Copper Dome Chronicle: 2023 Session Week 10
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Copper Dome Chronicle, sponsored by Advocatus. We strive for substantive writing with brevity, inspired by the book Smart Brevity; one of the best books about communications and writing we’ve read in years.
This week’s edition, covering March 13-17, 2023, is 1,201 words or about a 5 minute read. Thanks for reading; we welcome your feedback and commentary!
1. House Passes Budget, Begins Furlough Week
The House gaveled in session on March 13 to begin budget week but began with a debate on third reading regarding H.4088, the Scout Motors incentives bill. The bill received third reading and on March 15 the House concurred in H.3064, which the Senate amended to mirror the text in H.4088. The remainder of the floor time was spent debating H.4300, the FY 2023-2024 General Appropriations bill, and H.4301, the Capital Reserve Fund bill.
The most debated budget topic was the use of state funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at public institutions of higher education. Those amendments, offered by the House Freedom Caucus, were all tabled, defeated, or withdrawn. Overall six floor amendments were adopted and the budget passed the House by a vote of 108-11. The House spent 19 hours, 32 minutes of floor time on the budget and the Scout incentives bill. The House’s first furlough week is March 20-25.
The six floor amendments adopted were: Section 93 (reduce Comptroller General salary budget line to $1), Section 1 (prohibit school districts from offering COVID-19 vaccine monetary incentive), Section 33 (DHHS funding for medical education and nursing graduate education), Section 34 (prohibit DHEC fee for expediting a death certificate), Section 108 (critical needs law enforcement positions and PEBA benefits), Section 118 (balancing the nonrecurring revenue proviso).
2. Senate Clearing Its Calendar, Holds Budget Hearings
The Senate spent 13 hours, 22 mins of floor time clearing bills off its calendar. The bill with the most attention on March 14 was H.3064, the Scout Motors incentives bill. After much discussion and a debate on one amendment, the Senate gave the bill second reading by a vote of 36-4 with 1 abstention. The House gave the bill a third reading on March 15 and Governor McMaster will sign the bill on March 20.
On March15 the Senate debated and disposed of many amendments to S.285, a school choice bill creating scholarship funding organizations. The scholarships offered are funded by donations that are eligible for tax credits accrued to the donor. The bill received second reading by a vote of 28-9.
On March 16 the Senate worked the calendar and a motion was made by Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey to set S.423, the “South Carolina Compassionate Care Act” or medical cannabis bill, for special order. The motion failed on a 20-20 tie vote, which crossed party lines, geography, and generational differences. There were two senators who were absent for the entire day and four senators present who did not vote on the motion, so it is possible the Senate will take another run at setting the bill for special order the week of March 20. If the bill is to remain in play for this session it must pass the Senate and be received by the House by April 10.
Subcommittees of the Senate Finance Committee held dozens of hearings during the past two weeks regarding agency budget requests. The full Senate Finance Committee budget debate is scheduled for the week of April 3. A big “Thank You” from taxpayers to the subcommittee members, Finance Committee staff, and all the agencies who work many hours to conduct these hearings.
3. Comptroller General Remains on the Hot Seat
Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom remains on the legislative hot seat after a Senate Finance subcommittee completed its investigation into a $3.5B overstatement of the state’s cash balances. The subcommittee produced a comprehensive, 81-page report on the matter including 6 recommendations. The most significant recommendation was to invoke Title XV Section 3 of the Constitution of the State of South Carolina, which is a process to remove Eckstrom from his office. S.645 was introduced on March 16 with 37 out of 46 senators as sponsors. Some have referred to this constitutional clause as “impeachment-lite” because the accused actions were not criminal in nature.
The constitutional clause states: “For any willful neglect of duty, or other reasonable cause, which shall not be sufficient ground of impeachment, the Governor shall remove any executive or judicial officer on the address of two thirds of each house of the General Assembly: Provided, that the cause or causes for which said removal may be required shall be stated at length in such address, and entered on the Journals of each house: And, provided, further, that the officer intended to be removed shall be notified of such cause or causes, and shall be admitted to a hearing in his own defense, or by his counsel, or by both, before any vote for such address; and in all cases the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and be entered on the Journal of each house respectively.”
A two thirds vote in the Senate requires 31 votes and 83 votes are required in the House in order to pass S.645. The Senate has the votes to pass it given 37 sponsors of the joint resolution. There is no companion bill in the House yet; however, the amendment to the budget reducing Eckstrom’s salary to $1 was adopted by a vote of 104-7. Rep. Gil Gatch introduced a House resolution on March 2 to impeach Eckstrom that has garnered 15 cosponsors, but impeachment is found under Title XV Section 1 of the Constitution of South Carolina. However, Sen. Larry Grooms, the lead sponsor of S.645, stated on March 16 during the Senate floor session that he and the subcommittee did not believe the conduct of Eckstrom rose to impeachment under Section 1.
On March 14 Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, the longest serving House member and former House Minority Leader, introduced H.4143, a joint resolution to amend the state constitution and remove the Comptroller General as an elected state officer. This mirrors S.95, introduced on January 10 by Sen. Chip Campsen. He has long championed government restructuring with constitutional amendments to remove some elected state officer positions that few states publicly elect.
As provided for in the state constitution Eckstrom is permitted a hearing to defend himself; when that takes place is unknown at this time. But when it happens it will consume the Statehouse watercooler talk.
4. Bill Introductions
S.622 - Introduced by Sen. Sean Bennett and others, this is a state pension reform bill. The most significant reforms are closing the current state pension plan to new participants and opening a different pension plan categorized as a “shared risk defined benefit plan.” Shared risk defined benefit plans have some features of a traditional defined benefit plan, where the employer bears nearly all the risk, and some features of a traditional defined contribution plan, where the employee bears nearly all the risk. The state’s defined contribution plan would remain in place though with a new name. 31 states have some form of shared risk defined benefit plan.
H.4159 - Introduced by Rep. Bill Herbkersman, this comprehensive bill updates the state’s telehealth laws. Dubbed the “South Carolina Telehealth and Telemedicine Modernization Act,” the bill creates Chapter 42 in Title 40 and makes several amendments to Chapter 47 in Title 40. One key provision is a definition of “telehealth” as opposed to “telemedicine.”
