By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | South Carolina state revenue forecasters predicted Aug. 31 that the state’s income for the current fiscal year will shrink by 3 percent from 2019-2020 levels.
The Board of Economic Advisers met Monday to discuss what the 2020-2021 year, which began July 1, will look like for the state. Lawmakers this week started drafting a later-than-usual budget amid the coronavirus pandemic in the Senate Finance Committee.
Gross general fund revenue was $9.793 billion for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. State revenue forecasters say 2020-2021 could see gross general fund revenue at $9.5 billion — a 3 percent decrease in the budget, or $293 million. That puts spending potential at about the 2018-2019 spending levels.
Among revenues expected to fall:
- Corporation income tax, by 11.2 percent;
- Corporation license tax, by 18.1 percent; and,
- Earned on investments, by 42.7 percent.
- Related: House Ways and Means to meet Sept. 11 on budget. Frank Rainwater, executive director of Revenue and Fiscal Affairs, will speak to the House Ways and Means Committee Sept. 11. The agenda has not yet been posted.
In other recent news:
State agency surpluses grow. State Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom has reported $623.5 million in total general-fund surpluses among state agencies and several major state accounts at the end of fiscal 2019-20. Read more.
State to be paid $600M in deal to remove plutonium. Officials with the U.S. Department of Energy signed a $600 million settlement with South Carolina this week over storage of plutonium at a former nuclear weapons plant near Aiken. Read more.
Senate approves no-excuse absentee voting. State senators approved Wednesday a measure that will allow all state voters to cast absentee ballots because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill passed unanimously but the ballots will still have to be mailed or dropped off at voting offices. The House now must pass the bill before it heads to the governor’s desk. The House is expected to take up the bill later in the month.
House panel to talk flood buyout program. The House Ways and Means’ Economic Development Legislative subcommittee convenes 10:30 a.m. Sept. 8 virtually to discuss Senate Bill 259, establishing the South Carolina Resilience Revolving Fund. The bill passed the Senate March 20. Last week, lead sponsor Murrells Inlet Republican Sen. Stephen Goldfinch told Statehouse Report that House members should act since flooding presents a big and recurring economic problem in the state. See agenda here.
Governors’ political party biggest indicator of statewide mask mandate. A study found that a governor’s political party was the biggest determinant of whether a state imposed a mask mandate between early April and mid-August in response to the coronavirus pandemic with Republican governors most likely to resist statewide mandates. A governor’s political party was a better determinant of a state’s mask mandate more so that a state’s number of coronavirus infections or deaths linked to the disease caused by the virus, according to the report. Read more.
-
- Related: DHEC to release school COVID cases twice weekly. The S.C. Department of Environmental Control announced this week that it will give school-by-school updates on positive coronavirus cases on Tuesdays and Fridays. The twice-weekly reports begin today. Read more.
House ad hoc committee on CARES Act meets Sept. 9. The House Ways and Means’ CARES Act Ad Hoc Committee will meet virtually 2 p.m. Sept. 9 to discuss how the state is spending federal coronavirus aid money and what other needs it has. See agenda here.
Clock ticking on getting counted. The 2020 Census is facing unprecedented challenges in counting people — some of whom have been displaced in the pandemic and other natural disasters. The count is set to end Sept. 30. Then, the Census Bureau has three months to process the nation’s information before completing its report, meaning some quality checks could be trimmed or tossed out. Read more. Haven’t completed the census yet? Or want to share the link with others? Click here.
Internet mapping effort underway. In the effort to expand internet connectivity in the state, the S.C, Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) has requested all broadband service providers and broadband infrastructure owners operating in South Carolina to submit data and information on the availability of broadband service at delivered download and upload speeds and by technology type for each address in the state serviceable by the broadband service provider or infrastructure owner. Information will be used to accurately map internet connections in the state. It is due to the ORS by Sept. 25. Maps of internet connections in South Carolina have been a part of the Palmetto Care Connections in 2019, and are available here.
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!