Happy Thursday.
There are three days left on the South Carolina Legislature's calendar.
Sine die — the traditional term for an end to a legislative calendar — is 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 8.
You're reading The State House Gavel, a daily reporter notebook by reporters Gavin Jackson, Russ McKinney and Maayan Schechter that previews and captures what goes on at the South Carolina Statehouse this year while lawmakers are in session.
Notebook highlights:
- The governor is expected to sign the K-12 private school voucher bill passed by the full Legislature as of Thursday that includes a third-party trustee to oversee the program.
- The House advanced an energy bill that they say is a compromise with the Senate.
- House and Senate leaders say they're negotiating a way to respond to bars and restaurants insurance fears before session ends. Read what the Senate's GOP leader says after House leadership said no final move on his tort reform push this year.
- In case you missed it, lawmakers delay movement on a high school sports bill this year.
Voucher bill heads to gov's desk
A bill is on its way to Gov. Henry McMaster that once again sets up a publicly-funded voucher, or scholarship, program that low- and middle-income parents can apply for student tuition at private and religious schools.
The bill given final approval by the House Thursday in a 73-32 vote establishes a program which says families can apply for a $7,500 voucher to pay for private school tuition if, in the first year, their household poverty limit is 300%. The bill sets the household poverty limit at 500% for years after.
The money would be paid from through the state budget.
Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled that a similar program violated the state Constitution’s prohibition of spending public tax dollars for the "direct benefit" of private institutions.
One key difference in the revamped bill?
Lawmakers installed a third-party trustee appointed by the superintendent of education that would run the program — what they see as a workaround of the high court's 2024 ruling.
In its original form, the legislation — S. 62, the Education Scholarship Trust Fund — funded the vouchers through the state Lottery account. The House changed the funding mechanism to the state budget, giving lawmakers say over how the program gets funded every year.
House Education and Public Works Chairwoman Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, and Senate Education Chairman Greg Hembree, R-Horry, struck a compromise that is now headed to the governor's desk.
“It's not everything I wanted, but I'm not going to let the perfect be the death of the good," Erickson said.
The governor is expected to sign the measure into law.
But another constitutional legal challenge is highly likely to follow.
Energy, a 2025 priority, advances
A leadership priority this session, the House on Thursday agreed to what they called a compromise amendment on an energy capacity bill that supporters say will help fulfill South Carolina's growing energy needs.
In an 88-13 vote, the House amended H. 3309 and sent the bill to the Senate. State Rep. Gil Gatch, a Dorchester Republican who helped push the bill through the House, said the advanced bill is the compromise with the Senate.
"It took a second to get it done, but after long last we did get a resolution where we believe this version, that was passed by the House, is going to be concurred with in the Senate when it gets over there," he told reporters after the vote.
The bill does not include language on data centers, what reporters were told was one of the final issues to be negotiated.
Gatch called the bill a "great middle ground" to get it across the finish line and to the governor's desk for his signature.
Gatch said data centers can be addressed later down the road.
You can find the amended bill here.
The bill now heads over to the Senate.
The latest over 'liquor liability plus'
Negotiations are happening.
Both House and Senate negotiators told reporters this week that the two sides are discussing a way to respond to bars and restaurants that say without some measure of liquor liability, they could close their doors permanently.
But what that end agreement may be still has not been fully disclosed publicly.
House Judiciary Chairman Weston Newton, R-Beaufort, said they will not pass the Senate's tort reform package, S. 244, this session that ends next Thursday.
There are, he said, too few days remaining in the session and House lawmakers have not been able to vet the omnibus bill that deals with victims, liquor liability, joint and several measures, medical malpractice, auto insurance manufacturing, trucking and more.
Instead, Newton on Thursday held the first of what is to be several hearings of the Judiciary's ad hoc tort reform committee that will sort through the larger questions of tort reform.
But, for now, the House has added its liquor liability bill onto several Senate bills in hopes that it can be the legislative vehicle to respond to bar and restaurant demands before going home.
The two chambers are not only trying to strike a compromise, but they've brought on a legal mediator to help sort through the negotiations.
“Clearly the message from the Senate’s been that just liquor liability’s not enough,” Newton said, according to WIS.
(You can listen to part of our interview with Newton here.)
As of Thursday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey — an Edgefield Republican who has been a part of negotiations — told reporters the two sides had not yet struck a compromise but "we're still talking."
You can listen to more of that interview below:
High school sports changes delayed
A House bill — H. 4163 — calling for the wholesale replacement of the South Carolina High School League with a new governing athletic association has been punted to next year.
The bill's chief sponsor, House Education Chair Erickson, said that recent discussions with the current SCHSL board left her encouraged that for the first time in years members of the governing board seem inclined to work with lawmakers to address lingering problems.
Lawmakers have heard chronic complaints about league rulings concerning student athlete eligibility, league championships and the roles charter and magnet schools should play in competition with public high schools.
“This dumpster fire has been burning for a long time,” Rep. James Teeple, R-Charleston, said. “It’s time to gut this organization."
The bill will be on the committee’s agenda again in January.
Clips from around the state
- SC governor gives himself final say over whether to close Midlands state offices in bad weather (SC Daily Gazette)
- Boat taxes would be cut under SC bill on the move, but it may have to wait until next year (Post and Courier)
- South Carolina bill could help new Catawba Indian Nation
police department with much-needed recruiting (WBTV) - Vice President JD Vance at Nucor steel: The 'great American comeback has begun' (Post and Courier)
- Limestone University’s closure could impact local charter schools: Here’s how (WSPA)
- For first time in memory, no Charleston area residents will be on SC Ports Authority Board (Post and Courier)
- Aiken Chamber brings largest group to S.C. Chamber's Small Business Day at Statehouse event (Aiken Standard)
- Protesters gather in Columbia as part of coast-to-coast May Day demonstration (SC Daily Gazette)
- Leader of SC Statehouse Family Caucus abruptly resigns as feud among conservatives breaks out (Post and Courier)
- Bill that would change South Carolina income tax law advances, but with some changes (WLTX)
