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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: House budget writers OK $15.4B plan, Senate moves property tax bill, NIL twist

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,
Gavin Jackson
Published February 19, 2026 at 6:01 AM EST
The S.C. House Ways and Means Committee meets Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, to pass the proposed state spending plan.
MAAYAN SCHECHTER
/
SCETV
The S.C. House Ways and Means Committee meets Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, to pass the proposed state spending plan.

It's Thursday, Feb. 19.

We've almost wrapped Week 6 of the legislative session.

The House gavels in at 10 a.m. The Senate returns at 11 a.m.

You're reading 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.

Notebook highlights:

  • Takeaways from the House Ways and Means Committee's budget proposal
  • Senate votes to expand property taxes for anyone 65 and up but changes limits for newcomers
  • State Supreme Court race heats up after Senate GOP leader slams optics
The South Carolina Statehouse on Feb. 10 , 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
The South Carolina Statehouse on Feb. 10 , 2026.

$15.4B SC budget heads to House floor

It's the most important piece of legislation the General Assembly tackles every year: the annual state budget that takes effect July 1.

The House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday unanimously approved sending its version of the $15.4 billion general fund spending plan to the floor.

That total price tag is likely to change, House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, told reporters:

There are two unknowns, Bannister said.

The first is the Senate's homestead exemption expansion property tax bill (we report more on that below) and the second is the House's income tax bill and conformity.

Another unknown is potential extra revenue that may be certified before the budget is wrapped up for the year.

As we reported last week, the state's Board of Economic Advisors did not change its revenue forecast as revenue growth in some areas has slowed faster than expected.

In case you missed it, the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office reported:

  • State sales tax revenue is almost $9 million below expectations
  • Withholdings is about $5 million below expectations
  • Corporate income tax is $6.6 million below expectations
  • Non-withholdings is about $54 million above expectations
  • Earned on Investments is about $17 million above expectations

So, what's in the budget? Here are some line-item takeaways:

  • About $119 million to pay for the income tax bill, which reduces the the 6% top income tax rate down to 5.39%
  • $150 million to raise South Carolina's starting teacher pay up to $50,500 — a priority and request of Gov. Henry McMaster
  • $23.2 million to expand the state's private school voucher law, the Education Scholarship Trust Fund
  • $75 million for rural and charter school capital funding
  • The Ways and Means Committee this year has proposed to scrap so-called tuition mitigation, a deal where colleges and universities receive operating money in exchange for freezing tuition on in-state students. Instead, colleges and universities will now get "SC First" dollars tied to STEM programs that lead to in-demand workforce development.
  • $8 million for the University of South Carolina's neurological hospital and rehabilitation
  • $175 million for the Medical University of South Carolina's cancer hospital
  • $102.6 million for costs to maintain the Medicaid program
  • $34 million for changes in federal funding match requirements for SNAP benefits
  • Half-a-billion dollars for infrastructure
  • $66.9 million for a 2% across-the-board pay raise for state employees

One large request missing from the House proposal?

The $150 million requested by the state Commerce Department to offset cost overruns associated with the Scout Motors project in Blythewood.

Here's Bannister:

S.C. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, on $150 million Commerce request 2.18.26

The budget won't be debated by the full House until the week of March 9. That's because the House literally prints the entire massive document for every legislator. It also gives House members — and staff — enough time to prep amendments that will be part of the multiday budget debate.

How do I find the full budget summary control document? Here
How do I find proposed spending by section? Here

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, speaks with fellow lawmakers in the House chamber at the Statehouse on Feb. 18 , 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, speaks with fellow lawmakers in the House chamber at the Statehouse on Feb. 18 , 2026.

Senate OKs homestead exemption expansion with limits

It was a unified vote on a rather giant piece of tax policy.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 44-0 to pass S. 768, a bill that would expand the homestead exemption on primary residence property taxes for anyone 65 and older.

Senators said the legislation both help keeps anyone 65 and older in their homes, without risk of loss, and offers relief to people who have made the Palmetto State their home for the long haul.

It also adds residency requirements — measures added to respond to the sheer amount of growth in South Carolina, now the fastest-growing state in the country.

Sponsored by Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, the legislation was filed to run parallel to the House's income tax bill — H. 4216, sponsored by Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville — that is next up on the Senate floor for debate.

Under bipartisan tweaks made on the floor for people who move to the state:

  • Allows an exemption of $75,000 for anyone 65 and older who moves to the state and lives in South Carolina for five years and the full expansion of $150,000 once they have lived here 10 years
  • Grandfathers in people already living in the state

The legislation also now includes a rare non-severability clause.

That means if one part of the bill goes down in court — say the language about the residency requirements — then the entire bill goes down with it.

The clause was added to the bill by Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, in response to challenges over residency requirements across the country.

The Edgefield Republican told reporters to be safe he wanted to add the clause because while there are different parts of the bill, "all of them are essential" to the legislation.

If the residency requirements were to be struck down, he said the bill would just further entice people to move to South Carolina for a significant property tax exemption.

"I'm not trying to punish anyone, or treat anyone different, but what I don't want to do is exacerbate the problem on growth before we look at the best ways" for the Legislature to address it, he said.

How much did this all cost?

The original proposal had a price tag of nearly $260 million.
Given the changes were made on the floor Wednesday night, the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office has not scored the bill yet.

Calling all millennials!

If you're under age 65, say well under 65, you're probably asking what is there for you?

That's a question the youngest senator, 31-year-old Hartsville Republican Sen. JD Chaplin, asked too.

Chaplin told SC Public Radio he knows the challenges of buying a first home.

He bought his first home last year at age 30, in an area of the state that is arguably more affordable than for example, Charleston or maybe even Greenville.

Chaplin voted for Peeler's bill, and said he doesn't have concerns with it. He just wishes, he said, that it went further.

Here's a bit of what he told us:

S.C. Sen. JD Chaplin, R-Darlington, on S. 768, the homestead exemption expansion bill 2.18.26

We asked Massey specifically about this.

He told reporters home affordability, particularly for younger professionals, is a problem that the Senate recognizes.

Peeler has tasked Sen. Sean Bennett, R-Dorchester, to chair a new Senate Finance subcommittee that Massey says he would expect the topic to be a big part of the panel's conversations.

Whether a bill moves this year?

Massey said he wasn't sure that would happen, but added there's a "willingness" to look at everything more broadly, a benefit for the long term.

What else happened in the Senate?

Because there wasn't enough twists in the upper chamber, the Senate decided to hit pause on legislation that would stop anyone from obtaining name, image and likeness and revenue-sharing deals between student-athletes and colleges and universities via a public records request.

Third reading, which was expected to occur Wednesday, is typically a perfunctory vote in either chamber.

But in the Senate, it can be used to alter a bill, change a vote, or, in the case of H. 4902, stop the bill entirely from reaching the governor's desk.

Back up: The bill passed the Senate Tuesday in a second reading and key 30-13 vote. That same day, the Post and Courier published a report that said while Clemson's athletics department brought in $200 million in revenue, more than $20 million came from the university itself. And, the Charleston-based outlet reported, it's not just Clemson, but other state colleges too. Universities and colleges say the money through those revenue-sharing contracts are private, not public dollars. But therein lies the problem for some state senators who voted against the NIL bill. They have argued that money coming into colleges and universities could be construed as public dollars overseen by a state institution. (Clemson has its budget hearing in the Senate Finance Committee this morning.)

Massey told reporters there was enough information in that Post and Courier report for senators to pause the NIL bill for now.

Here's a bit of what Massey, who is opposed to the bill, said:

S.C. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, on NIL bill pause 2.18.26

Sen. JD Chaplin, R-Darlington, in the Senate chamber at the Statehouse on Feb. 18 , 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
Sen. JD Chaplin, R-Darlington, in the Senate chamber at the Statehouse on Feb. 18 , 2026.

Senate GOP leader jumps on judicial election grenade

South Carolina's 170 legislators will decide March 4 whether Justice John Few will keep his seat on the state Supreme Court, or whether it's time for a newcomer.

One newcomer — former House Speaker Jay Lucas, a Darlington Republican, a not so newcomer to the General Assembly — found himself the target of another public rebuke by the Senate GOP leader this session over the optics surrounding the closely-watched race.

"The public already thinks we don't play by the rules," Massey said from the floor Wednesday. "They think we're all corrupt. They think we're going to pursue those things that are better for us or our friends or relatives."

Recall: The Legislature changed state law last year that now allows more than three candidates to run for a judicial seat per race. There are four candidates total vying for the high court:

  • Incumbent Justice John Few
  • Former House Speaker Jay Lucas
  • State Appeals Court Judge Blake Hewitt
  • Administrative Law Court Judge Ralph Anderson III

All four were certified by the Legislature's screening panel, the Judicial Merit Selection Commission. But Lucas, in particular, has faced the heaviest criticism this election cycle, given his tenure in, and relationship to, the lower chamber and that he is the only candidate without bench experience.

"Electing a former legislative leader to the court with no judicial experience, when he is, by all objective measures, the least qualified for the position, if he's qualified at all, is not right," Massey said. "It is wrong. It gives credence to all the suspicion and attacks. It makes the unfounded founded and the unwarranted warranted. It soils the institution itself."

Massey is not the only senator who has voiced concern over Lucas's candidacy.

State Sen. Luke Rankin, an Horry County Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and serves on the JMSC, penned a statement, in which he said Lucas's candidacy raised questions and risks "further inflaming skepticism about the process and about the justice our courts administer every day."

Will Massey move votes?

South Carolina is one of two states where lawmakers elect most judges. And, in the Legislature, the Senate are the underdogs.

The Senate has 46 senators to the House's 124 members, giving the lower chamber a significant upper hand over judicial elections.

Massey later told reporters, informally, he's heard Lucas is "very close" to the needed number — 86 — of members.

"But I also heard it was soft," Massey added.

Read more:

Statehouse daily planner (2/19)

SC House

SC Senate

SC governor

  • 10 a.m. — Gov. Henry McMaster to speak at the Council of Governors 32nd plenary meeting in Washington, D.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