News From South Carolina

The State House Gavel: House opens door to consider redistricting, adds $300M to earmark budget list

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,

Published May 7, 2026 at 6:08 AM EDT

S.C. Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg, speaks against the Republican redistricting effort in the House chamber at the South Carolina Statehouse on May 6, 2026.

It's Thursday, May 6.

The House will gavel in at 10 a.m. The Senate returns at 11 a.m.

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.

Poll workers wanted: Staring down the upcoming June 9 statewide primary elections, the State Election Commission is looking for more people to serve as poll workers across the state as several counties have reported shortages. With compensation, poll worker responsibilities would include checking in voters, helping with ballot procedures and ensuring polling precincts run smoothly.

"Without poll workers, elections in South Carolina simply could not happen," State Election Commission Director Conway Belangia said. "They are essential to making sure every voter has the opportunity to cast a fair, safe and secure ballot."

Interested in the job? Click here.

Notebook highlights:

Republican legislators officially open the door to start redistricting
Millions of dollars added to state budget for lawmaker earmarks as House adds measures to raise pay and reinstate free student breakfasts. Plus, what to expect in both chambers Thursday
State lawmaker bids farewell to the legislature before sine die

Reporters Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson, host of This Week in South Carolina and the SC Lede podcast.

Lawmakers could consider map redraw

The South Carolina House has officially started the consideration of whether to undergo mid-decade redistricting in response to the U.S Supreme Court’s decision that threw out Louisiana’s House map as pressure mounts from the White House.

Late Wednesday, the House voted 87-25 by party lines to advance a sine die resolution that now includes redistricting, further opening the door for the legislature to redraw the state's congressional map after session ends May 14.

The Senate must also OK this change with a two-thirds vote in the Republican-controlled chamber, expected to occur as early as today.

Republican Statehouse leaders have stressed this does not guarantee the legislature will redraw the map that currently favors the GOP 6-1, with the lone Democratic-leaning district represented by longtime Congressman Jim Clyburn.

It simply starts the process, House leaders repeated Wednesday.

House Democrats unsuccessfully tried to stop and delay passage of the resolution that dictates what the General Assembly can do, and when it does it, when lawmakers return after session ends next week.

South Carolina’s map was upheld by the state Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court as a "partisan gerrymander," allowed under the Constitution, which doesn’t require lawmakers to act, said House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford.

"This is what some are choosing to do, maybe the majority, but it is not required that we do this," the Richland Democrat said.

The House has already scheduled a Judiciary Committee hearing for Friday morning that includes the redistricting discussion.

Judiciary Chairman Weston Newton, R-Beaufort, told reporters after the vote there was no reason to delay starting the process "with a handful of days left, with or without sine die."

State Rep. Micah Caskey, a Lexington Republican and chairman of the House Rules Committee who presented the resolution to the chamber, said he has not seen a map in an official capacity.

Neither have other House leaders, who added that if they do redraw, congressional primary elections alone may have to be delayed.

The proposed budget now also includes $1 million for each legislative chamber to cover any redistricting-related litigation.

"The South Carolina primary is only three weeks away. More than 5,000 absentee ballots have already been mailed, and ballots are being returned daily," Christale Spain, chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, said in part of her statement in response to the House vote. "This decision is reckless, irresponsible, and undermines voter confidence and harms every voter in South Carolina, regardless of party."

Now, all eyes on the Senate.

Read more:

Post and Courier: SC House Republicans vote to consider congressional redistricting after Trump White House pressure
The State: Court ruling, Trump influence makes SC House want to begin redrawing congressional maps
WIS: South Carolina lawmakers debate option to revisit Congressional maps
SC Daily Gazette: SC House advances efforts to redraw the state’s congressional districts
AP: Southern Republicans press ahead with election-year redistricting of US House despite protests
WLTX: South Carolina House approves proposal that could allow congressional redistricting special session
Greenville News: South Carolina legislature could extend session to redraw voting map

House amends budget with earmarks, new spending

The House further tweaked the $15 billion state spending plan on Wednesday that now includes about $300 million in earmarks and revisions to what the Senate passed in April.

You can find the full amendment here.

Earmarks, or what legislators call "community investments," are otherwise explained as district-specific projects. The millions added by the House come on top of the more than $100 million in proposed earmarks added by the Senate.

House earmarks include:

$2 million requested by Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland, for neighborhood revitalization in Columbia
$5 million requested by Rep. Jeff Bradley, R-Beaufort, for an AI Innovation Institute at the University of South Carolina Beaufort
$750,000 requested by Rep. Dennis Moss, R-Cherokee, for DMV volunteer fire department in Cherokee County
$2.5 million requested by House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, for terminal work at the Sumter County airport
$1 million requested by Rep. Spencer Wetmore, D-Charleston, for safety road improvements to Secessionville Road in the city of Charleston
More than $1.4 million requested by Rep. Fawn Pedalino, R-Clarendon, for law enforcement in the city of Manning of Clarendon County
Nearly $8 million requested by a handful of Republican legislators for the Medal of Honor Museum at Patriot's Point
$5 million requested by a bipartisan trio of Midlands-area legislators for the Congaree Riverfront District project
$3.3 million requested by Rep. Chanda Dillard, D-Greenville, for orangutan exhibit enhancements at the Greenville Zoo
$5.2 million requested by Rep. Phillip Lowe, R-Florence, for water and sewer infrastructure in the city of Florence

What also got added to the budget?

A proposal passed 62-42 to raise legislators' in-district pay to $2,500 per month, starting Dec. 1. The measure — it was proposed by House budget Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, and House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland — mirrors language the Senate added to its version of the budget, likely locking it in place. There's also separate Senate legislation to raise lawmakers' overall pay, up for debate in the House Ways and Means Committee Thursday
In an 89-13 vote, the House added a measure proposed by Greenville Republican Rep. Patrick Haddon that would reinstate language to offer every public school student free breakfast at no cost
A proposal pushed by Rep. Micah Caskey, R-Lexington, allowing the state to hire a third-party firm to help with monitoring compliance with recommendations over the AlixPartners forensic accounting report connected to the investigation into the $1.8 billion accounting error
A measure to audit the Greenville Sanitation Commission was attached to the budget in a unanimous 114-0 vote. It was sponsored by Rep. David Vaughan, R-Greenville
A measure proposed by Horry County Republican Rep. Tim McGinnis, R-Horry, that allows retired school bus drivers to return to work without it affecting their monthly retirement allowance
Proposed by a trio of House Republican members, the House added a measure to the budget that would require the public health department to spend up to $7.5 million to start and administer a statewide firefighter occupational health program for cancer screenings, working with the Office of the State Fire Marshal

What did not get added to the budget?

A proposal requested by Spartanburg Republican Rep. Steven Long to add accountability measures over students classified by the Department of Education as "unbundlers," or students who receive schooling at home and get stipends through the state's Education Scholarship Trust Fund
Proposed by Rep. Hamilton Grant, the House refused in a 24-50 vote to add a measure that would have allowed the Department of Transportation to study the impacts of delayed construction projects on businesses — what the Richland Democrat has repeatedly stressed has occurred over the Hardscrabble Road in northeast Columbia improvement project
A measure proposed by House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, that would have created a South Carolina-Bahamas Trade Commission
Proposed by York Republican Rep. David Martin, a measure to prohibit dollars for the Department of Environmental Services to be used to issue permits, approvals or to enter into consent orders that would allow manufacturers of solar panel materials on property adjacent to a public school — another issue that has been personal to York legislators over the Silfab site
By a 35-70 vote, the House rejected a measure proposed by Berkeley Republican Rep. Jordan Pace that sought to reduce the salary for an interim agency head to $1 if they were not confirmed by the Senate, a measure targeted at Department of Public Health Interim Director Dr. Ed Simmer
The House rejected a request by Spartanburg Republican Rep. Josiah Magnuson to suspend the state's gas tax from July 1, the start of the new fiscal year, until Aug. 1, or for 30 days. House budget Chair Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, said the tax generates around $80 million a month, and around 30% of the tax is also paid for by out-of-state visitors

The budget will now go to a conference committee of six legislators — three from the House and three from the Senate — to negotiate the differences after the Senate quickly rejected the House changes on Wednesday.

Here are other legislative takeaways from Wednesday.

We'll start with the House:

The House put S. 508, legislation sponsored by Laurens Republican Rep. Danny Verdin that would further expand the 2000 Heritage Act law that protects monuments, statutes and other war-related memorials on the contested calendar, setting the bill up for a lengthy debate in the coming days
In a 93-18 vote, the House passed S. 812, sponsored by Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Horry, which allows bicyclists to ride through an intersection at a red light as long as they make a complete stop first and yield to oncoming traffic
The House voted 116-2 to agree with Senate changes over Pickens Republican Rep. Neal Collins's bill H. 3034 that would increase penalties for hurting, killing, taunting or tormenting police dogs or horses. The bill now heads to the governor's desk for his signature
Three House members have been named conferees to negotiate for the chamber over S. 831, legislation sponsored by Senate Transportation Chair Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, that would largely reorganize state transportation department operations and seek to ease congestion and speed up infrastructure projects. The House conferees will be Republicans Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister of Greenville, House Education and Public Works Chairwoman Shannon Erickson of Beaufort and Rep. Gary Brewery of Charleston. No Democrat will sit on the conference committee on behalf of the House. The Senate conferees are Grooms, Dorchester Republican Sen. Sean Bennett, and Sen. Overture Walker, a Richland Democrat

Now onto the Senate:

The Senate amended H. 5006, legislation to allow small businesses to exempt up to $10,000 of personal property from taxes, to add the upper chamber’s expanded homestead exemption property tax expansion proposal for primary homes for anyone 65 and older. The $247 million expansion was not part of the original House budget and was removed from the Senate version on Wednesday by the House, which has also refused to move on the standalone bill. The Senate gave the bill a perfunctory second reading, with the ability to amend it on third
Without any debate, the Senate voted 28-12 to pass the high school sports league reorganization legislation, H. 4163, sponsored by House Education and Public Works Chair Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort. The amended bill will now go back to the House
The Senate passed H. 3021 — small business regulations legislation sponsored by Rep. Jeff Bradley, R-Beaufort, and identified a priority by House Speaker Murrell Smith R-Sumter — in a unanimous 40-0 vote. The amended legislation now goes back to the House
The Senate also pulled Lexington Republican Rep. Jay Kilmartin's bill — H. 4042, a proposal to make ivermectin available over the counter — out of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee and moved it to the Senate calendar.

Read more:

SC Daily Gazette: SC House agrees to legislative pay raises in second draft of $15.3B budget

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, in the House chamber at the South Carolina Statehouse on May 5, 2026.

Farewells begin

State Rep. Jermaine Johnson bid farewell (just by speech) to the lower chamber on Wednesday as the Richland Democrat will turn his focus to running for the Democratic nomination for governor after session ends May 14.

Johnson's term doesn't end until the new House is sworn in.

The 40-year-old was first elected in 2020 after beating the late longtime Democratic Rep. Jimmy Bales to represent the Richland County district that stretches into part of Kershaw County.

You can listen to Johnson's full speech below:

S.C. Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, gives farewell speech to the House 5.6.26