SC politics briefing

Welcome to your weekly South Carolina politics briefing, a newsletter curated by The State’s politics and government team.

First, big, BIG money news.

South Carolina’s economists gave the Legislature some very happy news this week.

They believe lawmakers will have another $1.7 billion to spend that they didn’t have available in the budget year that ends June 30.

Now, most of that money is one-time, but economists believe nearly $400 million will come back again.

The budget is in the Senate now, and hearings are slated to wrap up next week.

This week was crossover week in the South Carolina Legislature, and, like it is every year, a bit of a whirlwind.

As a refresher, crossover is a legislative tradition in which a deadline requires the General Assembly to get bills out the door and to the opposite chamber. After this week, it’s harder to pass bills (remember the work calendar ends in early May).

Like every year, House and Senate leaders cruised through legislation. Here are the highlights.

Hate crimes legislation sails through House

With bipartisan support and less than 15 minutes of discussion, lawmakers gave a vital second reading to a hate crimes bill Wednesday. The bill got a perfunctory third reading Thursday and was sent to the Senate.

The legislation would specifically allow prosecutors to seek additional penalties for crimes committed on the basis of hate because of a person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, national origin or physical or mental disability.

Lawmakers, staffers and, yes, reporters alike were shocked that the bill received a vote with absolutely no debate Wednesday. State Rep. Weston Newton was the only lawmaker who spoke on the bill, and that was to explain the amendments passed by the Judiciary Committee.

“It’s important that we send a signal to those with hate in their hearts that we do not tolerate those actions,” Newton said.

If the Senate takes up the bill and passes it quickly, the hate crimes legislation could be law by the end of the legislative session.

House passes expansive gun legislation, though unlikely to become law

The South Carolina House Wednesday passed a measure that would allow people to carry handguns openly, regardless of whether they have a permit.

The so-called constitutional carry measure — the belief the Constitution gives gun owners the right to carry without regulation — was part of an agreement between House leadership and a handful of Republican members, who pushed leaders for a vote on the bill, believing the House’s legislation to allow for open carry with a permit does not go far enough to support the Second Amendment.

The 69-47 vote on the gun legislation came over objections by some of the state’s top voices in the law enforcement community and also Republican House members, including Rep. Bart Blackwell, R-Aiken, who argued the legislation would make South Carolina a less attractive place to work and live.

The Senate is unlikely to pass such an expansive gun bill, but may instead vote on a similar measure the House passed weeks ago that would allow legal gun owners to carry open in public, but only with a permit.

Gov. Henry McMaster said he would back “anything that protects the people’s right to have and bear arms.”

What else?

▪ House adopted a bill 108-0, putting the state in line with the federal tax code

▪ House sent a bill that would require all schools reopen five days a week back to committee, though House Education chairwoman Rita Allison told us she will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. Tuesday on the measure. Gov. McMaster has urged the Legislature to pass it.

▪ House passed a bill 98-4 that would help raise the salaries of constitutional officers for the first time since 1994

▪ House passed a bill 80-23 that would bar local governments from regulating tobacco or tobacco products, such as vape flavors.

▪ Senate passed a bill 22-21 that would allow college athletes to enter contracts to profit off of their name, image and likeness.

▪ A bill providing 12 weeks of paid parental leave for state employees passed the House, and heads to the Senate. Gov. McMaster says he supports the measure.

▪ The Senate passed a bill ending the subminimum wage pay practice for people with disabilities and special needs.

▪ A California-based wine company promising a $400 million investment and nearly 500 new jobs in Chester County won a key victory among state senators who have been skeptical about granting the company special favors critics say will give the wine giant an unfair advantage.

▪ The House agreed to Senate changes on legislation that would help South Carolinians who are behind on rent have access to more than $271 million in federal aid. The bill heads to the governor’s desk for his signature.

Yes, what the Legislature did this week is big news. But it’s also worth mentioning what they didn’t pass.

Hardly the most consequential debate, the Senate didn’t take up legislation to debate the design of the state flag.

They started but didn’t finish a debate over Santee Cooper, with the Senate’s GOP leader Shane Massey calling on buyers to start presenting their offers to the Senate President in the next week. Problem is the vote to sell is likely small, and senators who back reform have already been clear that they will stand on the floor as long as it takes to ensure that doesn’t happen.

And, last but not least, medical marijuana.

Senate Education chairman Greg Hembree placed his name on Sen. Tom Davis’ medical marijuana bill, blocking its chances of debate and getting a vote. Davis has told reporters he’s done the whip count and has enough senators to support his bill.

Issuing somewhat of a warning, Davis told colleagues this week, “Come next week, I’m going to be pushing for this bill to get a hearing. After seven years, it deserves a hearing.”

COMING NEXT WEEK?

Putting this in all caps to grab your attention, but watch what the Senate does next week.

They have the budget, so that’s one. Could there be movement on marijuana? We’ll see. But we’re told watch for gun hearings.

Peter McCoy’s next role? Likely Santee Cooper

Gov. Henry McMaster plans to nominate former South Carolina lawmaker and U.S. Attorney Peter McCoy to chair the board of Santee Cooper, the state’s embattled public utility.

First reported by The State, we learned McMaster had been calling around to senators, asking their take on McCoy.

Turns out, many like him, McMaster said this week.

McCoy may not have a utility background, but lawmakers believe he is certainly prepared to take on the role.

As the U.S. attorney, McCoy oversaw the federal probe into fraud allegations against leaders of SCANA, the now-defunct parent company of S.C. Electric & Gas. That probe has resulted in two top former SCANA officials pleading guilty to criminal conspiracy charges.

As a state House member, McCoy chaired a House panel that investigated the $9 billion nuclear project failure.

Juvenile Justice agency back in hot water

State Juvenile Justice facilities are severely understaffed, their employees are poorly trained and the juveniles in their care are being left untreated and unsupervised, leading to an increase in violent incidents, according to the findings of the South Carolina Legislative Audit Council.

The Legislative Audit Council, which reviews state agencies and programs to identify ways to cut costs and improve performance, released its most recent audit of the the beleaguered S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice Tuesday.

Freddie Pough, the agency’s executive director, acknowledged DJJ’s issues hiring and retaining juvenile corrections officers, but took issue with large portions of the audit and how it was conducted. He said auditors had “simply failed to understand fundamental aspects of DJJ’s operations, misstated facts, dismissed the conclusions of trained professionals within their specific areas of expertise in favor of LAC’s, and failed to consider information provided by DJJ.”

Pough also implored the General Assembly to increase state entry-level salaries for corrections staff, which he said had failed to keep pace with the private sector, and to pass a juvenile justice reform bill.

Buzz Bites

▪ Gov. Henry McMaster is headed to the U.S.-Mexico border Friday through Saturday, where he will be briefed on the immigration situation at the nation’s southern border and meet with the state’s National Guard members.

▪ York County lawmakers and the South Carolina Senate mourned Thursday the victims of a mass shooting that has torn apart the Rock Hill community.

▪ Freshman state Rep Vic Dabney was accused of racism after he posted on Facebook that he was voting against the hate crimes bill because he believed white people were “vilified by the left.” The House Speaker’s ffice is looking into the post, according to a staff member.

▪ Gov. Henry McMaster officially announced on Wednesday that he will nominate Robert Kerr to lead South Carolina’s Medicaid agency, which has been without a permanent director since December of last year. Kerr previously ran the agency in the Mark Sanford administration.

▪ Ready your shock face. Former Fox News host Eric Bolling tells POLITICO he will NOT challenge Republican Reps. Nancy Mace or Tom Rice for their seat in Congress. Bolling told the outlet, “While it’s too soon after the passing of my son to get into politics, the overwhelming support I’ve received indicates this is not the end of my opportunities politically, in South Carolina.”

▪ South Carolina’s U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham will be one of several attendees at a RNC donor retreat this weekend in Palm Beach. Former President Donald Trump also will be there.

▪ More than 50 state lawmakers have signed on to a bill introduced by Rep. Lin Bennett, R-Charleston, that aims to “restore patriotic history education” by mandating annual instruction of America’s early history using prescribed texts, including some authored by conservative groups.

▪ South Carolina will receive more than $47 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand and enhance the state’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts and ensure equitable vaccine access to those disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus, specifically racial and ethnic minorities.

▪ The ACLU of South Carolina sued Gov. Henry McMaster this week, alleging his order requiring state agencies to get their employees to return to work is discriminatory. About 5% of the state agency workforce is still working remotely, leaders said, adding that, besides temporary workers, other remote workers are getting health accommodations so they can return.

▪ Doctors Care — South Carolina’s largest urgent care provider — and two affiliated South Carolina medical groups have agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle a civil medical fraud case brought by two whistleblowers.

▪ Good news on the unemployment trust fund. The state’s workforce director said this week the unemployment trust fund has more than $1.1 billion in it. That’s huge news after leaders sounded alarms last year that the COVID-19 impact on the fund would be massive.

▪ U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Rep. Joe Wilson expressed condolences after the death of colleague U.S. Congressman Alcee Hastings. Clyburn called Hastings a “trailblazer” throughout his political career in Florida and Wilson said he was “grateful for his friendship.”

▪ The DCCC, the fundraising arm for House Democrats, rolled out its 2022 target list, which interestingly did not include South Carolina’s Lowcountry district that Rep. Mace flipped back to red in November.

▪ Ben Duncan, the current director of South Carolina’s Disaster Recovery Office, was nominated by the governor this week to run the newly formed Office of Resiliency, an office that manages the state’s resilience reserve fund and how the state responds to climate-related natural disasters.

▪ Three Black female veterans of Democratic Party politics are ripping a page out of Georgia’s successful playbook by launching a new South Carolina-focused political action committee with the goal of reengaging and registering more voters ahead of 2022.

▪ South Carolina’s U.S. Sen. Tim Scott announced a new internship program that he hopes will offer high school students in his home state another path. Called the Opportunity Internship, the goal is to connect South Carolina employers with rising juniors and seniors attending Title I high schools.

▪ A federally-supported mass COVID-19 vaccination site will open next week at the Columbia Place Mall on Two Notch Road, the White House announced. The site, part of a joint federal pilot program to expand vaccination rates should be up and running by April 14 and will be capable of administering 7,000 doses a week for eight weeks.

▪ The U.S. Supreme Court still has not decided whether to take up Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, a case South Carolina and many other states that have passed restrictive abortion laws are watching closely. State leaders have appealed South Carolina’s case after a federal judge put a hold on it.

▪ Over the past weekend, Jim Holderman, the 25th president of the University of South Carolina from 1977 to 1990 who had a storied and controversial life that included two stints in federal prison, died. He was 85. Here’s his obituary.

▪ After their first bill was tossed out, Republican members of the House revived their effort to ban transgender women and girls from women’s sports.

▪ Congratulations to Rep. Neal Collins, who thanks to his seatmate state Rep. Justin Bamberg’s tweet, got married last week.

Mark your calendar

April 12

Former Gov. Nikki Haley visits South Carolina State University, the state’s only four-year public HBCU

Education Oversight Committee meeting, 1 p.m.

April 14

Senate panel debates S. 2, legislation to split up the state’s health and environmental agency, after Senate adjourns

April 20-22

Budget week in the state Senate

April 29

Former Vice President Mike Pence will address South Carolina conservatives in Columbia

May 17

New deadline for individual state income tax returns for the 2020 year

Before we adjourn

Policy wise, it’s hardly the biggest story of the Legislature’s crossover week.

But for the University of South Carolina, the state’s flagship school, it could be the most consequential.

The university’s largest donor and Lake City icon Darla Moore sent a scathing letter to university administration after she said leaders and the school’s board failed to reach out to her after her mother died. Adding more fuel to the fire perhaps, Moore wrote that Clemson University — South Carolina’s largest in-state rival — reached out.

“The deepest regret of my life is the effort and resources I have expended on your behalf,” Moore wrote.

Wait, there’s more.

“There is not a university in the country that would exhibit this degree of thoughtless, dismissive and graceless ignorance of the death of the parent of their largest donor,” Moore wrote. “I continue to be embarrassed and humiliated by my association with you.”

Big yikes. It’s unclear what will happen next.

University President Robert Caslen did offer condolences and the college’s business school still bears Moore’s name.

But about the millions of dollars she’s given? Unclear whether that stops.

The Legislature aimed to do some clean up on the whole situation, passing resolutions in honor of Moore’s mother.

Gov. McMaster also expressed his sympathies and when asked whether the university and board should work to repair that relationship said it was something for them to consider.

Who pulled together this week’s newsletter?

This week it was reporter Zak Koeske, a member of The State’s government and politics team who currently focuses on South Carolina’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Keep up with him on Twitter @ZakKoeske or send him story tips at zkoeske@thestate.com.

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For even more South Carolina-focused political news, you can chat with us on Facebook at the Buzz on South Carolina Politics, email us tips at thebuzz [at] thestate [dot] com and follow our stories at scpolitics.com.