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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: Total abortion ban debate renewed, House OKs bill to require shrimp labeling

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,
Gavin Jackson
Published April 15, 2026 at 6:01 AM EDT
Senate Medical Affairs Committee Chairman Danny Verdin, R-Laurens, speaks with former Lexington Republican Sen. Katrina Shealy during a Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee hearing on S. 1095 at the Statehouse on April 14, 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
Senate Medical Affairs Committee Chairman Danny Verdin, R-Laurens, speaks with former Lexington Republican Sen. Katrina Shealy during a Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee hearing on S. 1095, a restrictive abortion ban bill, in the Senate building on the Statehouse complex on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.

It's Wednesday, April 15.

The House gavels in at 10 a.m. The Senate returns at 11:45 a.m.

Both chambers will meet at noon today for a joint assembly to hear from state Supreme Court Chief Justice John Kittredge, who will deliver the judiciary's annual address to the General Assembly. This is Kittredge's second speech to the legislature.

The joint assembly will continue after Kittredge's address with elections for college and university school board trustee candidates.

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.

LISTEN: On the latest episode of the SC Lede, host Gavin Jackson takes listeners through the Senate's budget proposal, the Interstate 95 bridge groundbreaking and the latest in the Republican race for a U.S. Senate seat represented by Sen. Lindsey Graham. You can listen here.

Notebook highlights:

  • Senate panel renews debate over a total abortion ban that failed to advance last fall. And a pay raise for lawmakers? Some legislators say it's time
  • House wants to put labels on shrimp, and why a bill to incentivize headquarters to move to South Carolina won't go anywhere this year
  • Why Stephen Colbert gave a shout out to the state Senate
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.

Will a renewed debate over abortion go anywhere?

A Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee will meet again this morning to take public comment and decide whether to advance a proposed total abortion ban bill — S. 1095 — that would also seek to eliminate exceptions included in current law, like rape and incest and fatal fetal anomaly.

The proposed ban at conception is sponsored by Sen. Richard Cash, an Anderson Republican who tried unsuccessfully last fall to pass similar legislation to further restrict abortion beyond the state's current six-week ban.

The legislation would also reclassify abortion-inducing medication — for example, Mifepristone, which can also treat other health issues — as Schedule IV controlled substances, an addition similar to House-passed legislation that hasn't yet moved in the Senate.

Who spoke Tuesday?

Senators heard from medical professionals and clergy members on both sides of the debate.

Proponents of the bill argued the legislation doesn't go far enough, while critics said the legislature should focus on other areas, such as infant mortality and doctor shortages, both of which they said have suffered under restrictive abortion laws.

State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, one of three Democrats running for governor, and former Republican Sen. Katrina Shealy also spoke against the bill.

Is the bill's reemergence part of a deal?

Depends who, and on which political party aisle, you talk to.

A rumor that the legislation was set to be revived grew legs last month as the Senate debated legislation over consumable and drinkable hemp-related products.

Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, a Colleton Democrat, suggested the reason the bill was being heard again was as a bargaining chip negotiated during the consumable hemp debate. Cash called that a "complete falsehood."

“There was no bargaining chip," he said Tuesday. "There was no deal involving the THC bill.”

Senate GOP Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, has also disputed that take.

"Last year it was tort reform, the trade off then, now this year once again it’s THC,” Matthews told reporters. “It’s my belief that they’re happening. You’d have to be Stevie Wonder to not see it.”

What's the future of this bill?

The Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee will return at 9 a.m. today to wrap up public testimony over the bill, with the possibility it gets advanced to the full committee.

Laurens Republican Sen. Danny Verdin, who chairs the Senate Medical Affairs Committee, told reporters Tuesday he expects some “depository action” on the bill.

But what remains next for the legislation is not clear.

As of today, there are 14 more legislative days on the calendar until sine die on May 14, the official last day of session. Next week, the Senate will debate its version of the $15 billion state spending plan, further narrowing the calendar.

And beyond Democrats, many Republicans in the upper chamber have said — whether by past vote or public pronouncement — that they cannot support legislation that narrows the law beyond six weeks and removes exceptions.

There's also the governor's lack of support.

Gov. Henry McMaster has repeatedly gone on record to say that he supports the six-week ban which he signed, saying it has the support of most South Carolinians.

Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, during a Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee hearing on S. 1095 at the Statehouse on April 14, 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, during a Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee hearing on S. 1095 at the Statehouse on April 14, 2026.

What else happened in the Senate Tuesday?

By a 14-9 vote, the Senate Finance Committee voted to send legislation — S. 933, sponsored by Sen. Shane Martin, R-Spartanburg — to the floor that would increase legislative pay.

Under the bill, legislative pay would increase to $47,500.

Currently, most lawmakers receive $10,400 per year, plus $1,000 per month in in-district expense pay and per diem.

Legislative pay has not changed since the mid-90s, and Martin told colleagues Tuesday he wants salaries to keep up with inflation to avoid the legislature becoming a hub for the "rich, retired or the retained."

If it becomes law — and the possibility of that happening is in question — would be January 2027, when a new two-year legislative session and a new House begins.

State Sen. Wes Climer, a York Republican who is running for Congress and successfully sued the legislature when it tried to raise in-district pay last year, said he plans to try and amend the legislation's start date to capture a brand new General Assembly.

The House is up for reelection this year, and the Senate is up for reelection in 2028.

Missed the hearing? You can listen to the debate below:

S.C. Senate Finance Committee debates, advances S. 933 on legislative pay 4.14.26

What's on the Senate's agenda Wednesday?

The Senate plans to debate, and likely advance, S. 508, sponsored by Sen. Verdin, that expands the 2000 Heritage Act by prohibiting the removal, disturbance, alteration or relocation of certain public monuments and historical markers. The bill includes those memorials referencing any armed conflict involving South Carolinians and any about African American history.

The Senate will also work through its calendar as it prepares for the weeklong debate over the budget, starting next Tuesday.

Sen. Ed Sutton, D-Charleston, speaks with Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, in the Senate chamber at the Statehouse on April 14, 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
Sen. Ed Sutton, D-Charleston, speaks with Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, in the Senate chamber at the Statehouse on April 14, 2026.

House OKs shrimp bill, mulls incentivizing company HQs

The House moved legislation forward Tuesday that would require restaurants and sellers who serve shrimp or shrimp products to "clearly and conspicuously" label the shrimp's country of origin.

That means if shrimp is on the menu, customers must know where the shrimp was caught.

The bill — H. 4248, sponsored by Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Beaufort — was passed in a unanimous 103-0 vote. It'll get one final perfunctory vote Wednesday, before it heads to the Senate.

South Carolina's shrimpers have been dealing with an inundation of foreign shrimp shipped to the Palmetto State, flooding the market with cheaper shrimp.

That in turn has led some restaurants, particularly around the coast, to sell shrimp that in some cases falsely identified as having been caught locally.

Over the summer, the state's Shrimpers Association sued local restaurants they alleged were serving imported shrimp but falsely advertising them as local.

A judge dismissed the suit, though some restaurants did settle and others denied the claims and appealed.

ICYMI: Our coastal colleague Victoria Hansen spent time with shrimpers last year. Hear her story featured on SC Public Radio:

Lowcountry shrimpers fight to save a coastal way of life by Victoria Hansen
Lowcountry shrimper Rocky Magwood shares his fight to save his family's century old shrimping tradition

What else did the House pass Tuesday? A few highlights:

  • H. 4679: Sponsored by Rep. Cody Mitchell, R-Darlington, the bill regulates drone usage
  • H. 4706: Sponsored by Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, the legislation prohibits lawsuits against a racing facility (a designated area for competitive car and motorsport races) by surrounding property owners under a nuisance or other cause of action if the facility's developer got required construction permits and received the OK to develop the property before the surrounding owner bought property or built a building in the area
  • H. 5069: Sponsored by Rep. Travis Moore, R-Spartanburg, the legislation calls for specific state departments to work together before signing any contracts that use public dollars from the legislature for land protection projects to help reach the state's long-term goal of protecting 7 million acres by 2050

What the House did not do Tuesday?

Though it received some social media fanfare, legislation that would aim to incentivize companies to put or expand their headquarters in South Carolina did not move forward Tuesday to the full Ways and Means Committee.

It wasn't because the subcommittee wasn't supportive of the proposal — H. 5471 — sponsored by Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, as some legislators said the legislation should have been passed years ago.

But largely because of the legislative calendar and funding. The subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Neal Collins, R-Pickens, also noted some political pushback to the bill, particularly from members of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus.

After this week, there are four more weeks and 12 more days of session until sine die. That's not to say legislation can't get moved through quickly, but at this stage it's harder.

Plus, Bannister noted, it's not been funded in either the House or Senate spending proposal that would take effect July 1.

Bannister said he wanted to start the conversation and start building the legislation for when lawmakers return next year.

Bannister said the idea was born out of an Upstate business meeting, where officials identified a missing piece within the state commerce department incentives to incentivize companies to place high-paying headquarters, and their ancillary benefits, in the state.

What does the House plan to do Wednesday?

With the House coming off another furlough week — plus the add on of a lengthy joint assembly — we're told the lower chamber will work through a list of bills on the calendar.

The House may also take a vote to concur with Senate changes over H. 4756, legislation sponsored by Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York, that would restrict restroom, locker room and changing room use at public K-12 schools and colleges to biological sex at birth.

Rep. Heather Crawford, R-Horry, in the House chamber at the Statehouse on April 14, 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
Rep. Heather Crawford, R-Horry, in the House chamber at the Statehouse on April 14, 2026.

Colbert thanks Senate, with a nod to the reading clerk

South Carolina-raised Stephen Colbert hit pause on his usual jokes to thank the state Senate for the passage of a resolution honoring the late night television host's career as "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" comes to end next month.

But in Colbert's style, it did not take long for him to crack a laugh.

"You can tell that man is from South Carolina because he sounds like he was reading that resolution with a mouth full of shrimp and grits," Colbert said after playing a clip of Senate Reading Clerk John Wienges, elected by the chamber in 1994, reading the resolution.

"Thank you South Carolina state Senate. I'm very grateful. I just want to say, 'what?'" Colbert joked likening the honor to if President Donald Trump threw him a surprise going away party.

The resolution, he said, is "an honor that I did not expect," Colbert said. "But I take it as a sincere compliment."

What are Colbert's plans after May 21?

"I think I'm going home," Colbert said.

You can watch the segment below:

Statehouse daily planner (4/15)

SC House

SC Senate

SC governor

  • 9:30 a.m. — Gov. Henry McMaster and lawmakers to attend a ceremonial bill signing for the income tax law at the Statehouse

Editor's Note: To keep up with Statehouse meetings, click the House and the Senate.

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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