This week in SC Politics: Divided House advances budget, Comptroller General asked to resign

By now, everyone in the South Carolina Statehouse knows the House Republican Caucus does not see eye to eye with the 21-member Freedom Caucus, an offshoot of firebrand far-right Republicans.

But last week, tensions continued to rise as lawmakers talked over each other, broke decorum, and discussed the $13.8 billion budget for over 12 hours.

After a lengthy debate, the House passed the budget, 108-11. The 11 that voted against the bill were members of the Freedom Caucus.

On the Senate side, lawmakers introduced a resolution to remove Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom from his office. This is the second call to action from the Statehouse, and so far, Eckstrom has indicated he will fight the case after hiring a lawyer and a communication professional.

Let's dive into what happened last week in Columbia and look ahead to this week:

SC House advances budget among diatribes against diversity, equity and inclusion

The House Ways and Means Committee, led by Rep. Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, unveiled a $13.8 billion budget that would increase salaries for teachers, law enforcement officials and mental health practitioners.

Unlike previous budgets, this year's budget does not have earmarks for community projects and focuses on maintenance projects and upgrading digital systems, such as accounting programs that oversee payroll and refurbishing technology at information-related agencies. That may change as the budget process forges on toward the Senate. But that's not what took up most of the time during the budget discussion on the floor.

The debate last week started with a discussion of whether it was OK for lawmakers to give $1.3 billion to Volkswagen-backed Scout Motors for an electric vehicle facility, which would be located north of Columbia along Interstate 77.

Lawmakers said the deal would bring 4,000 jobs to South Carolina and could help revitalize the Midlands the way BMW and Boeing bolstered local economies in the Upstate and Lowcountry, respectively.

Rep. Adam Morgan, R-Greenville, questioned if the deal was a good use of taxpayer money. Morgan brought up the Carolina Panthers stadium deal in York County, which never came to fruition after the Panthers’ CEO Jake Tepper filed for bankruptcy.

The state gave $115 million worth of tax breaks to entice the Panthers. Morgan said the state would now be giving $400 million worth of taxpayer money directly to Scout Motors for their construction site. The $400 million is part of the $1.3 billion package deal.

Rep. Jay West, R-Anderson, argued the deal also included money to construct a new I-77 interchange. He added the Panthers' deal ensured the revamping of road infrastructure near the North Carolina border. A substantial portion of the road project is set to be completed by May this year, according to a January 2023 update to the Dept. of Transportation.

But the botched deals weren't the Freedom Caucus' only concerns.

Rep. Josiah Magnuson, R-Spartanburg, referred to Scout Motors as a “woke leftist” corporation, which invested in diversity and inclusion training, drag shows and LGBTQ inclusivity. He said this deal was bringing the “Green New Deal” to South Carolina because of its focus on electric vehicles.

His peers were visibly infuriated. The House debate, which is governed by etiquette and rules that ask members to not engage in clapping, chorusing amens or talking over each other, unraveled to a point that House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, had to step in more than once to call for order.

And that’s not even the bulk of the debate.

The actual budget debate started late in the afternoon. Once again, Freedom Caucus members introduced amendments to the budget that did not bode well with the Republican majority.

Morgan wanted to reduce funding for SCETV, which helps live stream committee and Statehouse proceedings for free online. SCETV also provides statewide emergency updates. His amendment would strike out the $1.1 million allocation to keep SCETV funding to last year’s funding level of $848,829.

New SCETV funding to update its systems would be shaved off in Morgan's amendment. He said legacy TV systems were declining and citizens had different subscriptions and sources to access information.

Bill Whitmire, R-Oconee, who chaired the subcommittee that recommended increasing the funding for SCETV, rebutted Morgan’s amendment and listed the educational resources SCETV provides. Whitmire also mentioned the government transparency measures that came with its ability to record and broadcast important governmental procedures.

Morgan again introduced an amendment that would create an Office of Civil Rights, Constitutional and Anti-Discriminatory Compliance in the Commission of Higher Education. His amendment allocated $250,000 to that effort. He said he heard from SC students and teachers that “an equitable” and “anti-racist” agenda was being forced upon them.

Rep. Micah Caskey, R-Lexington, said the Freedom Caucus was chasing issues like they were "bumper stickers." He asked Morgan why he had not brought up this issue during the Ways and Means committee discussions that had been going on for over a month. Meanwhile, Russell Ott, D-Calhoun, asked Morgan if he had consulted the Commission of Higher Education before suggesting the allocation.

Morgan said he had not.

Here’s what the issue seemed to boil down to: Were the Freedom Caucus members introducing "serious” amendments?

Ott asked Morgan how many people this agency would employ.

“Probably three, four, a little bit more, something like that,” Morgan said.

“Three or four − so they're making what, $30,000 a year?” Ott asked.

Morgan laughed and Ott cut in to say that he was serious.

“It's actually not that far off from some other offices that we have that have a smaller staff that are able to accomplish things,” Morgan said.

When that amendment was rejected, Morgan introduced a proposal to lower funding to higher education institutions across the state. He wants to disallow the use of state funds in “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs.

Freedom Caucus members also introduced amendments that would bar schools from using state funds to incentivize COVID-19 vaccines and disallow the use of state insurance to get an abortion.

To recap what's in the latest version of the budget:

• Teacher pay was hiked from $40,000 to $42,500 and teacher supply checks went from $300 to $350.

• The state has also increased classroom funding by over $200 million.

• State nurses, too, would see an increase in hiring rate, from $30,000 to $52,000, and state mental health professional salaries will go up from $52,000 to $59,000.

• Lawmakers are also proposing the minimum salary for all state correctional officers to be set at $50,000.

• They have also proposed using $200 million to accelerate programs geared toward bridge maintenance alone. Greenville Technical College would also get $15 million for maintenance.

• The 131-year-old Lake Conestee Dam, which is at risk of contaminating drinking water for the communities surrounding it, may get $47.25 million.

• They have also allocated $13.16 million to School Resources Officers (SRO) and equipment needs.

SC lawmakers want Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom to resign

A budget amendment saw bipartisan support that would reduce the pay of embattled Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom.

The amendment was led by Richland Democrat Heather Bauer and comes after Eckstrom's admission that the state's financial report had a $3.5 billion accounting error.

Last week, senators asked Gov. Henry McMaster to remove Eckstrom from the Comptroller General's office. Eckstrom has been in office for the last 20 years.

Sen. Larry Groom, R-Berkeley, who led the Senate Finance Subcommittees overseeing the investigation, said that Eckstrom had remained incoherent and evasive during his testimonies and had not taken accountability for the misstatement in the financial books.

Eckstrom blames staffing issues as a major reason for not noticing the error sooner.

But Grooms said he did not trust Eckstrom. Last week, Grooms told the Senate that further investigation had found errors in accounts related to the Dept. of Transportation.

The biggest concern that arose from the $3.5 billion debacle was whether it would affect South Carolina's credit rating and ability to borrow. Though no credit rating agencies have changed their ratings, Grooms said Moody's, an international bond rating corporation had serious concerns about the misstatements based on internal e-mails.

Earlier this month, House lawmaker Gil Gatch, R-Dorchester, started a movement from the House to impeach Eckstrom. Gatch told the Greenville News that staffing issues could always be addressed. "But to my knowledge, no one has come to us asking for help, money, or advice," Gatch said. "We can't help fix an issue we don't know about." Two options have surfaced in Senate discussions: Dissolve the Comptroller General's office and combine it with either the Treasurer's office or the State Auditor's office. Or make the Comptroller General's office an appointed position, instead of an elected official.

What to watch for this week in SC politics:

On March 22, 2023, Wednesday, at 10 a.m., a Senate committee will discuss S.399, to see if they can split DHEC into a public and behavioral health center and an environment control center.

On March 23, 2023, Thursday, at 9 a.m., a Senate committee will discuss two anti-transgender bills, S.623 and S.627, that would bar transgender residents from changing their gender markers in their birth certificate and would ban gender-affirming care for anyone younger than 18 years of age.

Devyani Chhetri covers the South Carolina State House and is a watchdog SC government reporter. You can reach her at dchhetri@gannett.com or @ChhetriDevyani.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: SC Politics: House lawmakers advance budget, Eckstrom asked to resign