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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 lawmakers return with a few new members, DUI legislation advances

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,
Gavin Jackson
Published January 14, 2026 at 6:01 AM EST
Rep. Greg Ford, R-Dorchester, is sworn-in by House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, during the first day of the legislative session at the South Carolina Statehouse on Jan. 13, 2026. Ford won the District 98 special election to fill former Republican Rep. Chris Murphy's seat following his resignation. He narrowly beat Democrat Sonja Ogletree Satani by 21 votes.
Gavin Jackson
New S.C. Rep. Greg Ford, R-Dorchester, is sworn in by House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, during the first day of the legislative session at the South Carolina Statehouse on Jan. 13, 2026. Ford won the District 98 special election to fill former Republican Rep. Chris Murphy's seat following his resignation. Ford narrowly beat Democrat Sonja Ogletree Satani by 21 votes.

Statehouse reporters Gavin Jackson 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.

It's Wednesday, Jan. 14.

Counting today, there are 53 days left on the Legislature's calendar.

The Senate gavels in at 1 p.m., and the House returns at 2 p.m.

This is the The State House Gavel, your daily reporter notebook by Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson that previews and captures what goes on at the South Carolina Statehouse.

The first day of the 2026 session — the start of the second year of the two-year legislative cycle — started with routine decorum.

House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, swore in four new members:

  • Rep. Dianne Mitchell, R-Greenville (House District 21)
  • Rep. Greg Ford, R-Dorchester (House District 98)
  • Rep. John Lastinger, R-Lexington (House District 88)
  • Rep. Keishan Scott, D-Lee (House District 50)

And Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, swore in the newest senator (yet still a former), Sen. Lee Bright, a Spartanburg Republican.

With all five new legislators now taken the oath of office, it means for the first time in months that the General Assembly is at its official capacity of 170 members.

Notebook highlights:

  • From DUI, to homestead exemption and roads: What the Legislature actually did on Day 1 and Day 2 highlights
  • Former GOP lawmaker RJ May will be sentenced to federal prison today on child sexual abuse material charges, ending a rather ugly chapter for the Statehouse
  • A new, hopefully regular addition of the quote of the day
Reporters Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson, host of This Week in South Carolina and the SC Lede podcast.
Andre Bellamy/SCETV
Reporters Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson, host of This Week in South Carolina and the SC Lede podcast.

Day 1 recap: Roads, DUI and Heritage Act.

No one not paying attention missed any significant floor activity on the first day.

That's because there really wasn't any.

That is expected to change, at least in part, today.

Let's recap Day 1:

  • The 23-member Family Caucus held its first press conference of the year, laying out priorities it plans to push over the next five months. Abortion restrictions, easing access to adoption and legislation to require women and men use spaces identified with their biological sex were a few top priorities for the group of Republican lawmakers.
  • Republicans Sen. Lee Bright and Rep. Rob Harris, both of Spartanburg, announced a restrictive abortion ban bill that would outright ban the procedure (the state has a six-week ban with exceptions) and classify abortion as a homicide. Never say never at the Statehouse, but as we previewed in Tuesday's Gavel, getting a bill this restrictive through the Republican-controlled Legislature will still be a tough battle. First, Harris has filed similar legislation previously to see it go nowhere. And a restrictive abortion bill filed by another senator, Sen. Richard Cash, failed to advance through the committee process late last year.

Here's a snapshot of what the Senate did on Day 1:

  • DUI: A Senate Judiciary subcommittee amended S. 52, a bill that Senate leaders say will strengthen the state's DUI laws. The bill was advanced by the full Senate Judiciary Committee and now heads to the floor. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, has said this legislation will be priority, and we expect a debate to start this month. A related DUI bill, S.192, was carried over for another subcommittee hearing.
  • Heritage Act: A Senate Finance subcommittee revisited the Heritage Act, a 2000 law that was part of the compromise to move the Confederate flag from the dome to the grounds by protecting certain American war, Native American and African American monuments, statues and road names on public grounds and buildings from being removed or altered. The bill, S. 508, which has 30 sponsors, would expand what falls under the law, and give greater powers to groups to sue to stop removal. The bill advanced to the full Senate Finance Committee, with opposition from the Municipal Association and the Association of Counties, with both saying their members believe it will preempt local authority. Senators said the bill will likely be amended.
  • Homestead Exemption: The same Senate Finance subcommittee also advanced a bill, S. 768, filed by Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, that would increase the exemption from $50,000 to $100,000, and lower the age from 65 to 60. The cost? Roughly $245 million. Senators on the panel ultimately voted to advanced the proposal, but offered concern that with increased population growth, particularly the aging population growth, the Legislature should "not just wave the green flag" to increase it further, said Sen. Greg Hembree, a Republican who represents a district in the fast-growing Horry County.

Here's a House snapshot:

  • Roads: An ad hoc committee set up by the speaker to help modernize the state transportation department and get projects moving sifted through a working document Tuesday for forthcoming legislation that would streamline operations at the agency that is overseeing nearly $7 billion in infrastructure projects. The document so far includes draft language that would allow for tolling, an increase to electric car fees and congestion mitigation fees for new housing developments. The document also calls for DOT to take on the responsibility of the Federal Highway Administration for environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act, and reform county transportation committees. "We're not going to create a Jersey Turnpike in South Carolina," ad-hoc Co-Chair, Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, said. The committee plans to meet again Thursday.
during the first day of the legislative session at the South Carolina Statehouse on Jan. 13, 2026.
Gavin Jackson
The S.C. House SCDOT modernization ad hoc committee met during the first day of the legislative session at the South Carolina Statehouse on Jan. 13, 2026.

What do we expect today?

  • House: The chamber is knocking out a slew of Ways and Means budget-writing hearings in the morning. That's followed by a hearing over H. 4756, the so-called "South Carolina Student Physical Privacy Act" (often referred to as the "bathroom bill") filed by Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York. There's also H.4817, the coined "Insurance Rate Reduction and Policyholder Protection Act" in a Banking and Insurance Subcommittee. At noon, the House Judiciary Constitutional Laws Subcommittee will meet on H. 4760 and H. 3537, dealing with abortion-inducing medication and Harris' anti-abortion legislation that we mentioned above, respectively. And we're told the House is in "calendar mode," clearing its schedule to make way for priority legislation on the floor.
  • Senate: Like the House, most of the action is happening in its committees. A Senate Finance subcommittee will take the first bite of H. 4216, the House's income tax bill. They'll also tackle continuing resolution legislation and S. 779, bringing back that $1,000-a-month in-district pay for legislators we highlighted Tuesday. The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee will also deal with H. 3924, dealing with the sale of hemp-derived consumables. And on the floor, beyond clearing the calendar, we understand the Senate will debate Speaker Murrell Smith's bill, H. 3007, which would let the General Assembly request Congress call a convention of states over a balanced budget. Around 27 states have passed similar bills to call for a Convention of States. The bill is currently blocked on the calendar by Sen. Deon Tedder, D-Charleston. But there's always the option to set the bill on special order, meaning it circumvents being blocked.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Greg Hembree, R-Horry, speaks with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, in the Senate Chamber during the first day of the legislative session at the South Carolina Statehouse on Jan. 13, 2026.
Gavin Jackson
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Greg Hembree, R-Horry, speaks with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, in the Senate Chamber during the first day of the legislative session at the South Carolina Statehouse on Jan. 13, 2026.

RJ May's final day in court

Closing a rather ugly chapter for the Statehouse, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, former Republican state lawmaker RJ May will be sentenced to prison in federal court.

Federal prosecutors say they will ask the court to sentence May, 39, to prison for 20 years in his child sexual abuse material case.

The U.S. Attorney's Office of South Carolina said in a sentencing memo filed Jan. 9 prosecutors will also ask federal Judge Cameron Currie to follow that sentence with lifetime supervision and $73,000 in restitution for eight victims who submitted requests.

May, who helped launched the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus while in office and ran a political consulting firm that ran campaigns for several of his House colleagues, has asked the court to cut that sentence considerably.

Instead, he has asked Currie to give him 60 months, or five years, in prison, followed by a "significant period" of home confinement with special conditions.

The father of two says his divorce will soon be finalized, and after prison he will live on the family's farm in rural Virginia.

"As a result of my crimes, and perhaps justifiably so, the life I had is forever foreclosed. My arrest marked the swift and total destruction of all my hopes and dreams," May wrote the court. "Every plan has been shattered. Every worldly possession is gone."

Among character letters from family members, inmates and friends on behalf of May includes his former Lexington House colleague, Rep. Ryan McCabe, who has kept rather quiet on May at the Statehouse throughout the past year.

As far as the sentence, McCabe asked the judge to give May's two young children the "opportunity to have some relationship with their father while they are still young. I love and worry about these two wonderful kids that need to know their father — even if he’s flawed."

Prosecutors said nine victims and three parents submitted impact statements.

In one statement, submitted by a victim named Lily, she wrote the impact has caused her "unending grief."

"My kids are around the ages that I was when sexually abusive things happened to me including the creation of CSAM; seeing how innocent my children are makes me understand more — not just how vulnerable I was — but also even more how sickening it is that perpetrators view the images of me being sexually abused at those ages. It hits me harder emotionally," she wrote.

FILE — South Carolina Rep. RJ May, R-West Columbia, speaks in favor of an education voucher bill on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, in Columbia, S.C.
Jeffrey Collins/AP
/
AP
FILE — South Carolina Rep. RJ May, R-West Columbia, speaks in favor of an education voucher bill on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, in Columbia, S.C.

Quote of the day

"There've been so many roads in the Pee Dee named for people, that people are now starting to name their children for the roads." — Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry

South Carolina state Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Little River, speaks about a bill altering the procedure used to elect judges in the state, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Jeffrey Collins/AP
/
AP
South Carolina state Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Little River, speaks on the Senate floor on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Daily Statehouse planner (1/14)

SC House

SC Senate

SC governor

  • 9:30 a.m. — Gov. McMaster will host the 2026 Governor’s Economic Summit at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center
  • Noon — Lt. Gov. Evette will join the Crime Stoppers Appreciation Month news conference in Greenville
  • 6 p.m. — Gov. McMaster will speak at the S.C. Manufacturers and Commerce's legislative event, Business Speaks, in Columbia
The S.C. Statehouse on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Columbia, S.C.
MAAYAN SCHECHTER/SCETV
The S.C. Statehouse on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Columbia, S.C.

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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