It's Friday, March 13.
And that means Week 9 of the South Carolina legislative session has wrapped.
There are nine weeks and 27 more days left on the session calendar before sine die on May 14. A reminder, the House is out on furlough next week, with plans for one more in April.
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.
The start of the Thursday session was a bit of a whirlwind — pun intended — when senators to lobbyists, staff and reporters got swept up by a tornado warning in the Midlands, interrupting meetings and sending everyone to hunker down in the underground garage.
Luckily, there was no tornado in direct sight, but waterspouts were seen on Lake Murray.
Also, South Carolina's sole Democrat in Congress, 6th District Congressman Jim Clyburn, says he is running for reelection to his 18th term.
The 85-year-old made the official announcement Thursday, ending speculation and rumors over whether he would retire like some of his other Democratic colleagues, namely former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and longtime Congressman Steny Hoyer.
“I’m here today to say I do believe that I’m very well equipped and healthy enough to move into the next term, trying to do the things that are necessary to continue that pursuit of perfection,” Clyburn said. “And so I will run a very vigorous campaign.”
Should Clyburn win reelection, he will be about 88 when he finishes his next term.
Would he seek another term after that?
“I’m looking forward to the day that I can spend more time reading, writing and playing golf, and so this could very well be my last term,” he said. “And it could very well not be.”
Notebook highlights:
- The latest over the Senate's consumable hemp debate that will stretch into next week
- Will lawmakers override the governor's NIL bill veto, or try new legislation?
Senate's hemp hurdles
The Republican-controlled Senate might have walked into a conundrum Thursday that brought back memories of the upper chamber's medical marijuana debate.
First, a step back.
The Senate is nowhere near done debating proposed changes to H. 3924, legislation that aims to regulate consumable hemp products, including THC drinks that you can buy from convenience stores, bars, and other establishments.
Some senators wanted an outright ban on the products.
That effort failed in a narrow 18-22 vote on Wednesday.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Chris Wooten, a Lexington Republican, but since its House passage, it has been heavily tweaked by the Senate. The bill:
- Prohibits anyone under 21 from buying or using certain hemp-derived products
- Strictly regulates Delta-9 hemp-derived THC drinks, including where they can be sold and how many milligrams of THC the drinks can have
- Puts hemp beverages in the three-tier alcohol system. That means a 12-ounce, 5 milligram drink would be allowed for retail sale wherever beer and wine are sold. And a 10 milligram 12-ounce drink would be regulated similar to liquor
- Bans on-premise consumption at bars and restaurants
- Bans gummies and other hemp consumables. Only the hemp beverages are allowed
- Keeps CBD products legal and under current regulations
Now onto where the Senate is on the bill.
On Thursday, senators worked through several proposed changes to the legislation.
None have stuck so far but one came awfully close.
An amendment proposed by two Republican senators, Richard Cash of Anderson and Greg Hembree of Horry, attempted to restrict all THC drinks to liquor stores, pulling them out of groceries and other retail locations.
"THC is coming whether I agree with it or not. THC is here," said Hembree, a former solicitor. "It's here through the back door, not through thoughtful legislation, (but) through a loophole, through a trick, a mistake. Now, we're dealing with a mistake."
The amendment was ultimately tabled, or killed, in a 20-17 vote.
Another proposed change, requested by York Republican Sen. Everett Stubbs, sought to expand the legislation just a bit via a so-called gummy amendment.
Stubbs said he wanted to tailor the legislation to still allow people to use consumable hemp products for medical purposes.
The push, while not allowed in the current bill form, is of great importance to some lawmakers, especially freshman Rep. Greg Ford, a Dorchester Republican who credits the use of cannabidiol hemp for saving his 24-year-old son's life. He spoke about its importance during a House debate in February.
"I just want to help the people utilize these products," Stubbs said.
That piqued the interest of Beaufort Republican Sen. Tom Davis, who for multiple years has unsuccessfully pushed legislation to legalize certain forms of marijuana for medical purposes.
Twice the Senate has passed the measure.
Both times it's failed over in the House.
Stubbs's amendment may have "awakened" Davis, he said.
"It's raised a question in my mind, whether or not that carefully crafted legislation ... sitting in (a) Medical Affairs subcommittee, whether it would be germane to this bill," Davis asked out loud.
The answer? We might find out next week.
Will SC lawmakers override NIL veto?
South Carolina lawmakers will be faced with a choice later this month: to override or not to override.
In question is the fate of H. 4902, name, image and likeness legislation that bans the public disclosure of revenue-sharing contracts between state colleges and universities and their athletes.
It also bars the disclosure of how much revenue-sharing money goes to certain teams and programs. That means you couldn't know how much money the University of South Carolina or Clemson University's football teams receive compared to their basketball programs.
The latter is what gave Gov. Henry McMaster consternation that he laid out in his three-page veto message Wednesday night that said he could understand the limits on individual contracts but not the limits on various college sports teams.
"FERPA (the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act) applies and shields only an individual student's records and information. It does not apply to de-identified aggregated information," McMaster wrote. "This is where South Carolina should draw the line, too. Although there are legitimate privacy and competitive-disadvantage reasons to keep private the amount of revenue-sharing funds that a particular student-athlete is being paid, taxpayers should be able to know how much a university is spending on each of its various teams as an aggregate number."
For weeks, South Carolina college athletic directors have pushed for the revenue-sharing contracts to be kept secret, arguing the dollars are not public but private, and that without limits it could put their schools at a competitive disadvantage.
The University of South Carolina said in a statement despite the veto its position has not changed.
"We believe it is essential to protect the privacy of our student athletes while also ensuring South Carolina athletic programs are not placed at a significant competitive disadvantage compared to other programs across the nation," USC said in a statement shared with media. "As USC Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati explained during recent testimony before the South Carolina Senate, failure to adopt this important legislation 'would deter prospective student-athletes and current student-athletes from competing in Division I athletics in the State of South Carolina.'"
The House and Senate can override the governor's veto with a two-thirds super majority vote of present members voting in each chamber.
That may be easier over in the House, which voted 111-2 to send the legislation to the Senate.
State Rep. Seth Rose, a Richland Democrat whose district includes USC, probably has the most Gamecock "street credibility" of any member of the sports-loving General Assembly. Rose is a member of the Gamecocks Athletic Hall of Fame after his All-American tennis career at the school and is a big donor to their athletic department (his last name adorns one of the gates at Williams-Brice Stadium). Rose said he "fully expects" the House to override the veto.
"This legislation is about not allowing our competitors from other states to have an unfair recruiting and roster retention advantage," Rose said. "To knowingly allow South Carolina schools to be disadvantaged compared to other states is a dereliction of duty."
Over in the Senate, a vote to override could be a bit tighter, Senate leaders said.
The Senate only passed the bill 30-13.
And reporters have been told some senators who voted "yes" may now be leaning "no."
State Sen. Russell Ott, a Calhoun Democrat, told SC Public Radio he thought McMaster's veto was "an appropriate use of the veto pen."
Even though the self-described diehard Clemson fan whose district also includes USC said he voted for the bill on the second vote, none of his concerns so far have been alleviated.
"I just cannot square in my mind that this places our colleges and universities at a competitive disadvantage," Ott told us.
Like McMaster, the disclosure of spending over teams and programs didn't sit well with Ott, he said. Neither did the matter over how athletic departments are ensuring that public dollars aren't flowing into revenue-sharing contracts.
The House, where the bill originated, will return from a furlough break on March 24.
Statehouse clips from around the state
- Effort to keep homeschoolers out of voucher program stalls in SC committee (The State)
- Senators debate bill regulating THC hemp products in South Carolina (WLTX)
- In rural America, a teacher pipeline from abroad starts to dry up (AP)
- New treatment center for arrested SC youth with mental health needs now accepting patients (SC Daily Gazette)
- Rising diesel prices put pressure on South Carolina trucking industry (WLTX)
- Will Aiken Technical College dissolve its criminal justice program? Here’s what we know. (Aiken Standard)
- Historic deal protects 4,400 acres of unspoiled land north of Beaufort (Island Packet)
- Isle of Palms seawall can stay up as case goes through appeals process, judge says (Post and Courier)
- SC lawmakers, advocates gather at State House to urge Senate to pass ‘Parental Bill of Rights' (WIS)
- SC lawmaker joins Michigan families in urging Michigan legislators to pass sextortion education bill (SC Daily Gazette)
