Your SC politics briefing
Welcome to your weekly South Carolina politics briefing, a newsletter curated by The State’s politics and government team.
The South Carolina House starts its budget debate Monday afternoon, expected to stretch into several days and nights.
In the past couple of years, budget deliberations on the floor have gone pretty smooth but with a vastly different looking chamber as opposed to previous years, leaders say they expect a longer floor debate.
Here’s a snapshot of what the House is expected to pass:
▪ $261 million to increase the state starting pay for kindergarten through 12th grade teachers by $2,500 to $42,500. Each cell in the state’s minimum salary schedule would increase by $2,500
▪ $200 million for SC Department of Transportation to accelerate bridge repair work
▪ $196 million more for Medicaid and Medicare costs
▪ $124 million to provide a $2,500 raise to state employees earning $83,000 or less. Those earning more than $83,000 would receive a 3% raise
▪ $69 million for tuition mitigation to freeze tuition rates for in-state students at state colleges and universities
▪ $25 million on state park development, upgrades and maintenance
Right before the budget debate, on Thursday the House voted 96-12 to spend $1.3 billion to cover costs associated with the electric vehicle Scout plant planned for Blythewood. The Senate has a separate proposal they’re looking at.
Scout’s $2 billion investment in Richland County is expected to bring 4,000 jobs to the area.
State commerce leaders promised Scout the state would spend $1.3 billion for the Volkswagen subsidiary that will relaunch a brand made famous by International Harvester. The state package will cover construction of a railway bridge over I-77 to the Blythewood industrial park site, an interchange, additional road and electrical work, and water and sewer infrastructure.
The money will come from surplus cash already on hand from past budget years, ensuring the state won’t have to borrow.
Scout is also getting a $400 million grant from the state to help with construction and a $200 million loan for soil stabilization.
“It’s transformational and generational,” said budget Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville. “It will bring economic growth and prosperity to the Midlands. It will have a momentous economic impact throughout the state for generations to come.”
Read more: The Scout electric vehicle plant in the Midlands will hire 4,000 workers. Where will they come from?
(Photo via Scout)
House gives hate crimes bill another try
House lawmakers again passed hate crimes legislation which will tack on additional penalties against anyone who commits a violent crime against a person based on their race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability.
South Carolina and Wyoming are the only two states without a hate crimes law.
You may remember the House passed a similar bill two years but it was held up in the Senate and died when the last general assembly adjourned.
After Wednesday’s vote, Democrats spearheading the bill spoke at a lectern with the sign “Tell your senator: Pass the Hate Crimes Bill.”
“This bill will tell the state and the world that we are one in South Carolina,” said state Rep. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston. “We stand for progress and unity, and we are here today to encourage everybody to contact their state senator and ask them to support the hate crime bill.”
(Photo via Javon Harris)
Buzz Bites
▪ Stephen Byrne, the final former SCANA executive involved in VC Summer nuclear fiasco, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and given a $200,000 fine.
▪ Some additional film cameras were around the State House this week. Filmmaker Emily Harrold, an Orangeburg native, is making a documentary on the state’s five female state senators. Harrold’s last film was “In the Bubble with Jaime” and was about Jaime Harrison’s 2020 US Senate campaign.
▪ Greenville Mayor Knox White says he will run for an eighth term, the Greenville News reports.
▪ Rusting equipment and an insect nest were found during inspection of Eastover’s drinking water system.
▪ Michael B. Moore, a descendant of Robert Smalls and founding president and CEO of the International African American Museum in Charleston, says he will run as a Democrat for the 1st Congressional District, the Post and Courier reports.
▪ A year after the state approved pay raises for South Carolina law enforcement officers, local law enforcement agencies responded by hiking their pay, too, forcing House budget writers to look at pay again this year.
▪ Gov. Henry McMaster said the General Assembly should resist the urge to impeach Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom who has been under scrutiny since acknowledging his office made a $3.5 billion accounting error.
▪ McMaster nominated William H. Floyd, a former labor and employment law attorney, as the next executive director Department of Employment and Workforce. Floyd served as former executive director Dan Ellzey’s chief of staff.
(Photo by Joseph Bustos)
2024 Bites
▪ McClatchyDC: Nikki Haley or Tim Scott? South Carolina GOP braces for 2024 primary with two home state candidates
▪ KMTV: Nikki Haley draws large crowd at early campaign stop in Council Bluffs
▪ Des Moines Register: Iowa Poll: Donald Trump’s Republican support erodes in Iowa, even as many remain committed
▪ McClatchyDC: Chants of ‘Trump 2024’ greet former SC Gov. Nikki Haley at conservative gathering
(Photo via AP)
Mark your calendar
March 13
SC House begins budget debate, 1 p.m.
March 14
SC Senate panel to discuss anti-CRT bill, 9:30 a.m.
SC Senate Finance panel to discuss funding for ports, Santee Cooper, 3 p.m.
March 15
SC Senate panel to start talks on S. 399, breaking up DHEC, 10:30 a.m.
March 18
Palmetto Family Council holds presidential forum in North Charleston
March 20-24
SC House on furlough
March 22
SC Senate panel discusses S. 126, charter school accountability act, 10 a.m.
April 10-14
SC House goes on furlough
April 18
Income tax filing deadline
April 29
SC Democratic Party holds state convention in Columbia at fairgrounds
(Photo via Travis Bell)
Before we adjourn
Will the real freedom caucus please stand up.
This week, a Democratic trio in the SC House formed the Freedom Caucus of South Carolina in response to the ultra-conservative South Carolina Freedom Caucus. Confused yet?
House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, Assistant Minority Leader Roger Kirby and Rep. Deon Tedder announced the formation of the new group that they say will try to combat their Republican counterparts.
“What they did is pretend to operate under its rubric and do so under what we believe is a false narrative. What we did is we have stolen that banner back and we intend to make sure government is not intervening in people’s lives and taking away the freedom and liberties people have,” Rutherford said.
The Freedom Caucus of South Carolina site says it plans to fight for personal freedoms and stop government overreach.
The 20 or so Republicans in the other group were not amused.
“This is nothing more than an attempt to confuse voters,” House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Adam Morgan. “It’s the height of irony that it’s the most liberal members of the House. ... This is just a probably an attempt from leadership or their ruling coalition to try to confuse and misinformed voters and it’s unfortunate.”
(Photo via Maayan Schechter)
Pulling the newsletter together this week was Joseph Bustos, reporter on The State’s politics and state government team. You can keep up with him on Twitter and send him tips on Twitter at @JoeBReporter or by email jbustos@thestate.com.
To stay on top of South Carolina politics and election news, you can chat with us on Facebook, email us tips and follow our stories at scpolitics.com.
