The State House Gavel: Lawmakers push alcohol server training extension, NIL bill goes to gov after delay

It's Friday, Feb. 27.

That's a wrap on Week 7 of the legislative session.

Next week starts March.

And that means 11 more weeks and 33 more days on the South Carolina Legislature's official 2026 calendar. Sine die is May 14.

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.

For your calendars: The House plans to take two weeks of furlough, the week of March 16 (after the House finishes the budget debate) and the week of April 6 after Easter. The Senate is expected to take the Thursday before Easter off, and be in a perfunctory session the week of April 6, meaning no floor work. The Senate, however, does expect to take care of committee work that week, namely the Senate Finance Committee as they craft their version of the state budget.

High and belated honor: The late longtime South Carolina politics and Statehouse reporter Lee Bandy will be honored by the South Carolina Press Association March 6, when he is inducted posthumously into the state's Journalism Hall of Fame. Bandy will be only the second reporter ever honored. Read more here by The State's Sammy Fretwell.

In the spirit of the Legislature's "light" Thursdays, we will give ourselves and everyone else a break and make this a light(er) gavel.

Notebook highlights:

• Lawmakers move fast to extend alcohol server training deadline after delays
• Legislation that keeps revenue-sharing contracts between colleges and student-athletes secret gets a key final vote
• How candidates for governor say they'll work with the Legislature

Andre Bellamy/SCETV

Lawmakers to extend alcohol training after delays

Thousands of workers in South Carolina's hospitality businesses still haven't taken the state-required alcohol server training course, a requirement of the new liquor liability law passed last year.

Lawmakers said only about 20% of eligible employees who serve alcohol or oversee drinking establishments have taken the in-person or online program.

So, in a deal reached late Wednesday, House and Senate leaders announced the Legislature will extend the deadline from the original March 2 to now May 1.

That should give employees enough time to take the course, which can take several hours to complete, lawmakers said Thursday.

The House passed a joint resolution — H. 5261 — Thursday to quickly extend the deadline. It will be read across the Senate desk next week, with the goal for Gov. Henry McMaster to sign it by Friday, said House Judiciary Chairman Weston Newton, R-Beaufort.

Gavel readers will recall that back in January, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, previewed this problem.

That's when he took the Senate floor and told his colleagues that the state Department of Revenue was having a tough go at implementing the new regulations in the broader effort to lower liquor liability insurance rates for bars and restaurants.

Here's what he said then:

Newton told his House colleagues Friday that word through the state Department of Insurance is that insurance companies are not yet offering any reductions, premiums or discounts because 80% of eligible workers are still not certified.

For more information about the program, click here.

Missed the House debate over the resolution? Listen below:

SCETV

Fast-tracked NIL bill shielding contracts heads to gov

Rather quickly Thursday, the Senate, by voice, voted to end the delay over H. 4902, the name, image and likeness bill that includes a measure shielding revenue-sharing contracts between colleges and student-athletes from the public.

The voice vote means we don't actually know the breakdown of how each senator voted, but it was clear that despite the midweek hiccup, there were plenty of votes to push the bill through.

The legislation now heads to the governor's desk.

McMaster has not said publicly whether he plans to veto the legislation. But he has on several occasions questioned the transparency of the legislation and the NIL program itself.

Here's what he told reporters earlier this month:

The Senate vote Thursday followed a multi-hour hearing on Wednesday, when senators peppered three athletic directors from the University of South Carolina, Clemson University and Coastal Carolina University about their department's finances and whether public dollars flowed to these contracts.

All three athletic directors said no and said they never will.

GAVIN JACKSON

How would the gov candidates work with lawmakers?

There is just a little bit more than three months to go until South Carolina's statewide June 9 primaries that could determine the Republican and Democratic nominees for a number of Statehouse, statewide and congressional races.

For this section, we're going to focus on the governor's race.

If you caught the Feb. 14 South Carolina Lede episode, host Gavin Jackson asked all the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor about how they would each work with the Legislature to accomplish their policy goals.

You hear a lot of policy and promises on the campaign trail.

But the reality is South Carolina is a legislative-dominated state. And that means for much of what each candidate wants to get done — Democrat or Republican — they will need the Legislature's blessing.

• Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette (Republican)

Evette, McMaster's lieutenant governor and running mate, often talks on the trail about how she'd like to continue the cooperation (and the other c's) with the Legislature, a strategy she says she's learned from her boss. Jackson asked Evette about that strategy style back during the first week of the session.

“Every year, this is my eighth year, I've come up here to the House and work with friends, and that's my job. As businesspeople, we go to meet and greets because you want to make connections. And I think what that's done for me is it has let the people in the General Assembly know that I know what I'm talking about. I'm a successful business person, and when I bring an idea or something to them, it's not half-baked. I will put my name on it. I will stand in front of it. And people have to know that about you. They have to know (what) your character is. And, you know, my dad used to always say, 'Talk is cheap. For your action, show character.'"

• Attorney General Alan Wilson (Republican)

Wilson has served as the state's chief prosecutor for more than a decade. In January, Wilson dipped into the General Assembly for his running mate pick, choosing Florence Sen. Mike Reichenbach. Among Wilson's policy proposals is the so-called "Families First Audit Initiative," which seeks to empower the lieutenant governor to have more oversight of state agency audits.

"I fundamentally believe you can be an agent of change and an agent of reform without being an agent of chaos. Obviously, you have to push people out of their comfort zone in order for them to be more efficient, more innovative. And I intend to be the kind of governor that's going to push, to go outside the box to reform the way we manage and run ourselves as a state government. But at the same time, I believe that we have to build consensus. We have to work with our colleagues in the legislative branch of government. As attorney general, I have often gone to caucus meetings over the last 15 years, and I've spoken to the Republican caucus, the Democratic caucus, and even the Freedom Caucus."

• 1st District Congresswoman Nancy Mace (Republican)

Mace is no stranger to the Statehouse, having been a member of the House before she ran for Congress and flipped back the seat. Before the start of the legislative session, Mace started her roll out of legislative proposals that she said she would push in her first 100 days as governor.

"I would work with the Legislature. I would work with them on drafting bills. We'd have weekly meetings on what we're working on to implement this agenda, binding what the challenges are. I would be very involved. I'm very hands on. I don't even have a chief of staff like we have like in my offices in every race I've run. I have a very flat organization, and I like to be involved legislatively with policy, but also use the bully pulpit, but in a way that is constructive, not in a way that is detrimental to what's happening. I think people will get excited about what I'm proposing and the pressure from the bully pulpit that I have, but also the people of South Carolina educating them on what's going on and what's not happening, I think can be very exciting."

• 5th District Congressman Ralph Norman (Republican)

Norman is also familiar with the Statehouse, having also served as a member of the lower chamber. Norman has continued to make appearances at the Statehouse throughout his campaign, as recent as Thursday. Many of his policy initiatives have also been championed by members of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus.  

"I think they're good people here (at the Statehouse). I've been up here. They're good people. But this is a time for action. This (is a) time for really affecting change. We're at a pivotal point. One of the first things I will do is have small group meetings with Democrats and Republicans, and say, 'Let's help make this state the best thing can make. And if you disagree with something, tell me. But we're going to work.' I don't just say things and just let them lie. I could care less about the title of governor."

• State Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg (Republican)

Kimbrell currently serves in the upper chamber. He's represented his Upstate district since 2020, when he flipped the seat previously held by a Democrat. Kimbrell said he believes there is a way to compromise with legislators, even those you don't always agree with.

"You have to work as a quarterback. Don't be a bully and don't be aloof. I mean, it's a collaborative effort. And I think this is a dominant, legislatively-dominant state. It always has been. And you have to respect that reality and look at it as a quarterback. You've got to try to go rally the team on both sides."

• State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland (Democrat)

Another member of the Legislature, this time the lower chamber, is vying for governor. The Hopkins native has cited his relationship with the Legislature as an advantage in his bid. No Democrat has won the governor's office since Jim Hodges in 1998, and Republicans hold a supermajority in both Statehouse chambers.
 
"I've been in the House for three terms Now I've got some experience dealing with these individuals. I've got personal relationships with everybody, not just Democrats. I have relationships with people on the Republican side as well, as well as the Freedom Caucus. And I have, you know, plenty of relationships with the people on the Senate side. I'll be working directly with them. I'm not going to be up there making decisions by myself unilaterally. I'll be meeting with both caucuses, from the Senate and House to figure out what's the best path forward."

• Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod (Democrat)

McLeod was the first Democrat to enter the governor's race, but he is no stranger to the statewide contest. McLeod previously ran for governor in 2010, but dropped out of the race and endorsed the eventual nominee, then-state Sen. Vincent Sheheen. Mullins has dismissed calls from the state Democratic Party to resign following his arrest almost a year ago for disorderly conduct.

"We've been told for years that the governor is a weak position. So what we've seen is our governors don't do a whole lot in a legislative session. And that is because it has been a symptom of corruption. The governors that we've had in my lifetime, the truth is they've been bought and paid for by the for-profits. Just go back and look at their financial disclosures. I'm the first person, to my knowledge, in my lifetime or longer to run for governor who has not taken the donor class as money. So the office of governor has tremendous power. You are the voice of the people of South Carolina. Why is it that our governors don't go all around the state having town halls during a legislative session, letting voters know what is going on, how these foreign for profits are trying to rig the deal?"

If you missed the SC Lede episode, check it out below:

Statehouse clips from around the state

• SC Senate seeks to switch up gubernatorial appointments amid mass vacancies, lingering interims (SC Daily Gazette)
• No one is calling it quits — yet — in contested SC Supreme Court justice race (The State)
• This former ‘Melrose Place’ star wants to fix SC politics from the ground up. His aim is national. (Post and Courier)
• SC school voucher recipients spent $6 million last year. What did they buy? (The State)
• Hands off: Starting this weekend, holding your phone while driving in SC will cost you. (Aiken Standard)
• House committee advances bill requiring local law enforcement to enter ICE-cooperation agreements (WLTX)
• Nearly 12,000 drivers in the state given warnings about distracted driving since September (SC Public Radio)
• What’s all the talk about data centers & AI in SC? 5 things to know (The State)
• SC races to extend alcohol training deadline for servers, bartenders over liquor liability insurance (Post and Courier)
• Influential SC environmental group’s leader is leaving amid organization changes (The State)
• Hundreds gather for SC Nurse Legislative Day at the State House (WLTX)