It's Monday, March 9.
This is a special, abbreviated edition of 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 House will gavel in at 1 p.m. today for a rare Monday session to start debate over the chamber's $15 billion state spending plan proposal that, at minimum, will take a couple of days to get through on the floor.
If you missed our Friday Gavel edition breaking down the House budget, no worries. We have you covered below.
If you read Friday's Gavel, think of this as a refresh.
In Tuesday's edition, we will break down what to expect the rest of the week.
Notebook highlights:
- Millions in spending proposed to fix infrastructure, cover teacher, state employee and law enforcement pay raises and more to cover health care
- The return of our tiny mics with a tour guide series
How to follow, watch House budget debate
The House may be in store for a longer week than in recent years.
On Monday, the 124-member chamber will begin debate over its $15 billion state spending proposal.
It's usually at least a two-day process that, and if last year is any indication, will stretch into midnight with more days of debate to follow.
Spending highlights in the 2026-27 budget proposal:
- About $125 million to reduce the state's top income rate from 6% to 5.39% — what was in the original income tax proposal passed by the House last year. The Senate, which amended the bill and lowered the rate to 5.21%, will be tasked with finding additional money when they amend the spending plan.
- About $66.9 million for a 2% state employee base pay raise
- A scrap of what's been called tuition mitigation spending, a multi-year deal where colleges and universities get operating money in exchange for freezing in-state tuition. Instead, through a proviso budget attachment, colleges would get "SC First" dollars tied to STEM programs that lead to in-demand workforce development
- About $102 million for costs to maintain the state's Medicaid program
- About $34 million changes in federal funding match requirements for SNAP benefits
- About $249.2 million for bridge modernization, $125 million for interstate acceleration, $25 million for the road buyback program and $100 million for local county transportation funds
- About $150 million to raise South Carolina's starting teacher pay to $50,500
At a budget briefing last week, House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, told his colleagues that while the $15 billion figure is nothing to balk at, more than $13 billion of that amount is already separated to pay for services the state provides year after year.
How can you watch and follow the House budget debate?
Courtesy of SCETV, the House, like every day of session will be livestreamed. And you can watch that stream here.
If you want to really fashion yourself an expert, you can also track the debate section by section — just like lawmakers, reporters and lobbyists.
How do I find the full budget summary control document? Here
How do I find proposed spending by section? Here
How can I find a summarized budget briefing? Here
If you are really simply looking for highlights, or when the House passes the budget, you can follow Maayan Schechter's X feed made up of Statehouse reporters here.
As we mentioned, it's going to be a bit longer of a week for the lower chamber.
Why?
The House has put two additional bills on special order:
- H. 4216: The chamber's income tax legislation, which, after Senate changes, would lower the top income tax rate in the first year to 5.21% — a cost of nearly $309 million
- H. 3368: The chamber's tax conformity bill, which would conform the state's tax code with federal changes for one last year, tax year 2025. The one-time cost is $288.5 million.
House leaders intend to keep the members in Columbia to pass both tax bills.
Here's Bannister last week briefing legislators:
Tiny mics with tour guides
The tiny mic is back out of the bag and dusted off.
We're continuing our new-ish, occasional series, tiny mics with tour guides.
We decided to bring the tiny mics to the people who know the Statehouse history best and ask them their favorite stories about the capitol.
Next up is legendary local broadcast television anchor turned tour guide, Susan Aude, whose career at WIS stretched four decades. Aude has been a tour guide at the Statehouse for roughly eight years, making her one of the go-to guides for visitors.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is your favorite part about the Statehouse?
One of the things I like about the State House the most is that there are pictures and symbols that tell the story of South Carolina.
And one of my favorite stories has to do with the state seal of South Carolina. It's pictured here in the state Senate high on the wall beside the flags, and right in the middle of the South Carolina state seal is our state tree, the palmetto tree.
Now the palmetto tree's on our state seal — not just because it's a cool looking tree that grows naturally in South Carolina. It's on our state seal because of what happened on June 28 of 1776, and that's when all these British warships arrived off the coast of Charleston. They wanted to take that very valuable port city in the colony of South Carolina. But in a desperate attempt to protect Charleston, South Carolinians and South Carolina soldiers were building a fort.
They hadn't finished it, but they were building a fort out of the only thing available on that barrier island, called Sullivan's Island, to protect Charleston Harbor, and the only thing they had to work with were the logs of the native palmetto trees, marsh mud, sand and clay. They made a three-sided fort that one officer called a slaughter pen.
He thought the South Carolinians were going to just get killed terribly. But the South Carolinians persisted. They had several cannons, about 20 some cannons, but here come all these British warships with close to 300 cannons.
Well, it's not looking good for the Palmetto Fort. The British start firing away to knock down that fort, but the fort won't fall. It shakes, it reverberates, but it does not fall.
So, the South Carolinians start firing back with their cannons, and they're doing so much damage to the hulls and masts of the British ships. The British have to retreat. It ends up a humiliating disaster for the British Empire and the little upstart colony of South Carolina wins the day, and it was all because (of) the palmetto.
The tree is not like your average tree. It's actually in the inside kind of spongy and stringy and fibrous, so the palmetto tree was able to absorb the impact of the cannonballs and protect the South Carolinians, allowing them to go on to victory way back in 1776.
You've got another favorite part of the Statehouse. What is it?
One of my very favorite things to talk about at the State House is the story of the mace of South Carolina.
Now you may never see another one in your life, but it's on the wall here in the state House of Representatives. You can see that it's a beautiful gold and silver representation of a king, but of course South Carolina is no longer under the governance of a king as of 1776. But we still have the original mace, and it is even 20 years older than the Revolutionary War.
It dates back to 1756, and it was made out of gold and silver in London and then brought to the colony of South Carolina. But when the Revolutionary War broke out, British sympathizers took it. They thought they might sell it to the Bahamas and make some money for the war.
And then for many, many, many years nobody knew where the mace was. The Revolutionary War finally ended and still no mace. It wasn't until 40 years after the end of the Revolutionary War that a very prominent gentleman from South Carolina was appointed to be president of the United States Bank in Philadelphia. He went up to Philadelphia to take over his new job, decided to have a good look around that bank and opened a vault in the bank in Philadelphia and there, 40 years after the end of the Revolutionary War, was South Carolina's beautiful mace.
Mr. Langdon Cheves wrote back to South Carolina that the mace had been found and now it's back here at home at the South Carolina State House.
What surprises visitors most when they visit the Statehouse?
I think most of our visitors from especially out of the country — and we get a lot of visitors from overseas surprisingly — are just very, very impressed with the beauty.
Not all states have a state house as beautiful as ours. And, even visitors from outside the United States who are used to great cathedrals and beautiful old buildings, they come in and they're very impressed with the beauty of the South Carolina State House.
Statehouse daily planner (3/9)
SC House
- 12:45 p.m. — Blatt 321 — 4th Congressional District House Delegation
Agenda - 1 p.m. — House in session
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only
Statehouse clips from across the state
- Spartanburg County Councilman moments after jail release says he’ll run for Statehouse seat (Post and Courier)
- SC advocates call for more money and legislation to help survivors of abuse (SC Daily Gazette)
- Lawmakers consider bill to regulate data centers in South Carolina (WLTX)
- Proposed bill could change alcohol sales in South Carolina (WACH)
- Homeschooling has surged in South Carolina, with little oversight. That’s how families like it. (Post and Courier)
- An update on the abandoned Midlands SC nuclear plants (SC Business Review)
- SC schools have more staff but fewer students than before COVID pandemic (Post and Courier)
- South Carolina House advances earthquake insurance bill. Here’s what it includes (WCBD)
- Free income tax help and software are available in SC. Here's where and how. (Post and Courier)
- Gamecock legend A’ja Wilson and her shoes given moment at SC State House (The State)
- SC considers joining federal effort to boost nuclear fuel supply. Opponents say it won’t work. (SC Daily Gazette)
