to a referendum vote.
Three of four candidates took the spin room after. Here's what they said:
- Kimbrell: "Tonight was a great equalizer, everybody gets to talk about their issues. You get to talk about what you’ve done, what will you do, and I think I made pretty clear tonight I know what I’m doing and I’ve done it.”
- Mace: “I think you’ve seen the gloves come off for the people fighting for second right now. There’s not a need for us to do that. I want to be very policy driven and substantive right now, and show people not only what I believe in but how I would implement it as well.”
- Wilson: The strategy "was to come here tonight to talk to the people of South Carolina about my vision for our state, and that’s what I was there to do. I also had a little bit of respect for the people on that stage. They actually bothered to show up. So, I felt like this was an opportunity to be positive about our vision for South Carolina.”
Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Lowcountry millionaire Rom Reddy have both said they plan to participate in the second GOP debate, scheduled for April 21 at the College of Charleston.
State GOP Chairman Drew McKissick said the party’s debate committee will reevaluate qualifications going forward after waiving them for the first debate, a move that could likely shut out a relatively unknown candidate for governor, Jacqueline Hicks DuBose.
“Just like any other events we do around the state we have sponsors. The only thing the candidates need to be concerned about is you have hundreds of thousands of potential primary voters watching at home,” McKissick said. “Those are the people they need to be thinking about.”
All candidates agreed to support the eventual nominee — with no real front runner so far and 30% of undecided voters — which could ultimately be decided at the June 23 runoff
Read more:
- Post and Courier: First Republican debate for SC governor was peaceful – mostly, hitting on gambling, the Middle East
- The State: 45 second sound bites and other takeaways from 1st SC GOP governor’s TV debate
- SC Daily Gazette: 4 candidates for SC governor keep it civil, disagree on gambling at first SC GOP debate
- WIS: Four out of six Republican candidates face off in first South Carolina gubernatorial debate
- WACH: S.C. GOP governor debate stays calm, with tax cuts and affordability dominating
Statehouse daily planner (4/2)
SC House
- 8:30 a.m. — Blatt 427 — House Regulations, Administrative Procedures, Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Health and Healthcare Industries Subcommittee
Agenda
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only - 9 a.m. — Blatt 516 — Judiciary Criminal Laws Subcommittee on 3047, 3597, 4816, 5288, 5401
Agenda
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only - 9 a.m. — Blatt 110 — Judiciary Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Special Laws Subcommittee on 4540, 4622
Agenda
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only - 9 a.m. — Blatt 409 — Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee
Agenda
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only - 9 a.m. — Blatt 403 — Labor, Industry and Commerce Committee
Agenda
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only - 9 a.m. — Blatt 433 — Education and Public Works Committee
Agenda
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only - 10 a.m. — House in session
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only - After the House adjourns — Blatt 516 — Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee on 4641
Agenda
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only
SC Senate
- 10 a.m. — Gressette 308 — Natural Resources and Economic Development Subcommittee
Agenda
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only
SC governor
- 10 a.m. — Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette to participate in the Child Abuse Prevention Month press conference at the Statehouse
Statehouse clips from around the state
- SC lawmakers float more than $25k pay raise for themselves. Here’s why (The State)
- SC Lottery seeks vending machines to boost ticket sales (SC Daily Gazette)
- South Carolina lawmakers debate sweeping DUI reform bill (WIS)
- SC health official who led public response to COVID, measles retires (Greenville News)
- Unprofitable majors could be on chopping block at SC’s public colleges. Here’s why (The State)
- Dominion Energy customers oppose proposed 11% rate hike at first public hearing (WCIV)
- Sen. Graham campaigns in Aiken, says he'll fund DHS and ICE for 10 years (Aiken Standard)
- SC cuts taxes. Here’s a look at what changes will impact your pocket book (The State)
- Rural transportation bill easily passes S.C. House; Senate fate uncertain (The Nerve)
- SC gov’s race goes on the air. Here’s how much GOP hopefuls are spending on TV (The State)
- SC justices question whether death row inmate faked IQ results (SC Daily Gazette)
