Legislative and Funding Updates

The House of Representatives met this week to conclude their work on the Dobbs act changes.  Legislation pertaining to abortion is currently the only items allowed under the Sine Die provision.  After two days of debate the House sent H.5399 to the Senate for their consideration.  The language further restricts abortion in South Carolina.  The Senate will meet beginning September 6th.

The SCDOT sent out an alert pertaining to I-95 widening.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) will launch a virtual public information meeting for the I-95 Widening: Savannah River to US 278 project on September 1, 2022.  The virtual meeting will be accompanied by an in-person public information meeting on Thursday, September 15, 2022 from 5 pm – 7 pm at the newly constructed Hardeeville Recreation Center (285 John Smith Road). All the information that will be available in-person is available now on the project website, https://www.scdoti95widening.com/. The public is encouraged to review and make comments through September 30, 2022.

Governor Henry McMaster announced an additional $25 million investment into Workforce Scholarships for the Future, a program that provides scholarships to cover the cost of tuition and required fees at any of South Carolina’s 16 technical colleges for any adult or recent high school graduate to pursue an industry credential or associate degree in high-demand career fields like manufacturing, trucking, health care, computer science, or logistics.

In early 2021, Governor McMaster invested $12 million in GEER (Governors Emergency Education Relief) Funds in the S.C. Technical College System to train South Carolinians for the available, high-demand jobs in the state. By the end of the year, the program yielded staggering results, with 5,000 South Carolinians being reskilled and employed. Because of that success, Governor McMaster formally created Workforce Scholarships for the Future in November of 2021. Today’s $25 million investment, combined with $39 million allocated by the General Assembly in this year’s state budget, is expected to be used to train or retrain approximately 40,000 South Carolinians.

To date, 6,198 South Carolinians have been trained through this program, including:

  • 825 Nursing Assistants
  • 775 Commercial Drivers
  • 616 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs)
  • 478 Welders
  • 392 Phlebotomists
  • 208 Forklift Operators
  • 107 Electrical Lineman Technicians
  • 87 ManuFirst SC