- BIG STORY: Big issues unresolved with few days left in session
- MORE NEWS: Pay raise overshadows Senate budget items
- LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: What strategy?
- BRACK: Stop shooting U.S. in feet on trade
- MYSTERY PHOTO: Rural scene
- FEEDBACK: You’re stretching the truth
Big issues unresolved with few days left in session
By Jack O’Toole, Capital Bureau | As the 2025 legislative session barrels toward its May 8 close, people on both sides of the political aisle can point to progress, setbacks and issues where the jury is still out.
“Overall, I think we still see a lot of potential,” said Sam Aaron, research director at the conservative-leaning S.C. Policy Council. “A lot of things are still up in the air.”
On the plus side, in his view, are bills to provide private school vouchers, lower the state’s top tax rate and zero-out earmarks in this year’s budget, all of which appear to be headed toward final passage. The major remaining question, he says, is how legislators will resolve differences on the push to lower sky-high liquor liability premiums for bar and restaurant owners.
Will they settle on a narrow bill aimed squarely at the problem of liquor liability, as favored by the S.C. House — or will they opt for a broader lawsuit reform bill championed by Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey (R-Edgefield)? Or worse, will they stand by as the whole effort collapses amid finger-pointing and bitter recriminations?
“That’s the one I’m most curious to see,” Aaron said. “We know that across the state, bars and restaurants are shutting down at an alarming rate. And if they don’t find a way to get something done in the final weeks, those people are just going to be left out in the cold for another year.”
Less enamored of the top-rate tax cuts, school vouchers and general rightward drift of the 2025 session is Lynn Teague of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of South Carolina.
“There have been some positive developments this session,” she said. “But the overall direction has been disturbing.”
In particular, she said in an April 21 interview, the league is concerned about the impact of a bill that would tear down any vestige of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the state.
“We’re concerned about the anti-DEI push that discourages teachers and businesses from doing what they should do — which is not to give someone an advantage because of their identity, but to give them an equal playing field,” Teague said.
But beyond any single bill, what she’s found especially noteworthy about the session is the impact of expanded GOP supermajorities on the culture of the institution.
“With a supermajority in both houses, some legislators who aren’t wildly supportive of some of the more extreme bills feel they’re under more pressure to put them through,” Teague said. “And that’s unfortunate.”
2025 bills, passed and pending
With the clock ticking, legislators are set to meet three days a week through session’s end on May 8. Here’s a look at some of what they’ve accomplished — and what they’re still trying to get done.
The 2025-26 state budget (H. 4025): With the S.C. House and Senate now having passed broadly similar budget plans that cut the state’s top income tax rate from 6.2% to 6%, raise teacher pay by $1,500 and increase spending on roads and bridges, the two bodies will have to negotiate the relatively minor differences between the two bills prior to adjournment. Among those differences: increases in state employee health insurance premiums, in-state college tuition under the House plan and an $18,000 pay raise for lawmakers in the Senate’s version.
Private school vouchers (S. 62): After watching voucher initiatives get struck down twice in recent years by the S.C. Supreme Court, lawmakers say they’ve cracked the code this time. Under a House-Senate compromise announced this month, the program would provide up to 15,000 students with a $7,500 voucher for school-related expenses, including private school tuition.
Hands-free driving (H. 3276): Faced with the loss of $50 million in federal highway funds, the House passed a hands-free driving bill that requires motorists to put down the mobile phone and focus on the road ahead. The bill is now in the Senate, where it’s expected to pass easily. Currently, S.C. is one of only two states that allows motorists to use a cell phone with their hands while driving.
Energy (H. 3309): The S.C. House energy bill, a version of which died in the Senate last year without a vote, this year expands fossil fuel power by allowing a new natural gas plant partnership between Dominion Energy and state-owned Santee Cooper. But with removal or change to provisions limiting regulatory oversight of the state’s utilities, consumer advocates eased opposition and the bill is expected to reach the governor’s desk by the time the session ends.
DEI ban (H. 3927): With strong encouragement from the Trump administration in Washington, the House passed a broad ban on DEI initiatives in government and education. Supporters say the bill would end unfair and discriminatory racial practices. Opponents say it outlaws programs designed specifically to redress those wrongs. The bill is currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Hate crimes (H. 3039): Passed by the House last year only to die without a vote in the Senate, the Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act is once again up in the air as the session moves to an end. Introduced after the 2015 Emanuel AME Church murders in Charleston, the bill would stiffen penalties for crimes motivated by hate. Related bills to close the Charleston Loophole that allowed the Emanuel killer to buy the gun due to a paperwork delay are again stalled in House and Senate committees. South Carolina is one of two states without a hate crimes law.
Liquor liability/tort reform (H. 4087): Whether lawmakers can settle very different approaches by May 8 is one of the key questions remaining in the session. Also at stake are moves to strengthen the state’s notoriously weak DUI laws, which many argue are a major contributing factor in the liability cost crisis.
Health agency consolidation (S. 2): After dying dramatically when a small group of opponents raised a technical objection in the final moments of the 2024 session, a bill to consolidate the state’s behavioral health agencies has passed both chambers and is expected to be signed by Gov. Henry McMaster. It was written in response to numerous state behavioral health scandals and an outside study that found S.C. has the least coordinated behavioral health system in the nation.
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Pay raise overshadows Senate budget items
By Jack O’Toole, Capitol Bureau | The S.C. Senate on April 23 passed its version of the 2025-26 state budget, a $14.4 billion spending blueprint chock full of popular line items like income tax cuts, teacher pay increases and new money for roads and bridges.
But it was the $18,000-a-year raise senators gave themselves that got all the attention — and the social media blowback. Lawmakers currently earn $10,400 a year salary plus district expenses.
“[This pay raise] sends the wrong message while families across our state are still struggling with inflation and the cost of living,” said Sen. Tom Fernandez (R-Dorchester), one of two no votes on the budget, in a widely shared April 24 social media post. “Leadership should come with sacrifice, not self-reward.”
Popular Palmetto State conservative influencers were quick to pile on.
“South Carolina lawmakers currently make between $34,000 and $38,000 a year … for a job that requires them to show up 51 out of 365 days,” conservative blogger Will Folks said in a video post. “And now they want us, the taxpayers, to pay more for them to profit from those positions of power?”
Nevertheless, supporters like Sen. Shane Martin (R-Spartanburg) argue that lawmakers, who haven’t seen a pay raise in 30 years, are overdue for a cost-of-living adjustment.
“We all know that we’ve been dealing with things in the budget to help other people deal with inflation,” Martin told his colleagues during the budget debate. “I think it’s time we take care and make sure the people who are elected to serve as elected representatives … keep up with our expenses.”
The 2025-26 budget will now move back to the S.C. House, which passed a broadly similar spending plan in March. Among the differences House and Senate negotiators will have to work out before the session comes to a close in May: increases in state employee health insurance premiums and in-state college tuitions under the House plan, which senators voted to freeze at current levels instead.
But Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler says he’s not expecting a difficult negotiation.
“I’m sure they’ll find something in the House that they don’t agree with, but it [the Senate version] funds core functions of government [and] has the 6% income tax level that we were working for,” Peeler told reporters after the Senate vote. “Overall, it’s a good budget.”
Regarding the pay raise amendment, which he voted against, Peeler remained skeptical but measured.
“I just didn’t personally feel like I needed to do that, but each senator voted their conscience,” he said. “Everyone had their say.”
In other recent news
S.C. Senate votes to remove Loftis over $1.8B accounting error. South Carolina’s Republican-dominated Senate voted 33-8 on Monday to kick Republican state Treasurer Curtis Loftis out of office over a $1.8 billion accounting error that threatens the state’s financial rating.
State Republicans revive plans to cut taxes for wealthy. Statehouse Republicans are reviving a contentious proposal to advance some form of income tax reform by the end of the 2025 legislative session that state fiscal analysts say would slash taxes for the wealthy while low- and middle-class earners would see increases.
S.C. Senate vote on private school vouchers again delayed as time dwindles. Time is running out this year to reinstate a controversial program that gives thousands of South Carolina families taxpayer money to send their children to private schools.
S.C. senators push debate on strengthening state DUI laws to 2026. After postponing debate on the bill at multiple meetings, the Senate Judiciary Committee decided last week to carry over the bi-partisan legislation that aims to close the loopholes allowing people to escape convictions for driving under the influence until 2026.
Three gambling bills get debated at S.C. Statehouse. Three bills to legalize gambling received hearings April 22 in a major shift for the gaming industry and one of the first signs of life for a vice that has long faced headwinds in the socially conservative Southeast.
S.C. bill to protect public from politicians’ lawsuits advancing in legislature. Thirty-five states have laws that protect the free speech of citizens targeted by politicians who file frivolous, but expensive to defend, defamation claims. An S.C. House bill that’s now advancing in the Senate would make South Carolina the 36th.
Protester disrupts introduction of new S.C.-Israel Caucus. A pro-Palestine protester briefly interrupted a press conference introducing the S.C. General Assembly’s new South Carolina-Israel Caucus, a bipartisan group led by Columbia Democratic Rep. Beth Bernstein. According to reports, the protester was led out of the room by law enforcement but not arrested.
Proposed state anti-vaccine mandate puts S.C. pharmacists in tough position. Legislation in the Senate dubbed the Medical Informed Consent Act, sponsored by Sen. Shane Martin, R-Spartanburg, would eliminate any possibility for the state or a corporation operating in South Carolina to mandate vaccines for their employees.
Prisons director expected to become new U.S. attorney. Bryan Stirling, director of South Carolina’s prisons agency since 2013, is expected to be the state’s next U.S. attorney, according to multiple media reports.
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- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
What strategy?
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for poking a little fun in just the right way. This week, he shares his observations about the loud mouth of U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.
- Love this week’s cartoon or hate it? Did he go too far, or not far enough? Send your thoughts to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Stop shooting U.S. in feet on trade
By Andy Brack | South Carolina makes stuff – a lot of stuff – and sends it all over the world.
But with the volatility in world markets and global trade caused by the unforced errors and bullying by President Donald Trump and his administration over unnecessary tariffs, stuff that we make and export face an uncertain future. People could lose jobs. Some businesses could go under.
The three months since Trump has been in office has created economic shock, but no awe, around the world and it’s making America look small. This increase in uncertainty is troubling for anyone in the middle class investing in the stock market, a recent see-saw which has dropped 9% – or $11 trillion – since Jan. 20, 2025.
“The back-and-forth we’ve seen throughout the year on tariff policy makes it harder for businesses to plan for the future because they don’t know, for example, what their cost structure is likely to be or what the general market environment will look like,” University of South Carolina economist Joseph Von Nessen told us this week. “It’s important to remember that many businesses – and especially manufacturers – are making production decisions several years in advance.
“Uncertainty for businesses breeds paralysis. When businesses don’t know what the market landscape is likely to be, they are more likely to go into wait-and-see mode and postpone investment decisions.”
And that could be more impactful in South Carolina, which has a manufacturing economy ranked first in the South, according to a 2023 article in Maintenance World. Over the last decade, the state grew its manufacturing sector 17% thanks to infrastructure and workforce investments.
South Carolina also is a leading exporter of tires and passenger vehicles – so much so that the S.C. Ports Authority proudly boasts its efforts supporting one in nine jobs in the Palmetto State.
But what are tariffs by the United States, retaliatory tariffs by other nations and new ill will among trading partners going to do to people in South Carolina? While risk managers seem to be mostly mum, the answer is fairly obvious – unless the U.S. can get stuff that it buys – without heavy tariffs – from some place or it starts making stuff pretty darn quickly (and it won’t be quick), either we’ll do without or things will get pricey soon. Hence, there are fears of a recession.
Similarly, if we lose markets for our goods – such as South Carolina agricultural products usually bought by China and other Asian countries – our manufacturers could face an uncertain future. Unless they’re doing what their risk managers likely are frantically advising – finding new markets for South Carolina goods.
So all in all, it’s a big damned mess that the federal government has caused around the world thanks to an unstrategic tariff policy not rooted in economic sanity. And remember, tariffs aren’t paid directly by foreign countries. They’re paid by Americans trying to get foreign goods.
Von Nessen notes, “ A tariff is simply a tax on imported goods, which makes these goods more expensive for [American] buyers. And the buyer could either be a business that is purchasing raw materials for its production process or a consumer purchasing household items.
“In each case, however, the ultimate effect is that the prices of goods affected by tariffs are likely to rise, impacting consumer demand. In addition, any retaliatory tariffs implemented by other countries would raise the prices of goods that are being produced in the U.S. and sold to foreign consumers, which would lower the demand for these U.S. businesses.”
The U.S. is causing this tariff mess. It needs to cool down and develop a real strategy rooted in common sense and the rule of law. And it needs to do so before the South Carolinians who make stuff – a lot of the best stuff in the world, in fact – get pushed from the assembly line to the unemployment line.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Rural scene
Here’s a rural scene sent in by a reader that might cause a lot of head scratching for mystery photo sleuths. Give it your best shot. It’s somewhere in South Carolina. Where? Make sure to add your name and hometown to your guess and send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Our most recent mystery, “Waterfall,” shows Raven Cliff Falls in Caesars Head State Park. It’s the tallest waterfall in South Carolina, but there’s a little controversy about that, explains sleuth Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas:
“It is worth noting that there has been a longstanding point of confusion over the years as to exactly how high the Raven Cliff Falls actually are. Some older sources, including some of the park materials and guidebooks, often list Raven Cliff Falls at 420 feet. However, more recent sources — including Wikipedia, the South Carolina State Parks website and local geological surveys — now list it as between 320 and 350 feet.
“The original 420-foot figure likely came from early estimates that included additional parts of the steep creek sections below the visible part of the falls. That said, even with a reduction in height, the Raven Cliff Falls still remains comfortably in the lead as the tallest single waterfall drop in the state, with second place, the Issaqueena Falls near Walhalla, coming in at only 100-feet high.”
Others who correctly identified the waterfall include Bill Segars of Hartsville, Steve Willis of Lancaster, Jay Altman of Columbia; Truett Jones of Summerton; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Curtis Joyner of Charleston; and David Lupo of Mount Pleasant.
- Send us a mystery picture. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
You’re stretching the truth
To the editor:
All I can say is your article was like watching CNN. Ninety percent of what you are stating is wrong and stretched truths.
How has Trump done anything to Social Security and student loans? All that was done was the workforce has been leaned out. The amount of money we pay for hundreds to thousands of people to push paper from one desk to another. The federal government needs to be downsized and trimmed down. We have more agencies than we need and more people than we need.
The man you talk about was issued a deportation order in 2019 and that is what was done, plain and simple. Illegals do not have rights as a citizen does. I suggest that all the government is going by the Constitution and that is why the Supreme Court of the United States has overruled district judges. The judges are in fact interfering with the president and his duties.
Why people are upset is that for decades the government has grown into a monster and now it is going back to where it should have been done already. Change is hard, in the long run it will be better. There was so much corruption and waste that is now being addressed.
– Jon Marien, Rock Hill, S.C.
Send us your thoughts – and your identifying info
We’ve been getting a few good letters and would like to share them, but writers aren’t leaving phone numbers and hometowns to help us verify them for publication. We encourage you to send in your thoughts about policy and politics impacting South Carolina. We print non-defamatory comments, but unless you provide your contact information – name and hometown, plus a phone number used only by us for verification – we can’t publish your thoughts.
- Have a comment? Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com. Make sure to provide your contact details (name, hometown and phone number for verification. Letters are limited to 150 words.
Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided by email to you at no charge every Friday.
- Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
- Statehouse bureau chief: Jack O’Toole
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