City and town officials from across the state came together in Columbia on January 20 for the Municipal Association of South Carolina’s 2026 Hometown Legislative Action Day to receive updates on current legislative issues and visit their legislative delegation at the State House.
Here’s a look at some of the sessions from HLAD.
Legislative advocacy
The core of HLAD is to provide a time for municipal officials to meet face-to-face with their legislative delegation with a collective voice to emphasize the issues that matter most to cities and towns as they provide services for their residents — although working relationships require ongoing dialogue that take place across a much longer time period.
City of Travelers Rest Mayor and Municipal Association of SC President Brandy Amidon noted that, in much the same way that elected officials need to explain to residents how their local government works, these officials also need to stay in communication with their state representatives about how state-level decisions affect cities and towns.
Mayors and councilmembers who take part in legislative advocacy “already know the value of making this extra effort to educate ourselves on what’s happened in Columbia, but also working to foster relationships with our representatives before we have an ask,” she said. “It’s one of the best feelings as a mayor or councilmember — when you get a call from a representative at the State House, asking for your opinion.”
The Municipal Association’s advocacy team provided updates on a variety of issue as they stand at the beginning of the second year in the 2025 – 26 legislative session, including everything from road funding to protecting municipal property tax revenue, as well as potential changes to the state’s homestead property tax exemption.
The Association provides numerous ways for local officials to pay close attention to legislative action throughout the session, including the weekly From the Dome to Your Home reports assembled by the advocacy team each Friday, as well as the accompanying podcasts featuring additional insights and commentary from the team.
Civility and dignity
The Municipal Association’s extensive focus on civility in local government, a major part of its efforts since 2021, continued at HLAD, with city and town leaders reciting the Civility Pledge at the beginning of the meeting.
Attendees heard a keynote address from Tami Pyfer, co-creator of the Dignity Index. Built on the principle that contemptuous language stands in opposition to language that recognizes the dignity and humanity of others, and that dignity-focused language can heal political divisions, the Dignity Index provides a research-driven scale for evaluating public statements and better understanding how people approach conflicts.
“Our shorthand definition for contempt is this — it’s a feeling of disdain or disgust,” she said. “I'm going to label you, I'm going to avoid you, or I'm going to judge you, because I see myself above you, versus dignity, which is this inherent worth that we all have from birth. I'm going to engage with you, I’m going to be curious, and I’m going to be humble, because I don’t see myself as above you. I see myself in you, this humanity that we have.”
The conference also saw the return of Dave Wilson, chief strategist for McAlister Communications, and Antjuan Seawright, founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy, two frequent television cohosts who discussed how to come from differing backgrounds and disagree in politics, all while remaining civil and friendly.
Seawright described the importance of going beyond just one day a year to speak with a legislator and building working relationships over time.
“If you call me one time a year to check in, chances are I’m not going to think you are my friend,” he said. “But if you consistently seek me out, whether it’s just to say hello, whether it’s just to say thank you, or whether it’s just to remind me that you exist, then your issues, and what you think and how you think, are going to be top of mind.”
In building relationships at the local and state level, Wilson stressed the need to seek out alternative perspectives.
“If you want to really begin to understand what's really going on in your community, talk to somebody who doesn't look or think like you,” he said. Social media has done a great job of allowing us to communicate with a large group of people, but one of the things that it's also done is — by the algorithms that are there — we start living in this little bubble, this little echo chamber, where we only hear things that sound like us. That is a place I think that really begins to hurt the conversation that needs to go on.”
Working with the SC Department of Transportation
The ownership and funding of South Carolina’s roads have become a key item of discussion among state and local governments, as the SC House DOT Modernization Ad Hoc Committee performs its work. As reported in the January 16, 2026, From the Dome to Your Home report, legislation discussed by the committee would create a voluntary road transfer program to change ownership of roads, while providing incentives for local governments that accept road ownership, and to restructure the SCDOT Commission and establish a Coordinating Council for Transportation Mobility.
Amid the committee meetings, SC Secretary of Transportation Justin Powell sat down with Municipal Association of SC Executive Director Todd Glover for a discussion on how local governments work with the SCDOT.
Glover noted that Powell has a professional background with many local government connections, including leadership positions with the City of Greenville and Horry County.
They discussed the challenges South Carolina faces with its road system — South Carolina has more than 41,000 miles of state-owned roads, making it the nation’s fourth-largest state-maintained highway system. The system faced decades of accumulating deferred maintenance leading up to the gas tax increase of Act 40 in 2017 that inaugurated a new period of major highway projects and maintenance, and the state is also facing substantial and sustained population growth.
Glover noted that every conversation about changing ownership to local governments has centered on the need for funding to come with the roads — “one of the things we testified about [in committee meetings] is that we just can’t take this without some type of funding mechanism,” as well as the need for municipal representation on county transportation committees.
Powell described the move of roads to the public works departments and local governments as something worth the committee considering, given that the statewide SCDOT must apply more rigidity in its approaches than local entities would.
In terms of how SCDOT can help local officials, Powell encouraged them to get to know their district engineers, resident maintenance engineers and resident construction engineers.
“We appreciate everything you [municipal officials] do in terms of making South Carolina a better place,” he said. “I certainly know that you all do a yeoman’s job helping improve our state, and I certainly appreciate all the support and feedback.”