The South Carolina General Assembly will begin its work for the year Tuesday January 14th. The House and Senate have identified three common issues they plan to both take up quickly. Energy Reform (which has been scheduled for House hearings this week and the Speaker has vowed will be the first bill out of the House) School Choice (which has already been sent out of Senate sub and full committee and will be on the Senate Calendar as early as Wednesday January 15th And Tort and Insurance reform. The bodies differ on how far to go here with those bills. The Senate plans to take the lead on the issue and will be putting forth a comprehensive bill as early as this week.
Over 800 pieces of legislation have been pre-filed for the session. These will all become official tomorrow. Included in these bills are everything from Tort Reform, to permit changes for mines, to lowering the state income tax rate. Over 5000 pieces of legislation will be filed over the course of the two-year session. We will keep the group informed of any movement that affects CRMCA.
Governor McMaster unveiled his version of the budget today. This is the first step in the process of state appropriations. Some versions of the state budget have served as a road map for where things will go and other years it has served as a door stop in the Blatt building. Items included in this year’s version include lowering the income tax rate to 6%, increasing starting teacher pay to $50,000, $240 million for storm recovery from Hurricane Helene. The breakdown of storm money is: $150 million for South Carolina Public Assistance program modeled after the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s assistance program. ▪ $50 million for S.C. DOT to cover unreimbursed costs to repairs roads and bridges and debris removal, and (They had asked for $150 million) ▪ $40 million to replenish the Office of Resilience’s disaster relief and resilience fund and revolving loan fund. Other items include $100 million for a neurological rehab hospital Anderson County and $100 million for bridges and $95 million for workforce training at technical colleges.
A full link to the governors budget can be found here. FY26 Executive Budget Book – FINAL WEB VERSION.pdf
The Design Construction Partnership Legislative Reception will be on January 15, 2025 from 5-7 PM at Parker Poe Attorneys & Counselors at 1221 Main St. Suite 1100. This is a great event and the second time CRMCA will be participating. Last year over 100 members of the General Assembly attended and all the Leadership of the SCDOT was there. It is a great opportunity to speak with members about issues. Other events are already being scheduled for the session. Both Caucus and individual members. We will keep members apprised of these events.
