Copper Dome Chronicle: 2024 Session Week 1
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 January 9-11, 2024, is 1,312 words or a 5.5 minute read. Thanks for reading and sharing; we welcome your feedback and commentary!
Resources
Senate Budget Calendar (TBA)
2024 Session Convenes
The second regular session of the 125th South Carolina General Assembly convenes on Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at 12pm. Several full and subcommittee meetings are scheduled for this week, but don’t expect much floor debate in either chamber.
Some committee meetings that will generate some debate and news:
Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee
January 10 at 11am; Agenda; Live Stream
Summary: Three health care bills regulating telehealth, pharmacies, and acute hospital care at home plus a bill creating a health market reform study committee.
Senate Education Full Committee
January 10 at 10am; Agenda; No Live Stream
Summary: One unnumbered bill amending the Read to Succeed Act. This is a possible substitute for S.418, which is pending on the Senate calendar with House amendments.
House Ways & Means Budget Subcommittees
Constitutional; January 9 at 3pm; Agenda; Live Stream
Criminal Justice; January 10 at 9:30am; Agenda; No Live Stream
Economic Development; January 10 at 9:30am; Agenda; Live Stream
Constitutional; January 10 at 10am; Agenda; Live Stream
Public Education & Special Schools; January 10 at 10am; Agenda; Live Stream
Higher Education; January 10 at 10:30am; Agenda; Live Stream
Higher Education; January 11 at 8:30am; Agenda; Live Stream
Criminal Justice; January 11 at 9am; Agenda; Live Stream
Summary: The FY 2024-2025 budget process gets underway this week with eight subcommittee hearings.
House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs (3-M) Committee
January 9, 1.5 hours after adjournment; Agenda; Live Stream
January 10 at 10am; Agenda (TBD); Live Stream
Summary: The 3-M Medical and Health Affairs subcommittee will debate two bills. One would ban xylazine, also known as “Tranq,” that has been linked to an increase in overdose deaths due to illegal use. The second bill, H.4624, would prohibit gender transition procedures, surgical or chemical, on persons under age 18; prohibit the use of public funds for gender transition procedures; and prohibit public school employees from withholding information from a student’s parent or legal guardian about a student suffering from gender dysphoria or other psychological condition. Assuming this bill receives a favorable report from the subcommittee, it is likely to be heavily debated by the full committee and generate significant news coverage.
House Committee on Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Cyber Crimes
January 10 immediately upon adjournment; Agenda; Live Stream
Summary: This is the first meeting of this ad hoc committee. The committee will hear three presentations about artificial intelligence: one from the Dr. Andrew Williams; Dean of the Engineering School at The Citadel; one from Microsoft; and one from IBM.
House Education & Public Works Higher Education Subcommittee
January 10; 1pm; Agenda; Live Stream
Summary: The subcommittee will hear from the Inspector General regarding its report on the Commission on Higher Education and is likely to generate some news coverage.
House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee
January 10; 1pm; Agenda; Live Stream
Summary: This subcommittee will consider three bills (H.4364, H.4231, H.3144) regulating the sale of alcohol, including curbside delivery and sales on Sundays.
House Judiciary Constitutional Laws Subcommittee
January 11; 9am; Agenda; Live Stream
Summary: Two bills are on the agenda that would regulate content on the Internet by requiring age-verification. H.4700 would require age-verification for social media applications and H.3424 would prohibit websites with pornographic content from being accessible to persons under age 18 in South Carolina and would require age-verification policies.
Governor McMaster’s FY25 Executive Budget
On January 5, Governor Henry McMaster released his seventh Executive Budget. The recurring general fund base for FY 2024-2025 is $12.2 billion and the total budget is nearly $40 billion when accounting for all revenues. Public education, which combines K-12 and higher education, is 46% of the base and 40% of total funds. Health and social services account for 26% of the base and 37% of total funds. This Executive Budget authorizes over 73,300 state government positions (full-time equivalent or FTE), which is a growth rate of less than 0.7%. Just over 51% of FTEs are funded by the general fund; 36% by other state funds; and 13% by federal funds.
Gov. McMaster’s news release highlighted several recommendations:
Economic Development
$50 million for Electric Vehicle (EV) training institutes housed at technical colleges
$15 million for SC Nexus, a federally-designated energy resiliency interagency consortium housed at the Department of Commerce
Fiscal Responsibility
$54.3 million for the Rainy Day Fund, increasing the fund to largest level in state history at $1.16 billion
Tax Policy
$99 million income tax cut, reducing the individual rate to 6.3%
$39.5 million for a $2,000 income tax credit for first responders employed by public entities.
PreK-12 Education
$250 million for State Aid to Classrooms funding formula to increase teacher pay by $2,500
$115 million for instructional materials
$30 million for education scholarship trust fund accounts (ESTF)
$21.1 million for full-day 4K
Higher Education and Workforce Development
$100 million for need-based financial aid
$95 million for SC Workforce Industry Needs Scholarships (SC WINS)
$70 million from the lottery surplus for student financial aid
$49.8 million to free in-state tuition for a 5th consecutive academic year
$30 million for training equipment for high-demand jobs
$3 million to study the future of higher education in South Carolina
Public Safety
$17.8 million to increase state agency law enforcement pay
$13.4 million to provide for 175 new school resource officers (SROs)
Conservation and the Environment
$33 million for land preservation and conservation
Veterans and Social Services
$81.3 million for veterans nursing homes
$10 million for a public-private partnership homelessness pilot project in Columbia
State Government Operations
$107 million for the state health plan
$26.2 million for non-law enforcement state agency employee recruitment and retention needs
In addition to his budget recommendations, Gov. McMaster proposed transferring excess funds from the Homestead Exemption Fund (HEX Fund) to repay the general fund for its contributions in prior fiscal years to keep the HEX Fund solvent. The amount recommended was $500 million, which Gov. McMaster recommended these funds be appropriated to the Department of Transportation to repair and replace bridges throughout the state.
Pertinent Prefiles Part 2
In November and December of 2023, legislators had the opportunity to prefile legislation for the 2024 regular session. The House set aside November 16 and December 14, while the Senate set aside Novemvber 30. These bills and resolutions will receive first reading on January 9 and start their legislative journey. Read the first installment of our Pertinent Prefiles series as a primer.
There were 55 bills and resolutions introduced by Senators. There were two popular committee referrals: Senate Judiciary (29 bills) and Senate Medical Affairs (10 bills). The most prolific prefilers (primary sponsors) were Senator Tom Davis (9), Senator Deon Tedder (8), Senator Katrina Shealy (5), Senator Luke Rankin (4), and Senate President Thomas Alexander (4).
There were 187 bills and resolutions introduced by Representatives. The most popular committee referrals were House Judiciary (68 bills), House Education & Public Works (31 bills), House Ways & Means (37 bills), Labor, Commerce and Industry (21 bills), and House 3-M (19 bills).
Key Dates
January 9: Session Convenes
January 16: Judicial Merit Selection Commission final report published
January 24: State of the State
February 7: Judicial elections (subject to change)
February 15: Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) February revenue estimate
February 20-22: House Ways & Means Committee budget deliberations
March 11-14: House floor budget deliberations
March 16: Candidate filing opens for all House and Senate seats at 12pm
April 1: Candidate filing closes for all House and Senate seats at 12pm
April 10: Crossover Day
April TBD: Senate Finance Committee and Senate floor budget deliberations; BEA April revenue estimate
May 9: Session Adjourns
June 11: Nominating Primary Elections
June 25: Nominating Primary Runoff Elections
July 1: Fiscal Year 2024-2025 begins
October 6: Last day to register to vote
October 21: Early voting opens
November 2: Early voting closes
November 5: General Election Day
