The House of Representatives and Senate met in regular session this week working through bills on the calendar. Both chambers adjourned sine die at 5 p.m. on Thursday.
The General Assembly adjourned without a sine die resolution. Shortly after adjournment, Gov. Henry McMaster called the Senate and the House of Representatives back into session on Friday. The House plans to meet on Friday, May 15, at 11 a.m. and then again on Monday. The Senate will remain in perfunctory session until the House acts on redrawing congressional maps. The Senate will reconvene next week at the call of the president.
State budget
The state budget is in a conference committee. The budget conferees are Sens. Harvey Peeler (R-Cherokee), Brad Hutto (D-Orangeburg) and Tom Davis (R-Beaufort); and Reps. Bruce Bannister (R-Greenville), David Hiott (R-Pickens) and Jackie Hayes (D-Dillon). The budget conference committee has not met yet. For questions about the budget, contact Daina Phillips (dphillips@masc.sc) at 803.933.1203.
Bills passed and enrolled for ratification
The conference committee on S831, the SC Department of Transportation modernization bill, adopted a conference report which was later approved by both the House and Senate. Sens. Larry Grooms (R-Berkeley), Sean Bennett (R-Dorchester) and Overture Walker (R-Richland); and Reps. Bruce Bannister (R-Greenville), Shannon Erickson (R-Beaufort) and Gary Brewer (R-Charleston) served as conference committee members. The conference report includes these points:
- The secretary of SCDOT will be appointed by the governor with advice and consent from the Senate. The current secretary will continue serving.
- The SCDOT Commission is abolished effective January 1, 2027, and the duties, powers and responsibilities will be devolved onto the secretary.
- The Coordinating Council for Transportation and Mobility that was initially included in S831 has been removed.
- The state auditor is required hire an independent firm to conduct an audit of SCDOT every four years.
A full breakdown of the final bill can be found here.
S420, the local government investment bill, was given a favorable report by the House Ways and Means Committee last Wednesday. The committee amended the bill at the request of the SC Treasurer’s Office. The amendment requires investments that are rated as investment grade by certain rating organizations. The amendment also prohibits the co-mingling of investment funds with other funds of the municipality. The House of Representatives adopted the committee amendment and the Senate concurred with the House amendment enrolling the bill for ratification.
S688, the bill that would change definitions related to Unemployment Trust Fund contributions and payments, was in a conference committee. This bill includes the language from H5006, a bill that would exempt $10,000 from business personal property taxes for small businesses. The conference report was adopted and the bill was enrolled for ratification.
S853 is a bill related to the abandoned buildings tax credit that clarifies that the existence of an incoming-producing use prior to the period of abandonment is not a requirement for eligibility. This fixes a SC Department of Revenue ruling that excluded these properties from the tax credit.
As a result of the support of House Speaker Murrell Smith (R-Sumter), this bill was amended in the House by Rep. Shannon Erickson (R-Beaufort) and Rep. Bill Hixon (R-Edgefield) to include language that would hold certain properties eligible for a property tax exemption for affordable housing in abeyance until the legislation to correct the loophole is passed by the General Assembly.
S508, prohibits local governments from relocating, removing, altering or renaming a broad range of monuments, memorials, streets, parks, bridges and public structures dedicated to historic figures, wars or historical events unless the General Assembly specifically authorizes the action through a joint resolution.
The bill creates new legal protections for monument preservation groups, allowing nonprofit “affinity organizations” and monument preservation organizations to sue cities and towns if monuments are damaged or removed. The legislation allows temporary relocation for infrastructure projects or construction, provided the monument is eventually returned or moved to an equally prominent public location.
H3556, a bill that requires the state executive committee of a political party to hear primary protests, was amended by the House to include language on municipal elections, municipal election commissions and municipal partisan elections. The Senate concurred in the House amendments and enrolled the bill for ratification.
H5113 would prohibit local governments from preventing the continuance of legal nonconforming use of property when a preexisting manufactured home or mobile home is replaced with a new manufactured home or mobile home. This bill was passed by the House. The Senate amendments included language from H4246 relating to Residential Improvement Districts’ authority to exercise powers. The amendments also included a requirement that the landowner must consent to the replacement of the mobile home, and the amendments further provide for reasons why a replacement may not be allowed — particularly where the replacement would violate certain state federal or local laws or regulations. The House concurred in the Senate amendments and enrolled the bill for ratification.
S832, the university campus zoning for events bill, would prohibit a county or municipality from restricting, delaying, prohibiting or requiring land use approval for events held on the campus of a state-supported institution of higher learning based on zoning ordinances or land use classifications. The bill was amended to include language that requires any event within 1,000 feet of a residential neighborhood to provide notice 30 days before the scheduled vote for approval. The bill includes language that clarifies that the bill does not limit a municipality’s authority to apply and enforce local building, fire, life safety, health and traffic laws and regulations.
Bills that did not pass
H5006, a bill that would exempt $10,000 from business personal property taxes for small businesses, unanimously passed the House of Representatives. In the Senate, senators amended the bill with language from S768, the homestead exemption increase, and S125, which corrects a property tax loophole in current law. The bill was not passed.
S227, the concurrency bill, remained on the Senate’s contested calendar. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Tom Davis (R-Beaufort), began conversations on the floor of the Senate on an amendment to the bill, but the bill was later contested and no action was taken.
H4764, the bill that would require municipalities and counties to enforce federal immigration laws, was given a third and final reading by the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee for debate. The Municipal Association worked with the sponsor of the bill to provide an option for cities and towns to be excused from this mandate if compliance would cause a fiscal or administrative burden. This language was amended on the House floor during debate to require the Attorney General’s Office to determine whether a municipality’s fiscal or administrative burden is sufficient to allow the excusal. This bill remained in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
S867, the Data Center Development Act, would create an office in the SC Department of Environmental Services. This bill was on the Senate contested calendar objected to by numerous senators when the General Assembly adjourned.
S768, an increase in the property tax homestead exemption to $150,000 for South Carolina resident homeowners 65 years old and older, was passed by the Senate and sent to the House for debate. This bill included a local government reimbursement with the increase in the exemption for local governments. The bill was in the House Ways and Means Committee. A version of this bill was added to the annual appropriations bill via proviso by the Senate. The bill was also added to H5006. This bill did not pass.
H3876, a bill that would add the position of accommodations intermediary to facilitate the rental of accommodations, was passed by the House, and placed on the Senate contested calendar where it remained when the General Assembly adjourned for the year.
S264, the farm annexation bill, was passed by the Senate and passed by the House Ways and Means Property Tax subcommittee. The full House Ways and Means Committee never took up the bill.
From the Dome to Your Home podcast
Don’t forget to listen to the From the Dome to Your Home podcast every Friday for a recap of the week’s legislative issues and a look to the week ahead at the State House.
House Judiciary Constitutional Laws subcommittee
H3039 – Enacts the Senator Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act – favorable report
Summary of the bill as introduced: Creates additional penalties for people who commit a crime when the victim was intentionally selected based on certain factors.