Statehouse Update Mar 21-23

The House is on recess this week after passing its version of the FY23-24 state budget in the week prior. Our review of the House budget reveals a multibillion-dollar increase over last fiscal year. In January, SCPC released a report urging lawmakers to keep spending in the upcoming budget from increasing by more than what is sustainable based on population growth plus inflation data. As part of that effort, we are continuing to urge lawmakers to keep spending low in the final version of the budget.

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Education

• S.305 – This bill would allow individuals who have at least five years of qualifying education experience to count that experience when obtaining a teaching certificate, which would entitle them to better pay. A Senate Education subcommittee will consider the bill Thursday at 10 AM.

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Taxation

• S.284 – This bill would allow local accommodations and hospitality tax revenue to be spent on the development of “workforce housing”. Such revenue is currently restricted to things more closely associated with tourism, such as improving beach access or paying for tourism-related advertisements. Expanding how these funds can be spent will increase demand for tax revenue and could inspire tax-hike proposals. The bill would also allow local governments to issue bonds for the construction of workforce housing. The Senate Finance Committee considers the bill Tuesday at 3:00 PM.
• S.298 – In the event a business or the S.C. Department of Revenue believes the business’s income is not properly represented for tax purposes, the bill sets forth a process to more accurately determine such income, and gives the department significant investigatory power to accomplish this. The Senate Finance committee considers the bill Tuesday at 3:00 PM.

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Regulation

• S.260 – This bill would require anyone who serves alcohol to take a minimum four-hour class with a test and receive a certificate. Each certificate would cost $15. It would also create a new state alcohol server training fund. While more education and training may be necessary for some, creating a new regulatory regime for all alcohol servers is not the correct approach to this issue. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced this bill last Tuesday. It is now on the Senate floor.
• S.566 – This bill would allow a brewery to sell up to 2,000 barrels of beer each year at retail, wholesale, or both, and deliver or ship the beer to licensed retailers in the state. Beer in amounts over 2,000 barrels would generally be subject to distribution and wholesale provisions in the law. The Senate Judiciary subcommittee takes up the bill Tuesday at 3:00 PM.

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Government structure

• S.95 – This resolution would amend the S.C. Constitution so that the state Comptroller General is appointed by the governor with Senate confirmation rather than being elected by voters. The proposed change comes after it was revealed the Comptroller’s office is responsible for a $3.5 billion accounting error spanning at least a decade. The Senate Judiciary subcommittee takes up the bill Tuesday at 3:00 PM.

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Government transparency 

As of Tuesday morning, only eight of the Senate’s 18 scheduled committee meetings are scheduled to be livestreamed this week. Two of the 10 non-streamed meetings are budget committee meetings. Accordingly, there will be no comprehensive public record of these budget meetings, leaving citizens in the dark during this critical stage of the budget process. Under a recent House bill inspired by SCPC’s research, all legislative committee meetings would have to be livestreamed. 

Here you can find the full list of House and Senate meetings for the week. 

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State budget 

Finance Criminal Justice subcommittee

• 3/22/23 9:00 AM – Discussing budget provisos (livestream not scheduled)

Health & Human Services subcommittee

• 3/23/23 Upon adjournment of the Senate – Hearing from SC Vocational Rehabilitation and the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (livestream not scheduled)

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Previous Weeks

• Mar 14-16
• Mar 7-9
• Feb 28- Mar 2
• Feb 21-23
• Feb 14-16
• Feb 7-9
• Jan 31-Feb 2
• Jan 24-26
• Jan 17-19
• Jan 10-12