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The State House Gavel shares updates about the South Carolina General Assembly, including legislative actions, debates and discussions. Featuring news and interviews, so you have access to the latest developments in policy and decisions that shape South Carolina’s future.

The State House Gavel: SC lawmakers back at work with big policy goals

The South Carolina Statehouse
GAVIN JACKSON
South Carolina lawmakers return to Columbia on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, for the official first day of the 2025 legislative session.

Statehouse reporters Gavin Jackson, Russ McKinney and Maayan Schechter are back at the Capitol reporting what you need to know when lawmakers are in Columbia. They'll post news, important schedules, photos/videos and behind-the-scenes interviews with policymakers.

Happy Tuesday. It's Jan. 14, 2025.

That means the 2025 South Carolina legislative session is officially back in full swing.

Welcome to The State House Gavel, where we will *gavel* you in every morning before session.

This is SCETV and South Carolina Public Radio's new blog/reporter notebook, previewing and capturing what goes on at the South Carolina Statehouse while lawmakers are in session. The blog is brought to you by longtime Statehouse reporters Gavin Jackson, Russ McKinney and Maayan Schechter.

It'll include insider news, important meeting schedules, photos, video and behind-the-scenes interviews with the state's policymakers and more.

See something? Hear something? Have a question about a legislative procedure, or whether your preferred issue will become law this year? Email us.

Russ McKinney, Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson
SCETV
Russ McKinney, Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson

Your '25 session blueprint

The Statehouse Christmas tree is down.

That means the holiday season is over, and lawmakers are back at work in Columbia.

The 126th 170-member S.C. General Assembly gavels in at noon today, marking the start of the new, two-year session.

Quick member snapshot:
House: 88 Republicans, 35 Democrats and 1 vacancy
Senate: 34 Republicans and 12 Democrats

January can be a bit of a slow month on the legislative calendar, especially at the start of a new session for a new House and a very, very new Senate. But Statehouse leaders have told reporters that they're hitting the ground running.

  • Senate: Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, says that school choice will be the very first issue the upper chamber takes up. Last week, the Senate Education Committee advanced talks over a Republican-sponsored bill to cover private K-12 school tuition grants with state Education Lottery funds. Leaders say it'll be the very first bill to hit the floor, likely bypassing the typical committee process (that means no public hearings). You can find Russ's piece on the voucher debate below.
Voucher Russ.wav

  • House: They're moving a bit slower, which isn't a huge shocker. There's 124 of them (really 123 until spring) and hundreds of bills need to be assigned to committees so those committees can start vetting them. The chamber's budget committee starts hearings this week. We do know, however, that House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, wants the chamber to prioritize Hurricane Helene relief, energy capacity, and an income tax rate cut this year.

    Smith recently sat down with Gavin and Maayan for a live South Carolina Lede to discuss the 2025 session that you can find below. Tax changes, increasing in-state electrical generation, and gas station egg rolls were just some of the highlights from our exclusive interview.

    Here's a peek: “Right now, we're at a critical juncture of almost not being able to service the energy needs of South Carolina. We are having to buy power from North Carolina and Georgia. That is not what we need. We need to be self sufficient, ... we need to invest in anything that creates energy.”

    H. 3309, Smith’s utility reform bill, has a subcommittee hearing at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

    One more peek: Where does Smith stop when he needs an energy boost on the road? “ Obviously Buc-ees is my favorite place,” so much so he says he spent an hour at the Daytona Beach location. The mega gas station/convenience store/restaurant only has one location in the state — Smith’s home town of Florence. That’s a bit far from his current life in Sumter (which he counts as part of the Pee Dee Region), so QuikTrip fills the on-the-go need, especially an ice cream cone and “the best egg rolls I can get.”

SC House Speaker Murrell Smith speaks with South Carolina Lede Jan. 9, 2025

Now, we can't talk about the session without briefly catching you up on last month's actions, especially in the House where intraparty faction problems will inevitably return this year.

So, in case you missed it:

  • Speaker Smith easily won reelection after an unsuccessful challenge from the House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Bill Chumley, R-Spartanburg.
  • The SC House shuffled committee assignments, namely making Republican Reps. Bill Herbkersman of Beaufort and Micah Caskey of Lexington chairs of the Labor, Commerce and Industry and Rules committees, respectively.
  • The SC Senate adopted a new rules package that, while a bit wonky, actually has some major impacts to legislation. They nixed the April crossover deadline and gave the chamber more power to remove committee chairs.
Republican South Carolina Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort takes the oath of office for the Senate during the chamber's organization session on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Jeffrey Collins/AP
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AP
Republican South Carolina Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort takes the oath of office for the Senate during the chamber's organization session on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Gov rolls out his '25 wish list

Gov. Henry McMaster has some big policy wants this year — he just needs state lawmakers to agree with them.

The Richland Republican unveiled his executive budget request Monday, calling on lawmakers to include his priorities in their budget and legislative plans. His asks include:

  • Lowering the income tax rate from 6.2% to 6% (a cost of about $193.5 million)
  • Increasing the starting teacher salary to $50,000 (a cost of about $200 million)
  • Allowing debit (but not credit) cards for lottery ticket sales
  • Spending $100 million on a neurological rehab hospital, $100 million for bridges and $240 million for disaster recovery/relief

McMaster's budget is what it says above: a request.

But over his tenure, the governor has enjoyed close relationships with especially House Republican leaders (the budget starts in the House). That means in year's past McMaster and the House will share policy priorities, with the two offices often working together.

Coming up: On Jan. 29, McMaster will become South Carolina's longest-serving governor.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, left, takes the oath of office as his wife, Peggy McMaster, and other family members look on at his second inaugural on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
Meg Kinnard/AP
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AP
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, left, takes the oath of office as his wife, Peggy McMaster, and other family members look on at his second inaugural on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

Daily Statehouse planner (1/14)

SC House

SC Senate

*All legislative livestreams are brought to you by SCETV*

Freshman spotlight: Tiny mic edition

There are a whopping 32 new lawmakers in the General Assembly.

And 13 of them are in the state Senate. The House has 19.

It's time you to get to know them, so welcome to our freshman spotlight where we introduce every day a new member of their respective chamber. (We edit for clarity.)

First up? New state Sen. Russell Ott, who represents Senate District 26.

The 46-year-old Calhoun Democrat is no stranger to the Statehouse (he previously served in the lower chamber). Now his district stretches to Lexington and Richland counties.

What are the most important issues facing South Carolina? Education reform, trying to improve public education, trying to make sure that we don't use public dollars for private schools. And then I would probably point out that we're kind of in an energy deficient state right now. If we're going to make sure that we have enough electricity for the future, we're going to have to make some really tough decisions about how we want to generate that electricity or bring it into the state.

What has surprised you so far about the Senate? Probably the size of the offices. They're a lot bigger than they were in the House of Representatives.

How long did it take you to find your Senate parking spot? I was able to find it pretty easily, and it's a lot shorter walk to the Statehouse.

Clemson Tigers or USC Gamecocks? I'm very proud to have the University of South Carolina in my Senate district, but I bleed orange. So go Tigers!

Statehouse go-to snack of choice? Almonds and Celsius.

Go-to song or artist of 2024? Really been listening a lot to the west Texas country scene, red dirt country, whatever Spotify tells me to listen to from that genre I've been listening to. Go check out Logan Ryan Band.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Mind reader.

What is your Statehouse 2025 political prediction? Might be some wishful thinking. I guess I would predict that we will pass in some form or fashion some legalized version of sports betting or horse race betting, or some form of allowing folks the freedom to be able to go and cast bets.

Democratic South Carolina Sen. Russell Ott of St. Matthews gives his introductory speech during the chamber's organization session on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Jeffrey Collins/AP
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AP
Democratic South Carolina Sen. Russell Ott of St. Matthews gives his introductory speech during the chamber's organization session on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Statehouse clips from around the state

Maayan Schechter (My-yahn Schek-ter) is a news reporter with South Carolina Public Radio and ETV. She worked at South Carolina newspapers for a decade, previously working as a reporter and then editor of The State’s S.C. State House and politics team, and as a reporter at the Aiken Standard and the Greenville News. She grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated from the University of North Carolina-Asheville in 2013.
Russ McKinney has 30 years of experience in radio news and public affairs. He is a former broadcast news reporter in Spartanburg, Columbia and Atlanta. He served as Press Secretary to former S.C. Governor Dick Riley for two terms, and for 20 years was the chief public affairs officer for the University of South Carolina.
Gavin Jackson graduated with a visual journalism degree from Kent State University in 2008 and has been in the news industry ever since. He has worked at newspapers in Ohio, Louisiana and most recently in South Carolina at the Florence Morning News and Charleston Post and Courier.