Dear Friends:

At the beginning of every new legislative session, the process must be “revved up” for several weeks. These early weeks allow committees to consider bills they will send to the House floor for debate and voting. Committee work is yielding results, with action being shifted to the House floor next week.

First Up – SC’s Energy Plan

A top legislative priority is to create a sweeping state plan to ensure we have the energy we need for the future—and we will need a lot more energy. Last year, the House passed a comprehensive energy bill, which stalled in the Senate. The House has revived the previous bill and recently took many hours of public testimony.

South Carolina desperately needs additional energy sources to meet growing demand, recruit industry, and supply power on extremely cold days.

Thursday, the House Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee voted to send H.3309 sent the legislation to the House for consideration next week. Advocates say energy reform is needed to encourage new power production as energy demand increases in high-growth South Carolina.

Safer Driving

It’s about time SC put a stop to distracted driving!

I have championed Hands-Free driving in SC since 2017, when I titled my bill Driving Under the Influence of Electronics (DUI-E). Admittedly, that got everyone’s attention. The bill made it to the House floor when legislator-lawyers objected and had it recommitted to their Judiciary Committee – a death sentence. 

Sen. Tom Young (R-Aiken) joined me and filed a Hands-Free bill in the Senate. It took two sessions to pass, but the House failed to hear it, and it died. Maybe this session is different.

This week, the House Judiciary Committee approved the South Carolina Hands-Free and Distracted Driving Act (H.3276), sending it to the House floor for debate and a vote.

It would create a traffic offense caused by distracted driving. In addition, violators who fail to use hands-free technologies while driving face rising penalties, starting at $100 for the first offense and $200 for the second and subsequent offenses. The bill does not require points on a driver’s license for offenses.

No driver could hold or support any electronic device with any part of their body. However, voice-based communication technologies (Bluetooth, etc.) are allowable. That means a driver can talk or even text verbally.

House Republicans are ending DEI in South Carolina! 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies have wasted taxpayer dollars on identity quotas, ideological training, and political agendas. The SC House Republican Caucus is taking action to restore fairness with the introduction of H.3927, the “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity Act.” This will shut down DEI once and for all, banning these programs across ALL state agencies and universities. There will be no loopholes. There will be no exceptions.

The 69 House Republican Representatives who sponsored the bill are following President Trump and his Executive Order as the standard of what should be accomplished in every state. The government has zero business facilitating these kinds of “social experiments.”

Restraining Washington

The national news is dominated by the Trump administration’s swift action to downsize the federal government. States must also do their part in limiting the bloated federal behemoth, which wastes billions (trillions) of tax dollars.

This week, the House Judiciary Committee passed three bills critical in placing limits on the Federal Government:

They approved and sent to the House legislation (3007) authorizing SC to participate in an Article V Convention of States that would propose a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment requiring Washington only to spend the revenues they receive. The BBA Resolution passed the House last session, but the Senate failed to consider it. Let’s hope for better results this time.

The committee also voted favorably for an Article V Term Limits Resolution (3008) restricting how long someone can serve in Congress.

Additionally, the Judiciary Committee approved my legislation (3558), establishing a process for selecting Article V Commissioners who would represent SC at an amending convention and the rules they would be required to follow.

These bills will be up for debate and a vote by the full House.

Background: Besides being a Conservative Republican, I’m a federalist. Longtime readers of this newsletter will likely recall that I championed the Article V process beginning in 2013 when I filed the first-in-the-nation Article V Resolution with the assistance of the CoS Project to place limits on the federal government. (LEARN MORE) (CoS in SC) 

Victory would never have happened had it not been for the perseverance of SC’s grassroots supporters. They worked tirelessly to convince legislators to support the legislation.

It took nine years to win legislative approval, but in 2022, we were victorious. SC became the 19^th state to exert its Constitutional right to propose amendments to the Constitution. It takes 34 states to convene an amending convention. Just like when Congress has proposed amendments, it takes three-quarters of the states to ratify any amendment.

My Opinion: Remaking the Federal Government

Please indulge my personal observations.

I’m somewhat amused by the predictable hysteria over President Trump keeping his promise to “drain the swamp.” National Democrats, Washington bureaucrats, those who benefit from government handouts, and those who suffer from TDS appear to oppose government efficiency and eliminating wasteful spending of taxpayers’ dollars.

Targeting the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was low-hanging fruit. It has long been known that this corrupt agency is little more than a slush fund directed by Washington’s elites. I haven’t heard from the opposition a definitive defense of USAID’s “humanitarian” spending. Predictably, elected Democrats are in full protective mode of the agency and are in hyperdrive to vilify Elon Musk. It’s the same old tired playbook.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been named the agency’s acting administrator, says USAID has evolved into a “global charity,” spending tax dollars “irrespective of whether it is in the national interest or not in the national interest.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, was asked why USAID is getting shut down, stunned reporters by giving them a lecture about where the money’s been going: $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia workplaces, $70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a trans opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a trans comic book in Peru. And the list goes on. There’s more — $45 million for DEI scholarships in Burma, $1.5 million for DEI in Serbia, and $2 million for sex changes in Guatemala. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, with more to come

Let the lawsuits fly to try to stop Trump. Get them resolved so the administration can move forward in eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in our federal government.

FLASHBACK: Some of President Trump’s Executive Orders mirror legislation passed in South Carolina in recent years. Here are a few of those initiatives:

• Save Women’s Sports: In 2022, we passed legislation banning biological men, despite sexual identity, from participating in women’s sports. The “Save Women’s Sports Act’ requires transgender students to compete with the gender listed on their birth certificates.
• Help, Not Harm: This protects our state’s children from irreversible gender transition procedures and bans public funds from being used for them by ensuring minors are not given gender transition medications or procedures such as puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.
• Vaccine Freedom: Another law was enacted in 2022, guaranteeing Palmetto State citizens cannot be discriminated against based on their decision to receive a vaccine or not to do so.
• Medical Freedom: In response to COVID authoritarians, the legislature guaranteed that South Carolinians have more access to care and that more medical professionals could practice at the entire level of their training.
• Freedom of Religion Act: This 2022 law designates churches as essential services and prohibits the government from shutting them down in another pandemic or any emergency.
• Voting Ban for Non-Citizens: Last year, the legislature passed a bill authorizing voters to approve a Constitutional Amendment to ban non-citizens from voting in SC. On November 5^th, 86% of the two million-plus votes cast in the General Election voted in favor of that change. 

LEGISLATIVE BRIEFS

School Choice Victory

This week, the Senate passed its version of a K-12 School Choice program. This time, funding would use lottery proceeds to fund the trust fund scholarship program. The School Choice legislation passed and signed into law last session was nixed by the State Supreme Court on Constitutional grounds that tax money couldn’t be spent on private schools.

The Senate bill (S.62) passed by a more than three-to-one margin and sent it to the House for our consideration. Funding would come from the SC Education Lottery to finance a portion of 10,000 Palmetto State students’ tuition at an approved private or parochial school in its first year. That number would grow to 15,000 in the second year.

Contrary to opponents’ false claims, school choice isn’t for rich kids. The program is aimed at helping those who cannot afford alternatives to public schools that do not meet their learning needs.

House leadership is concerned about using lottery funds. Expect the debate to focus on the best way to fund this program so students get the educational help they need.

Smut Books for Kids

The state Board of Education removed four more books from all SC public schools this week because they contained inappropriate sexual content.

• “Perks of Being a Wallflower,” a young adult coming-of-age novel by Stephen Chbosky
• “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a memoir about growing up as a queer Black boy by George M. Johnson
• “Flamer,” a graphic novel about a bullied student at summer camp by Mike Curato
• “Push,” a novel about an illiterate teenager with abusive parents by Sapphire

Those titles join the seven already banned by the board, adhering to a 2024 mandate that all books be age-appropriate.

New SC Judges

The General Assembly elected judges on Wednesday. SC is one of two states in which the legislature selects judges.

A highlight for the Aiken Legislative Delegation was the unanimous election of Aiken’s Amanda Whittle to serve as a Family Court Judge in the 2nd Judicial Circuit, covering Aiken, Barnwell, and Bamberg Counties. She’s the best! Amanda is SC’s first Child Advocate, a cabinet agency reporting to the Governor. She has a heart for children and families.

SC is BOOMING!

SC’s longest-serving Governor, Henry McMaster, delivered his annual ‘State of the State’ address with great optimism last week, saying, “We boomed in 2024, and we will boom again in 2025.”

Tax Cut: With the growing economy, McMaster asked the General Assembly to continue lowering the state’s top income tax rate from 6.2% to 6% and beyond. A few years ago, it peaked at 7%. Better yet, the Governor called on legislators to boldly change the state’s personal income tax by reducing the rate as much and as fast as possible until it is eliminated.

Cutting state income taxes is a priority that aligns directly with the House Republican Caucus’ goal of delivering historic tax relief.

Energy: The Governor asserted that creating energy to support SC’s booming economy and rapidly growing population is critical

“Our electric generation, distribution, and transmission capacity and capabilities must be able to handle enhanced future economic development, anticipated technological advances, and population growth,” McMaster said.

He called on the legislature to explore restarting the V.C. Summer nuclear reactors. That project went dormant in the financial fiasco during construction.

Shrinking Government: In the spirit of the Trump administration’s DOGE initiative, McMaster seeks government efficiency by evaluating and possibly eliminating the 42 licensing boards and ensuring the new SC Department of Environmental Services makes permitting decisions more rapidly.

Public Education: The Governor focused on public education, calling for higher teacher pay. Currently, the minimum starting salary for teachers is $47,000. But to keep and attract the best and brightest teachers, he wants to raise it to $50,000 this year.

Hurricane Aid: To aid citizens who suffered from Hurricane Helene, McMaster asked the General Assembly to provide $150 million to fund governmental expenses not reimbursed by FEMA, $50 million to the Department of Transportation for repairs and debris removal, and $40 million to the Office of Resilience to replenish that agency’s funds. 

House Response: Speaker Murrell Smith captured the significance of the Governor’s address, stating:

“Governor McMaster’s State of the State laid out a clear and ambitious vision for South Carolina’s continued prosperity, and the House looks forward to working towards many of these shared priorities. Cutting income taxes, reducing burdensome regulations, and simplifying the licensing process will make it easier for our citizens and businesses to grow and thrive.”

Legislation in Motion

Here are a few important bills that have been introduced that align with key House Republican priorities:

• 3849: Reforms liquor liability insurance policies to provide relief for thousands of small businesses.
• 3858: Cuts taxes on boats, benefiting South Carolina’s 1.1 million boat owners and strengthening our economy as one of the top states for boating.
• 3793: Exempts all overtime income from state taxes, putting more money back in the pockets of hardworking South Carolinians.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

In case you missed reading my newsletter sent this past Monday, here’s a recap in a news report in the Post & Courier: