FY 2023-2024 Budget Brief: House Ways & Means Committee Version

The House Ways & Means Committee met during the  evening on February 22, 2023 to debate and vote on subcommittee allocations. The summary control documents are posted on the Ways & Means Committee webpage. View this primer for how to read a summary control document, and keep in mind the figures below are increases to the recurring base appropriations for existing line items, not total funding. Also, there are some State nonrecurring funds discussed below.

Today is a review of big ticket items; there is plenty more material to review and discuss before the budget bill hits the House floor the week of March 13. In four minutes - 730 words - you’ll be caught up on today’s House Ways & Means Committee deliberations.

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Big Ticket Items

1. Rainy day fund. The committee allocated $700M allocated to the General Reserve Fund, sometimes referred to as the state’s rainy day fund. Governor McMaster has recommended the past two consecutive years an allocation of at least $500M to the rainy day fund. After the required $795M allocated to the tax relief trust fund, this was the single largest appropriation in this version of the budget.

2. State employees. Not only was the $121M state health plan annualization funded but the committee allocated $124.4M for state employee pay raises: $2500 per FTE earning less than $83,000 annually and 3% increase in base salary for FTEs earning more than $83,000 annually. In toto, with retirement system contributions, the committee invested over $286M in state employees.

3. K-12 education. The committee allocated $129.6M in State recurring funds and $136.9M in Education Improvement Act (EIA) recurring funds for a total of $266.5M recurring funds for the State Aid to Classrooms budget line (budget lines rolled into this budget line were excluded from these calculations). These funds increase the state minimum salary schedule to $42,500 annually - a $10,000 increase from FY 2019-2020 just four years ago. Also, the committee allocated $120M in EIA nonrecurring funds for school district capital projects, such as school building construction and renovation. This funding is in addition to the $100M appropriated in the current fiscal year for school buildings. Lastly, $42M allocated in EIA nonrecurring dollars for a “literacy instruction program,” which new State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver has stated literacy is her top priority.

4. Student tuition and scholarships. The committee allocated $84M to the state’s public 4-year and 2-year institutions to freeze in-state tuition for FY 2023-2024. Gov. McMaster has proposed tuition freezes for the past five years and the General Assembly has agreed with him for the past five years. The SC Workforce Industry Needs Scholarship (SC WINS) program received a huge increase of $100M; last year the program received $17M. When combined with other state-based scholarships and student aid, a student can effectively attend one of the sixteen technical colleges in South Carolina without paying any tuition and incurring no student debt. Also, each institution received nonrecurring funds or capital reserve funds for capital projects, including $15M for the Electric Vehicle Institute at Trident Technical College.

5. Infrastructure. The committee allocated two large nonrecurring appropriations for roads: $200M to the Department of Transportation for bridge replacement and $250M to the county transportation funds (known as “C” Funds). The Department of Commerce was appropriated $200M for strategic economic development infrastructure, which is used to acquire and develop megasites for large economic development projects. The Division of Aeronautics was allocated $50M for airport capital projects. These four items total $700M in infrastructure investment.

6. Human services. Several agencies whose missions are primarily to provide human services (i.e. Medicaid, health care services, social services) were allocated significant increases: the Department of Health & Human Services ($233.4M); the Department of Social Services ($25.6M; the Department of Mental Health ($20.5M). The current budget and this future budget make significant investments in mental health services, more so than the past twenty years.

7. The outdoors. If you love the outdoors and natural resources, you’ll be pleased to learn the committee recommended $53.1M to the Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism and $50.8M to the Department of Natural Resources. The Conservation Bank would receive $18M in State nonrecurring funds.

8. Law enforcement. The Department of Public Safety was allocated $52.4M in new dollars; $42.6M for the Department of Corrections; $36.3M for the Department of Juvenile Justice; $9M for the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED); and $7.5M for the Department of Probation, Parole & Pardon Services. Included in the SLED allocation was funds for the new Center for School Safety and Targeted Violence.

9. Government administration. The Department of Administration was allocated $69.2M in new funds for several statewide initiatives. The committee allocated $53M in State recurring and nonrecurring funds for the SCEIS Enterprise System, which has been center stage after a Senate Finance Subcommittee launched a probe into why the state’s cash balances were overstated by $3.5B and questioned Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom for hours about how and why the error occurred.

Thanks for reading; we welcome your feedback and commentary!