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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: Senate tweaks income tax bill, House OKs new college student safety training

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,
Gavin Jackson
Published February 25, 2026 at 6:01 AM EST
Chauncey, Coastal Carolina University's official mascot, at the Statehouse on Feb. 24 , 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
Chauncey the Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University's official mascot, at the Statehouse on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.

It's Wednesday, Feb. 25.

The House gavels in at 10 a.m.

The Senate returns at 12:15 p.m.

Both chambers will meet in a joint assembly at 12:30 p.m. to hear from the Dan Wiley, American Legion national commander.

Chauncey the Chanticleer, Coastal Carolina University's official mascot, wants you to read 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:

  • Income tax legislation clears the Senate with a tweak, and what the property tax homestead exemption legislation will now cost
  • New college student safety training courses could be required on campuses this fall after House vote
  • State GOP changes up schedule for governor debates
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.

Senate clears tax policy from desk. What's next?

Legislation to further cut the state's top income tax rate — with the stated goal to in part require more South Carolinians to pay into the system and phase the tax out completely in years to come — cleared the Senate on Tuesday in a 39-5 vote.

What's next for H. 4216, sponsored by House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville?

The legislation will go back to the House after the upper chamber made a slight, but significant change to the bill.

The House will now have to decide whether to accept the new version or amend the bill again, which would likely force the bill into a conference committee between the two chambers to work out a compromise.

S.C. REVENUE AND FISCAL AFFAIRS OFFICE

What does the bill now do?

The legislation:

  • Eliminates the federal standard and itemized deductions, and lets state taxpayers claim a state income adjusted deduction
  • Shifts the state's 6% top income tax rate down to 5.21%
  • Requires that anyone with taxable income of up to $30,000 pay a 1.99% income tax
  • Requires that anyone with taxable income above $30,000 pay a 5.21% income tax
  • Eventually phases the income tax to zero, if the state takes in enough revenue, but this would takes years, maybe decades in the future

Why the change?

Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, proposed the amendment, asking the Senate to speed up the top rate cut from the original 5.39% to now 5.21% — a shift that was expected in Year 2 of the proposed law — to lessen the immediate impact on certain taxpayers.

The change was co-signed by Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee.

On Tuesday, we reported who the original bill affected:

  • 26.7% of returns will see an increase in their liability
  • 38.7% of returns will see a decrease in their liability
  • 34.6% of returns will not see a change in their liability

Who is affected under the new, amended legislation?

  • 22.6% of returns will see an increase in their liability
  • 42.8% of returns will see a decrease in their liability
  • 34.6% of returns will still not see a change in their liability

Reminder: Many South Carolinians, around 44% of tax filers, do not pay income taxes. The state income tax makes up a decent portion of the state's budget revenue every year, about 45%.

So, what's the cost of the bill?

Under the original legislation, the state's general fund budget took a roughly $119 million hit.

The amended bill more than doubles the cost to $308.7 million.

The Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office has also now updated its fiscal impact of S. 768, the homestead exemption property tax legislation passed by the Senate last week.

That price tag now comes in slightly lower at more than $247.6 million.

Reporters spoke with Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, D-Richland, about her opposition to the income tax bill bill.
Here's what she said:

S.C. Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, D-Richland, on income tax legislation 2.24.26

ICYMI: Have questions about the issue over tax conformity, and when or if lawmakers might take the bill up? Click here for more information.

What else did the Senate do?

  • The Senate unanimously passed S. 732, sponsored by Sen. Allen Blackmon, R-Lancaster, that sets new penalties for child sexual abuse crimes. You can read more from the SC Daily Gazette here.
  • The Senate sent the House a bill — S. 70, sponsored by Senate Education Chairman Greg Hembree, R-Horry — that requires the State Board of Education to adopt an ethics policy for local school boards, and requires school boards to adopt local board ethics.
  • The Senate voted to reject House-made changes to a Senate bill — S. 477, sponsored by Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort — that in part excludes intrauterine devices, or IUDs, from the state definition of “self-administered hormonal contraceptive.”
  • A Senate Education subcommittee slightly amended and moved the House-approved so-called "bathroom bill" to the full Senate Education Committee in a 3-2 party line vote. The bill — H. 4756 sponsored by York Republican Rep. Tommy Pope — requires a person at K-12 public schools and public colleges and universities to use a restroom, changing facility or locker room or an overnight dorm sleeping multiple students that corresponds with their biological sex at birth. The House included a provision that all school buildings must have at least one single-user restroom and changing facility.
  • The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee voted to advance the hemp-derived consumable regulation bill — H. 3924, sponsored by Rep. Chris Wooten, R-Lexington — that would define "consumable hemp products," regulate sales of hemp-derived consumables to stores with valid alcohol licenses, and prohibit sales and consumption to anyone under 21.

What's next on the Senate floor?

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said the plan is to take up legislation — S. 325, sponsored by Massey and co-sponsored by Senate President Thomas Alexander — that would abolish the Consumer Affairs Commission in its current form, and turn it into a Cabinet agency under the governor.

Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, walks through the Statehouse lobby ahead of the legislative sesion at the Statehouse on Feb. 24 , 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, walks through the Statehouse lobby ahead of the legislative sesion at the Statehouse on Feb. 24 , 2026.

Lawmakers want to tighten campus safety

Responding to deadly shootings on college campuses both nationally and in South Carolina, the House on Tuesday unanimously passed legislation to enhance safety training for students.

In a bipartisan, unanimous vote, the House passed H. 5205, sponsored by Rep. Tim McGinnis, R-Horry, that largely would require public colleges and universities, including technical colleges, to develop a safety training program for new students.

Under the bill, the safety training orientation must be given to new students within the first month they arrive on campus, with some exceptions for certain students.

The training would include areas around emergency procedures, access to campus security, how to respond to sexual assaults and dating violence, and bystander intervention and reporting.

Additionally, the bill also requires colleges to annually submit a security report.

House Education and Public Works Chairwoman Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, on Tuesday called the bill a first step.

Lawmakers started discussions over a previous iteration of the bill last year, following the September assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus.

"It's a shame we have to deal with this," McGinnis said at the time. "Life's tough enough without having to worry about the safety of your child, or your child having to worry about their own safety when they're ... just going to school, trying to learn."

Legislators said the bill was further emphasized following the two deadly shootings on the campus of S.C. State University in Orangeburg that occurred over the span of a little more than four months, in early October and earlier this month.

The university has now implemented new on-campus policies.

What's next for the House?

Based on the lower chamber's wide open schedule, we may all be in for a combination wicked and wonky Wednesday (sorry).

The House is expected to debate H. 4762, legislation sponsored by Rep. Steven Long, R-Spartanburg, that would require an 11-by-14 inch Ten Commandments poster to be displayed in every K-12 public school and college and university classrooms no later than January 2027.

The legislation states other historical documents — the Emancipation Proclamation, the Declaration of Independence, the Mayflower Compact and the Northwest Ordinance — can also be displayed.

The bill also allows school districts and charter schools to have volunteer school chaplains, who must meet background checks.

South Carolina is following Louisiana and Arkansas’s lead on this legislation, both of which have faced different judicial fates.

The Louisiana Illuminator reported the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a June decision from a three-judge panel that determined the state's 2024 state law was “plainly unconstitutional,” and upheld a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the law. The ruling now lifts that injunction and allows Louisiana to require all schools display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

A federal judge blocked a similar Arkansas law in August.

Other bills on the House calendar?

The calendar also includes holdover legislation on hemp and a bill that deals with doctor non-compete contracts.

Whatever happens, we will cover in Thursday's Gavel.

S.C. House Education and Public Works Chairwoman Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, presents the college campus safety bill on the House floor Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Columbia, S.C.
SCETV
S.C. House Education and Public Works Chairwoman Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, presents the college campus safety bill on the House floor Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Columbia, S.C.

SCGOP releases new debate schedule

The South Carolina Republican Party has amended its gubernatorial debate schedule, citing scheduling conflicts from venues and candidates.

The new schedule is:

  • April 1: Newberry Opera House
  • April 21: College of Charleston
  • May 26: Wofford College in Spartanburg
  • June 16: Costal Carolina University (for runoff, if needed)

The state GOP is holding all the debates in partnership with Gray Media. All debates will be carried on Gray Media stations.

"We appreciate everyone’s flexibility as we work to ensure these debates are accessible, well-organized, and beneficial to Republican voters across our state," state GOP Chairman Drew McKissick said in a statement. "The coming election represents the first truly open governor’s race for Republicans since 2010, and we remain focused on creating meaningful opportunities for voters to hear from our candidates as they consider who to support in the months ahead.”

South Carolina's statewide primary election is June 9.

Candidate filing opens in mid-March.

Statehouse daily planner (2/25)

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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