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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 locks in most spending as vote-a-rama enters Day 2, Senate tackles hemp

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,
Gavin Jackson
Published March 10, 2026 at 6:01 AM EDT
Rep. Spencer Wetmore, D-Charleston, brings in supples at the start of budget week in the House chamber at the Statehouse on March 9, 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
Rep. Spencer Wetmore, D-Charleston, brings in supples at the start of budget week in the House chamber at the Statehouse on March 9, 2026.

It's Tuesday, March 10.

Welcome back (again) to Week 9 of the legislative session.

After this week, there are nine more weeks and 27 more days until sine die on May 14. A reminder, the House is on furlough next week, and plans to take one more week off in mid-April.

The House rises to gavel in at 9 a.m. today. Will they shine?

The Senate returns for its normal schedule at noon.

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:

  • What to expect in Day 2 of the House budget debate after a day of few fireworks in the lower chamber
  • Senate to take on hemp-related legislation, and what else is on the agenda for Week 9
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.

Day 2 of the House budget debate

The South Carolina House started its all-day vote-a-rama on Monday over the chamber's more than $15 billion state budget proposal.

Lawmakers entered the chamber with their bags of candy, chewing gum, snacks, plenty of water and in at least one case, some medicine for headaches.

We have to shout out Charleston Democratic state Rep. Spencer Wetmore's YETI backpack cooler — an accessory we may have to embrace ourselves.

The big takeaways from Day 1 of the House budget debate?

The House locked in spending in most of the state agency sections, including money to spend on infrastructure fixes and raises to new teacher, state employee and law enforcement pay.

And by the end of the day, the chamber had locked in more spending, including for universities and colleges — a major focus of debate for part of the day.

At one point, discussion over Clemson University's budget got so contentious and personal, House Majority Leader Davey Hiott, R-Pickens, threatened to cut the microphones off as he presided over the chamber.

There weren't any concrete changes to the budget on Day 1.

Many votes were unanimous, and not one dollar has been changed from what is included in the House Ways and Means Committee's proposal.

One slight change

House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, ruled a proviso (one-year budget attachment) that would have sought to let the state Lottery Commission use vending machines to sell lottery tickets not germane to the budget, agreeing with a request by Rep. Sarita Edgerton, R-Spartanburg, to toss the measure out.

What can be expected on Day 2?

Hours and hours of debate.

There are dozens of amendments to go through that cover anywhere from pay reduction for certain agency heads to the elimination of state agencies entirely.

There are also proposals to put more oversight over the South Carolina High School League, require reporting of the private school voucher law and suspend the definition of "home school student" in law.

Lawmakers have also proposed amendments to require the state Department of Environmental Services enforce PFAS sampling in certain conditions, and that the city of North Augusta use interest earned from the Savannah River Site settlement to pay for local primaries.

What else is on the docket?

House leaders intend to keep the members in Columbia after the budget is complete to pass two tax bills:

  • 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.

A reminder: How can you watch and follow the House budget and tax policy debate?

Courtesy of SCETV, the House, like every day of session will be livestreamed. And you can watch that stream here.

How do I find the full budget summary control document? Here
How do I find proposed spending by section? Here
How can I keep up with amendments? 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.

Lawmakers vote on sections of the budget during the start of budget week in the House chamber at the Statehouse on March 9, 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
Lawmakers vote on sections of the budget during the start of budget week in the House chamber at the Statehouse on March 9, 2026.

What's on tap for Week 9

With the House focused on the budget and tax policy-related legislation all week, the Senate plans to go all in on hemp consumable regulations.

The bill — H. 3924, sponsored by Rep. Chris Wooten, R-Lexington — passed the House last year, and since has been heavily amended.

In part, the bill would:

  • Prohibit anyone under age 21 from buying or using certain hemp-derived products
  • Prohibit synthetic cannabis products
  • Keep CBD products legal and under current regulations
  • More strictly regulate Delta-9 hemp-derived THC drinks, including where they can be sold and how many milligrams of THC the drinks can have.

Off the floor, here are some Senate agenda highlights:

Tuesday

  • The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee will meet at 9 a.m. and return to Beaufort Republican Sen. Tom Davis's data center legislation, S. 867. The legislation would seek to regulate data centers, including requiring performance-based operational efficiency standards for all data centers and outline the Public Service Commission's responsibilities over them.
  • The Senate Finance Committee will continue budget hearings through the week, starting in the morning with the Department of Agriculture, the South Carolina State PSA and the state's Ports Authority.
  • Ten bills are on the full Senate Judiciary Committee hearing schedule set for after the Senate adjourns. The agenda includes discussions over two similar bills — H. 4763 and S. 175, known as the HALO Act — that would require the public to stand 25-feet away from first responders and law enforcement if given a verbal warning. Knowingly ignoring that warning would result in a misdemeanor charge, punishable by a fine of up to $500 and up to 30 days in jail.

Wednesday

  • A panel of the Senate Education Committee will meet in the morning to decide whether to advance S. 863, sponsored by Berkeley Republican Sen. Larry Grooms, which would create an applied baccalaureate in culinary arts management degree that would have to be approved by both the Technical and Comprehensive Education board and the Commission on Higher Education.
  • Senate budget hearings will continue in the morning, with requests from Vocational Rehabilitation and the departments of public health and behavioral health and developmental disabilities. Another subcommittee will meet at noon to hear requests from the Aeronautics Commission and the Department of Motor Vehicles.
  • The full Family and Veterans' Services Committee will meet at 9 a.m. to consider the statewide appointment of Margaret Bodman for the state Department of Children’s Advocacy.
  • A Medical Affairs subcommittee will meet to consider five bills that includes S. 958, sponsored by Sen. Danny Verdin, R-Laurens, that would allow hospitals to place patient beds in hallways or corridors in the event of an on-site emergency. Otherwise, the bill states hallways must be clear.
  • The full Senate Education Committee meets at 10 a.m. on a packed agenda that includes Horry Republican Chairman Greg Hembree's S. 692, which seeks to more clearly define what is eligible under the state's Education Scholarship Trust Fund, or private school voucher law. It also seeks to eliminate homeschooled students from participating in the program. Another bill on the agenda is H. 4756, sponsored by Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York, that would restrict restroom and locker room use in K-12 public schools and colleges to biological sex at birth.
  • A Senate Finance subcommittee will meet in the morning to decide whether to advance legislation — S. 686, sponsored by President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee — that would prohibit state agencies, colleges, schools and local governments from awarding contracts and grants that "discriminate based on race." The legislation would codify a December executive order from Gov. Henry McMaster.

Thursday

What bills will come up next on the floor after hemp?

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, told reporters last week that the so-called "bathroom bill" legislation — the proposal restricting restroom and locker room use in public K-12 schools and colleges by biological sex at birth — is expected to come out of committee and hit the floor. And the Senate's transportation department proposal — S. 831 — seeking to modernize the state transportation department operations and identify ways to ease congestion could come next after hemp.

That will get the chamber through March, Massey said.

The South Carolina Senate chamber in the Statehouse.
MAAYAN SCHECHTER
/
SCETV
The South Carolina Senate chamber in the Statehouse.

Statehouse daily planner (3/10)

SC House

SC Senate

SC governor

  • 12:30 p.m. — Gov. Henry McMaster to attend an announcement with Cox Enterprises and Ducks Unlimited in Beaufort

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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