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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: SC House panel takes up Lottery-funded voucher bill

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,
Gavin Jackson, Russ McKinney
Published February 18, 2025 at 6:01 AM EST
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 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)

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. We hope everyone had an enjoyable Presidents' Day weekend.

Welcome to Week 6 of the South Carolina legislative session.

Of note: Gov. Henry McMaster will make a Cabinet appointment announcement at 2:30 p.m. and on Wednesday he's headed to DC for the National Governors Association and Republican Governors Association winter meetings, per his schedule.

You're reading 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:

  • A look ahead: A Senate panel calls back the state treasurer, the interim auditor and the comptroller over the $1.8 billion accounting error mess, and the House schedules its first hearing over the private school scholarship/voucher bill and Ways and Means tackles the budget.
  • Nearly 20 years after he tried to ban smoking in cars with minors, Sen. Darrell Jackson says he's trying again and other bills of note.
  • Gavin Jackson drops a new South Carolina Lede podcast episode.

What's on tap for Week 6

Neither the House nor Senate are expected to have particularly busy weeks on the floor (for now).

Let's start with the House, where it's officially budget season.

The Ways and Means Committee (chaired by Rep. Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville) meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday to start the official writing of the budget. They're expected to meet most of the week, when they'll hash out the line items for each agency and provisos, or one-year laws.

The chamber won't actually debate the budget until next month, giving staff enough time to print the massive document and lawmakers enough time to read through it.

ICYMI: We reported about the additional dollars lawmakers will have to spend in the budget that starts July 1. Read here.

And the full House Education and Public Works Committee (chaired by Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort) meets roughly 30 minutes after the House adjourns Wednesday to take up S. 62, Horry Republican Sen. Greg Hembree's Lottery-funded K-12 school voucher/scholarship bill. The bill is bypassing the subcommittee, but the agenda states public testimony, which is usually only heard in a subcommittee hearing, will be allowed in full committee.

Looking ahead: We fully expect the House to tweak this legislation, sending it back to the Senate, which will then be tasked with deciding whether to agree or kick it to the two chamber negotiation phase of the process.

House week highlights:

  • Full Judiciary Committee meets Tuesday, an hour after the House adjourns to take up, in part, a hands-free driving bill and a proposal to add coroner qualifications.
  • A panel of the Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee will meet an hour after the House adjourns Wednesday to take up its storm recovery legislation, H. 3756.
  • The Economic Development and Utility Modernization Ad Hoc Committee meets after the House adjourns Thursday for a discussion on small businesses and existing industry.

Now across the Statehouse lobby to the Senate.

At 3 p.m., both the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee will meet on several bills each:

  • Finance: There are five bills on the agenda, including a continuing resolution and Sen. Stephen Goldfinch's "DOGE" (government efficiency) bill.
  • Judiciary: The agenda includes two nuclear-related bills to restart reactors at V.C. Summer and four bills dealing with gun, retail and drug crimes.

Heads up: A Senate finance subcommittee is expected to meet after full committee wraps up to hear from Comptroller General Brian Gaines, interim Auditor Sue Moss and Treasurer Curtis Loftis over the $1.8 billion accounting error.

Senate week highlights:

  • Budget hearings continue through the week.
  • A Judiciary subcommittee will return at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday afternoon to take up the dram shop and tort reform bills.
  • The banking subcommittee of the Banking and Insurance Committee will meet at 11 a.m. Wednesday to discuss S. 163, a cryptocurrency bill.
  • At 9 a.m. Thursday, Gov. McMaster's appointee to run the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, Jake Gadsden, gets his hearing before the Corrections and Penology Committee.
South Carolina Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau, listens during a Statehouse hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Jeffrey Collins/AP
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AP
South Carolina Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau, listens during a Statehouse hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

SC senator wants to ban smoking in cars with minors

State Sen. Darrell Jackson has proposed legislation — S. 340 — that, if passed, would prohibit someone from smoking inside of a car with a passenger under 12 years old.

The longtime Richland Democrat said South Carolina should join at least a dozen other states with similar laws on the books — all in the name of protecting children from secondhand smoke.

Jackson's bill is specific to tobacco products. It says a violation can result in a fine up to $100.

So far, Jackson has two co-sponsors: Sens. Russell Ott, D-Calhoun, and Jeff Zell, R-Sumter.

Kids exposed to secondhand smoke are at risk for respiratory issues, middle ear disease and slowed lung growth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Other bills "read across the desk":

  • H.  4006 would allow for political signs to be displayed regardless of Homeowners Association covenants. The bill would also allow for the South Carolina flag to be interchangeable with the American flag as a permissible flag, and require HOA meeting procedures.
  • H. 4008 would create a "gentrification trust fund" to start a grant program providing financial assistance for relocation to low-income or fixed-income people, churches and groups "adversely impacted and displaced by gentrification" because of growth.
  • H. 4009 would let anyone refuse a medical procedure, treatment, device, vaccine or other preventative measures, and allow health care professionals, including physicians, nurses, and allied health providers be protected from any disciplinary action, loss of licensure, or professional penalties for voicing concerns, advocating for patients' medical freedom or access to alternative treatments or disclosing information about "improper actions."
  • H. 3971 would require any businesses with a retail license would be required to take cash.  
  • S. 341 would exempt sales tax for breast pumps and incontinence products. 
South Carolina Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Hopkins, asks questions about a bill detailing how certain topics are taught and how parents can file complaints in state schools on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Jeffrey Collins/AP
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AP
South Carolina Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Hopkins, asks questions about a bill detailing how certain topics are taught and how parents can file complaints in state schools on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

New day, new pod

If it's a Tuesday, it means new South Carolina Lede podcast.

Tuesday's pod looks what's on tap this week at the Statehouse.

Gavin Jackson speaks with University of South Carolina School of Law Professor Derek Black about his new book on Black literacy traced over the centuries in the South. And U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham was in Europe and the Middle East making news, and we rewind to revisit what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during appearances on Capitol Hill last week while inflation remains sticky.

SC Lede, with host Gavin Jackson
SCETV
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SCETV

Daily planner (2/18)

SC House

SC Senate

GAVIN JACKSON

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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