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The State House Gavel
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: Lawmakers rebuff judge candidate, House Ed chair talks scholarship bill

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,
Gavin Jackson, Russ McKinney
Published February 6, 2025 at 6:01 AM EST
The S.C. Legislature holds judicial elections on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.
MAAYAN SCHECHTER
The S.C. Legislature holds judicial elections on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.

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 Thursday and the "Friday" of the legislative week.

The House returns at 10 a.m. and the Senate is back at 11 a.m.

Recap: On Wednesday, the entire General Assembly did what only two state legislatures in the country do: hold judicial elections. There were dozens of races from appeals court to family court, and most of those races were uncontested. A couple of takeaways:

  • The 5th Circuit judicial seat (Kershaw and Richland counties) was won by attorney Christopher Taylor, of Columbia. The seat had been open for more than a year after the Republican-controlled Legislature, in a rare move up to then, rejected a candidate who was unopposed. That candidate, former Democratic state Rep. James Smith, was his party's gubernatorial nominee in 2018 and was found qualified by the Judicial Merit Screening Commission.
  • In a similar move to Smith's vote last year, legislators, led by the York County delegation, rejected the election of Rock Hill attorney Melissa Inzerillo a public defender, who ran unopposed for the 16th Judicial Circuit and was found qualified by the JMSC. That means the race opens back up. (Read SC Daily Gazette's takeout of the race here.)

Spotted: Scout Motors' vice president of growth Cody Thacker was seen on Statehouse grounds with Scout's in-house and contract lobbyists. Scout and Thacker have been lobbying the Legislature to pass a bill legalizing direct car sales. Without that law, Scout won't technically be able to directly sell to customers because current law requires that car sales go through a third-party auto dealership. Gov. Henry McMaster recently backed the law change, saying he would sign a bill should it cross his desk.

A first: Gov. Henry McMaster joined South Carolina's 10 Native American tribes, one which is federally recognized, as they marked the signing of a first-of-its-kind treaty that will help the tribes better advocate for, in part, land protection. The ceremony outside the Statehouse came one day after the House passed a resolution to expand the Catawba Nation's reservation.

This is The State House Gavel, a daily reporter notebook by reporters Gavin Jackson, Russ McKinney and Maayan Schechter that will preview and capture what goes on at the South Carolina Statehouse this year while lawmakers are in session.

Notebook highlights:

  • Energy capacity legislation is still a No. 1 priority for both legislative bodies. While hearings continue, Senate leaders in particular say they're still hoping for a bill this year.
  • The Senate's lottery-funded K-12 school voucher bill will likely be tweaked over in the House, potentially forcing the two bodies to negotiate. So what exactly will the House do? We talked to House Education Chair Shannon Erickson.
  • What U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, now over the Senate Budget Committee, plans to do about budget reconciliation.

And, before we forget, on Wednesday Gov. McMaster swore in Tom Mullikin after he was confirmed by the Senate as the next director of the state's Department of Natural Resources.

"His expertise in environmental law and policy, combined with his proven leadership as chairman of the S.C. Floodwater Commission, makes him uniquely qualified for this role," McMaster said.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, far left, joins S.C. Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, as the new state natural resources department Director Tom Mullikin is sworn in on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.
MAAYAN SCHECHTER
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, far left, joins S.C. Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, as the new state natural resources department Director Tom Mullikin is sworn in on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.

Will lawmakers OK an energy capacity bill in 2025?

Should South Carolina allow large energy users to buy energy from out-of-state utilities?

That’s the big question for members of the Senate’s special committee on South Carolina's energy needs.

At least 19 states allow some energy users to select providers that are outside of their traditional utility’s service areas.

If South Carolina should begin some sort transition toward allowing large energy users to exercise “retail choice,” proponents say that could take some of the pressure off of the utilities that serve the state and their needs to bring new power plants online over the next decade.

What some are saying:

  • Ken Lott, Santee Cooper’s chief financial officer, told a legislative panel recently that 60% of the state-owned utility’s projected energy needs by 2030 will come from large users, such as data centers and battery makers.
  • State Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, a longtime advocate of “energy freedom,” urged committee members Wednesday to consider allowing so-called “retail choice” for large users to begin on an “incremental basis.”
  • John Frick, of the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, told Senators that the new energy model being discussed was “setting-off alarm bells” for residential electric customers. Frick said there are many questions centering around unknown cost-shifting that need to be answered.

Like other fast-growing states, South Carolina is facing a growing need for more energy, and the state’s major utilities — Dominion, Duke, and Santee Cooper — are urging lawmakers to allow them to bring new power generation online quicker.

The panel's chair, state Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, has indicated that the complicated question of “retail choice” will require a third meeting for testimony. Massey said he remains hopeful an energy bill can make it to the Senate floor for debate during the first half of this year’s session.

Over in the House: The House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee moved Speaker Murrell Smith's energy bill — H. 3309 — to the floor.

S.C. Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, speaks with Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, on Jan. 15, 2025 in the S.C. Senate.
GAVIN JACKSON
S.C. Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, speaks with Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, on Jan. 15, 2025 in the S.C. Senate.

House Education takes on K-12 bill

The S.C. Senate finally wrapped up its debate over the K-12 school voucher/scholarship legislation that seeks to fund private school tuition with state Education Lottery dollars.

As brief background: The previous iteration of this attempt, funded by general fund dollars, was overturned by the S.C. Supreme Court, which ruled 3-2 that the law was unconstitutional given the state Constitution says spending public dollars for the direct benefit of private institutions is prohibited.

Reporters caught up with House Education and Public Works Chairwoman Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, who made it clear the House will make tweaks to the Senate version, likely forcing the bill to a conference committee negotiation phase.

Catch part of reporters' interview with Erickson below:

S.C. House Education Chair Shannon Erickson speaks to reporters 2.5.25

South Carolina Rep. Shannon Erickson R-Beaufort, left, and Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Little River, right, look over a bill that would limit the way certain topics could be taught in public schools during a conference committee meeting on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Jeffrey Collins/AP
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AP
South Carolina Rep. Shannon Erickson R-Beaufort, left, and Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Little River, right, look over a a bill on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Graham takes on budget reconciliation

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham has been waiting for a budget reconciliation moment.

And while U.S. House plans flamed out under the weight of one, big beautiful bill (tax cuts and immigration), Graham has decided to pounce and says he will start the complex budget reconciliation process that his Budget Committee is ground zero for next week.

This is an area that Graham has been waiting to deal with for weeks (maybe his entire 30-year career in Congress?) and something reporter Gavin Jackson asked him about last Monday.

On Wednesday, it was official: His committee will mark up the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget resolution next week. 

“To those who believe that Republicans should fulfill their promises on border security, mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens, I agree,” Graham said in a statement. “That is why the Senate Budget Committee will be moving forward next week to give the Trump Administration’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, the money he needs to finish the wall, hire ICE agents to deport criminal illegal immigrants, and create more detention beds so that we do not release more dangerous people into the country."

The government funding deadline looming in March is also adding to Graham’s expedited pace. Meanwhile, recently detained illegal immigrants have been turned back onto the streets since there is no space to house them in many places.

Getting this massive, complex bill through Congress will be a major win for Trump and Graham, who is expected to face primary challengers from his right.

ICYMI: The Graham campaign has continued a steady trickle of news over the past few weeks, from announcing the top guns in his well-oiled campaign machine, to the $15.6 million war chest he has, and, just this week, that two of the state’s most popular politicians, McMaster and Sen. Tim Scott are co-chairs of his reelection campaign.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., arrives for a hearing on the nomination of Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's choice for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
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AP
Senate Budget Committee Chair Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., arrives for a hearing on the nomination of Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's choice for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Maayan Schechter
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.
See stories by Maayan Schechter
Gavin Jackson
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.
See stories by Gavin Jackson
Russ McKinney
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.
See stories by Russ McKinney