Statehouse Update April 4-6

Update 4/7/23: Several adjustments were made to this summary to reflect developments that occurred during the week.

While the full Senate is not meeting this week, it’s still very busy at the Statehouse as we rapidly approach the crossover deadline (April 10). A bill that does not pass at least one chamber of the Legislature by this date generally will not become law in the current year. Accordingly, a number of important bills (some good, some not-so-good) dealing with education, taxes and more are on this week’s calendar. Plus, the full Senate Finance Committee takes up its version of the state budget on Tuesday, a process we are following closely.

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Education

• S.39 – This bill would create a new education scholarship program for low-income K-12 students. Under the proposal, parents could use scholarship funding to pay for private school tuition, textbooks, tutoring services, transportation to other schools and more. A similar education scholarship bill nearly passed last year. The House Education and Public Works Committee will take up the bill 1.5 hours after adjournment of the House on Tuesday. To read more about the proposal click here. Update: The full committee advanced the bill.

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Taxation

• Tax incentive bills – Last week, a House Ways and Means subcommittee considered five tax incentive bills that deal with film incentives, rail incentives and additional corporate tax breaks. We contend our state would be better off if it simplified the tax code and reduced the overall tax burden, instead of further complicating the law and giving breaks to select groups. Update: the House passed the following H.4020 (film incentives) 77-20; H.3737 (Short Line Railroad Modernization Act) 65-46; H.4087 (tax credits) 84-12; H.3810 (license fee on corporations)103-10.
• 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 passed the Senate last week and now moves to the House.   
• S.298 – In the event a business or the S.C. The 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 bill passed the Senate floor and moved to the House this week. 

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Regulation

• S.165 & H.3605 – These bills would remove barriers to obtaining a work license by preventing licensing boards from using vague terminology for evaluation purposes, and from considering charges against a person that have been dismissed, along with other positive changes. Both bills are currently on the Senate floor. If passed without new amendments, H.3605 would go to the governor’s desk.

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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 Committee passed this bill last week so it will likely be on the Senate floor soon.

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Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

• H.3690 – This bill requires the S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission (RSIC) to cast shareholder proxy votes based on pecuniary factors, which means those having a material effect on the financial risk or return of an investment, and excluding those promoting ESG objectives. The RSIC may only delegate shareholder proxy-voting rights to investment managers if they invest based on pecuniary factors, if the commission believes there would be a “superior” economic benefit in doing so, or if the commission wants to avoid a concentration of assets with one or more investment managers.  Update: The House passed the bill103-5.

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Government transparency 

As of Tuesday morning, all six of the Senate’s 6 scheduled committee meetings are scheduled to be livestreamed this week. Nine of the House’s 11 meetings are set to be streamed. This is one of the best weeks for livestreaming since we began tracking this issue. 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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