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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 passes bill to put Ten Commandments in classrooms, ADs on defense over contracts

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,
Gavin Jackson
Published February 26, 2026 at 6:01 AM EST
at the Statehouse on Feb. 25 , 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
at the Statehouse on Feb. 25 , 2026.

It's Thursday, Feb. 27.

House Speaker Murrell Smith will gavel in at 10 a.m. And Senate President Thomas Alexander will gavel his chamber in at 11 a.m.

We're told it's going to be a "light" day for both chambers.

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.

Remember liquor liability?

As part of the new law that started this year, anyone who works at least 10 hours per week serving alcohol or oversees alcohol service, like a manager, for on-site drinking must take the required online alcohol server training program.

The deadline is supposed to hit next week on March 2.

But House and Senate leaders have both said that thousands of workers, about 80%, still need to take the online course after a delay in implementation.

House Judiciary Chairman Weston Newton, R-Beaufort, told colleagues late Wednesday that House and Senate leaders reached a deal to extend the deadline to May 1, giving employees more time to get their certification.

Notebook highlights:

  • House GOP lawmakers defeat Democrats' attempted changes to Ten Commandments legislation
  • University athletic directors go on defense — or offense — over bill shielding contracts with athletes
  • No matter how you slice it, mid-decade redistricting push hits a wall
  • A bipartisan-led future? A Melrose Place star wants South Carolina to embrace a new path forward
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.

House bill requires Ten Commandments in classrooms

The Republican-controlled House passed legislation in an 84-31 vote, mostly along party lines, that would require at least an 11-by-14 inch Ten Commandments poster to be displayed in every K-12 public school and college classroom no later than January 2027.

Rep. Steven Long, R-Spartanburg, sponsored the legislation — H. 4762 — that seeks to align South Carolina with a law that the state of Louisiana has passed.

Last week, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a June decision from a three-judge panel that had determined Louisiana's 2024 state law was “plainly unconstitutional,” and upheld a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the law. The Appeals Court ruling lifts that injunction and lets Louisiana require schools to display the document in each class.

Under Long's bill, the language mentions other historical documents — the Emancipation Proclamation, the Declaration of Independence, the Mayflower Compact and the Northwest Ordinance — can also be displayed.

Additionally, the bill allows school districts and charter schools to have volunteer school chaplains, who must meet required background checks and requires parents' written consent for their child to participate.

Democrats, who make up 36 of the chamber's 124 seats, tried unsuccessfully to further tweak the bill.

In one case, state Rep. Roger Kirby, R-Florence, proposed requiring the Ten Commandments to be placed inside the Statehouse instead.

"Let's post the Ten Commandments under the exit sign, make it a nice big poster, so when were all in here, when we're talking about a bill, or each other, we can look up there" and be reminded of them, Kirby said.

While a "great idea," Long said the bill was not right vehicle.

And Rep. David Weeks, a Sumter Democrat, lawyer and church deacon and school teacher, tried three times to add the Golden Rule language to the bill.

“Don’t you think that completes the whole spirit?" Weeks said. “So, why don’t we do what Jesus did, adopt what Jesus said and tell Louisiana be damned. This South Carolina and we’re going to stand with Jesus, and if you really believe that you’ll stand with this amendment.”

That strategy did not work.

“I don’t appreciate people mocking my faith,” Long responded . “I don’t appreciate questioning the integrity of my Christian faith and being a follower of Christ through the legislative process. I think the bill is very important. That doesn’t mean you get to come in here and question my faith.”

Weeks later apologized, but added, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I might as well let you know that I stand for."

It wasn't the only form of legislative protest Democrats tried.

Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, belted from the well "Lift Every Voice and Sing," what's become known as the Black National Anthem.

And Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg, gave his colleagues a roughly 10-minute silent treatment, displaying a sign that read, "Cloture Silenced Christian Voices."

Attached to the printed memo was Exodus 14:14.

"The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still."

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, speaks with Rep. Steven Long, R-Spartanburg, about his bill that would require the Ten Commandments be displayed in all classrooms in every public school, college and university in the state at the Statehouse on Feb. 25 , 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, speaks with Rep. Steven Long, R-Spartanburg, about his bill that would require the Ten Commandments be displayed in all classrooms in every public school, college and university in the state at the Statehouse on Feb. 25 , 2026.

Senators put college ADs on defense over NIL bill

Athletic directors from the University of South Carolina, Clemson University and Coastal Carolina University told a South Carolina Senate committee on Wednesday that no "direct institutional support" from their respective colleges goes toward the revenue-sharing program with university athletes.

Looking to emphasize that point, USC's Jeremiah Donati, Clemson's Graham Neff and Coastal's Chance Miller each promised senators that no state dollars are or will be used in the pot of money disseminated to their school's athletic teams, and student-athletes.

At the center of the debate over each department's finances is a bill — H. 4902, sponsored by House Majority Leader Davey Hiott, R-Hiott — that would keep secret how much colleges dole out per year to specific athletes, or even the separate teams, through their school's revenue-sharing program.

Colleges argue that without that legislation, their schools will be put at a real competitive disadvantage and potentially open athletes up to privacy concerns.

Hear their testimony below:

S.C. university athletic directors testify about revenue-sharing contracts 2.25.26

Were senators swayed?

It depends who you ask.

A handful of the senators who originally voted against the legislation raised their same concerns over transparency.

Here's Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson:

S.C. Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, on NIL legislation 2.25.26

Go back: Just last week, the Senate voted 30-13 on a key second reading to send the governor the name, image and likeness bill that tackles the public disclosure limit on revenue-sharing contracts. Of course, a day later, that bill was temporarily put on pause following a Post and Courier report on the "direct institutional support" provided to USC and Clemson's athletic departments via their respective universities that raised questions within the upper chamber over whether public dollars were flowing into students' athletic contracts.

Look forward: The bill is still sitting on the Senate calendar, in the final third reading spot, and could still make its way to the governor's desk soon. Gov. Henry McMaster has not said publicly whether he plans to veto the bill over transparency concerns.

Read more from around the state:

From left, athletic directors Jeremiah Donati with the University of South Carolina, Graham Neff with Clemson University and Chance Miller with Coastal Carolina University testify Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, at a Senate Education Committee hearing on a bill that deals with name, image and likeness and revenue-sharing contracts.
SCETV
From left, athletic directors Jeremiah Donati with the University of South Carolina, Graham Neff with Clemson University and Chance Miller with Coastal Carolina University testify Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, at a Senate Education Committee hearing on a bill that deals with name, image and likeness and revenue-sharing contracts.

Mid-decade redistricting attempt hits a dead end — again

As we have previously reported — and House and Senate leadership, and the governor's office have all previously said — mid-decade redistricting is not going anywhere this year.

That hasn't stopped a push to do so from some of the Legislature's more conservative Republican legislators, who want to redraw the state's congressional map.

A House Judiciary panel took only testimony over H. 4717, sponsored by House Freedom Caucus Chair Jordan Pace, R-Berkeley, that would redraw the state's seven congressional districts.

The goal, Pace said of the bill, was to make the map more fair and competitive.

South Carolina Rep. Jordan Pace, R-Goose Creek, listens during a House subcommittee hearing on a new U.S. House map he proposed but is not backed by Republican legislative leaders on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Columbia, S.C.
Jeffrey Collins/AP
/
AP
South Carolina Rep. Jordan Pace, R-Goose Creek, listens during a House subcommittee hearing on a new U.S. House map he proposed but is not backed by Republican legislative leaders on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Columbia, S.C.

Why it's an uphill battle for the bill: South Carolina's congressional districts are currently broken down by six Republicans to one Democrat, longtime Congressman Jim Clyburn. The legislation isn't backed by any Republican leaders, and Statehouse leaders have already publicly stated, several times, they believe tinkering with the map would only hurt, not help, Republicans in the end. Plus, they add the U.S. Supreme Court has already upheld the map. The calendar also continues to get more narrow for the Legislature, particularly for the House which plans to take two weeks off. Candidate filing also opens in mid-March, and sine die is May 14.

“What do I tell Democrats in other parts of the state who feel as though the other congressional districts are gerrymandered or drawn in such a way that a Democrat could never win?” Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg, asked CJ Westfall, chairman of the Dorchester County Republican Party.

Westfall said Democrats need to flip those districts, six of them Republican-leaning, on their own.

“Elections have consequences. That's just the reality that we live in is that the voters in this state have chosen to give us a supermajority on the Republican side,” Westfall said. “It's up to us to decide what we do with that. And it's up to Democrats to go change hearts and minds.”

Westfall said Pace's proposed map would make those Republican districts more competitive, but still give Republicans a double-digit advantage, whereas a redrawn Clyburn-represented 6th District would only have a slight Democratic advantage.

Read more:

League of Women Voters of South Carolina Vice President Lynn Teague speaks at a South Carolina House subcommittee hearing on a new U.S. House map proposed by the Freedom Caucus but not backed by Republican legislative leaders on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Columbia, S.C.
Jeffrey Collins/AP
/
AP
League of Women Voters of South Carolina Vice President Lynn Teague speaks at a South Carolina House subcommittee hearing on a new U.S. House map proposed by the Freedom Caucus but not backed by Republican legislative leaders on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Bipartisan coalition launch new SC initiative

If you were a fan of 90s television, you probably did a double take seeing Melrose Place actor Andrew Shue walking around the Statehouse Wednesday.

No, it wasn't a sign of aging eyes.

That was really him.

And he came to South Carolina to help propose an idea and launch a new initiative called the South Carolina Forum, where Democrats, Republicans and others work together to find ways with the goal to better the state.

The group will be co-chaired by former South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson and longtime GOP strategist Dave Wilson who, with lawmakers, launched the effort described as a nonpartisan, voter-driven initiative to bring a broad base of people to engage and push legislation for state lawmakers to consider.

You can watch their press conference below:

Statehouse daily planner (2/26)

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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