INSIDE STATEHOUSE REPORT | ISSUE 20.03 | JAN. 15, 2021
BIG STORY: Lawmakers still stuck on Santee Cooper
NEWS BRIEFS: McMaster proposes millions of new spending
LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Everybody hates it
COMMENTARY, Brack: Mind-numbing, time-wasting abortion debate on the table again
SPOTLIGHT: S.C. Hospital Association
EDITORIAL ROUNDUP: From calls to resign to talk about choices, socks, more
FEEDBACK: Seniors frustrated with vaccination plan
MYSTERY PHOTO: In stereo
Lawmakers still stuck on Santee Cooper
By Stephanie Barna, special to Statehouse Report | Years of work, more than $14 million spent and where are state lawmakers on whether to sell Santee Cooper? Right back at the drawing board.
Gov. Henry McMaster captured the general feeling of many taxpayers and lawmakers toward the state-owned utility in his Wednesday State of the State address
“There is no state agency in more need of reform or dissolution than Santee Cooper,” he said. “This rogue agency and its leadership have displayed arrogance and contempt for state law and the truth.
“Their incompetence helped create the largest nuclear power fiasco in modern times. They have saddled their customers with billions of dollars in debt and have ignored the authority of our constitutional officers and this General Assembly, creating a toxic environment inside this Statehouse. … The time has long passed for the resolution of Santee Cooper’s fate.”
Background leading to 2021
It’s been four years since the public learned the “rogue agency,” along with SCE&G and parent company SCANA, bungled a $9 billion nuclear reactor project and left the state with a $4 billion problem. Efforts by lawmakers to hold Santee Cooper accountable so far have failed.
Last February, lawmakers were presented with three options for the state-backed utility: Reform it from within and keep it a state-owned utility, contract its management to Dominion Energy, or sell it outright to preferred buyer NextEra Energy. To get to these options cost more than $14 million to taxpayers after the state Department of Administration (DOA) oversaw a proposal process, vetted the bidders and the reform plan, and presented final recommendations.
In a report to lawmakers, the DOA chronicled its work: “Between May 29, 2019, and February 4, 2020, the Department participated in or facilitated more than 350 telephone conferences and in-person meetings. … These included due diligence meetings, negotiations, informational meetings, planning meetings, and discussions and deliberations.”
In other words, it took an extraordinary amount of time, work and money to reach the outcome they presented to the legislature for consideration.
Regardless of that effort, unsatisfied lawmakers scrapped all three options during the first week of March. The House Ways and Means Committee said it would put forth a bill to reform the utility and create a committee of senators and representatives to negotiate a new sale. The Senate Finance Committee said it would pursue a bill so lawmakers could reform Santee Cooper themselves.
Then COVID-19 hit and lawmakers were forced to table the Santee Cooper problem until the 2021 legislative session, but not before they put restrictions on Santee Cooper in a May budget bill to prevent the agency from doing anything that would jeopardize a future sale.
Choppy waters
For its part, Santee Cooper might be living up to its rogue agency billing, depending on which lawmaker you speak to and what side of the debate they line up on.
- In its February report, the DOA contended that Santee Cooper “delayed and impeded the bidding process” and caused at least two months worth of delays at significant cost.
- In July, the agency settled a class action lawsuit from ratepayers for $520 million after arguing that it had the right to raise rates to pay for the nuclear project, regardless of negligence.
- In October, the agency then issued bonds for $638.2 million that would refund $569.6 million of existing debt at lower interest rates and provide an additional $100 million in debt to use toward capital projects.
That extra $100 million debt caused an uproar. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, called for the agency’s chairman of the board to resign in a Nov. 12 interview with The Post and Courier. Sumter GOP Rep. Murrell Smith, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, held a December meeting of the Santee Cooper Ad Hoc Committee and interrogated the utility’s representatives on why they took on an additional $100 million debt. He also noted his disappointment that agency CEO Mark Bonsall skipped the meeting because he was on vacation.
“When state agency heads don’t appear in committee meetings and their staff misleads, misrepresents, and insults our staff, there’s no win here,” he said in the meeting. “I don’t feel like we’re getting factually accurate information and that we’re being dismissed.”
S.C. Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Charleston, who sits on the Senate Finance subcommittee on Santee Cooper, defended the debt restructuring and the utility’s “exceptional leadership” in a Dec. 30 op-ed that ran in The Post and Courier, writing, “The debt restructuring benefits Santee Cooper and its ratepayers in the form of lower costs and rates. It makes Santee Cooper more profitable, and consequently more valuable. It creates no friction for a sale.”
Whether the new debt breaks the edict for Santee Cooper to not do anything to impede a future sale is now part of the debate that’s being waged at the Statehouse about its future.
Santee Cooper spokesperson Mollie Gore said the agency has been adhering to the law and implementing reforms.
“Santee Cooper’s focus remains what it has been for the last year, which is executing some of the plans around a new resource mix and improving our financial position, so that whatever the outcome is, we’ve increased our value to the state,” she told Statehouse Report.
She added the agency is committed to keeping lawmakers, stakeholders and taxpayers informed on how it is “paying down debts and creating a leaner and greener resource mix.”
This week’s activity
In the first week of session, the House Ways and Means Committee passed a bill to create a new committee of three senators and three representatives to revisit a sale. At the start of the meeting, Smith said the goal of the committee is to “test the market and determine whether there are any interested buyers.”
House Bill 3194 included an amendment that would do away with NextEra as the preferred buyer and open it up to other suitors. The bill also includes a provision for reforming Santee Cooper, which Smith referred to in the meeting as the “back-up plan.” The bill will be considered by the House before moving to the Senate.
In the Senate, two committees addressed the Santee Cooper issue. The Judiciary Committee requested that NextEra provide exhaustive information related to their bid to buy the agency in an effort to vet their proposed deal. Committee members were particularly concerned about how NextEra conducted itself in a deal to buy the Jacksonville city-owned utility JEA, a process that resulted in a Jacksonville City Council investigation into a “lack of transparency.”
Meanwhile, the Senate Finance subcommittee on Santee Cooper was briefed on recent developments and concluded that it needed to gather as much information at the next meeting so, as Santee Cooper supporter Sen. Larry Grooms of Berkeley County said, they could “move forward and make quick recommendations.”
What those recommendations will be are yet to be determined. While some lawmakers remain neutral going in, others are lining up on the pro-sale and pro-reform sides.
The ability to make a speedy decision could also be an obstacle with the COVID-19 crisis continuing and the national political climate. The Senate and House also have announced plans to close next week due to threats of armed protests at state capitol buildings during the presidential inauguration.
Stephanie Barna, former editor of the Charleston City Paper, is a freelance writer from Charleston. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
McMaster proposes millions of new spending
Staff reports | S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster this week proposed millions of dollars of spending in his State of the State address to deal with lagging and critical South Carolina issues.
The General Assembly came into session this week with a $1.2 billion surplus from the past two years, largely because it didn’t approve a FY 2020 budget because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That allowed reserves to grow so the state is strong financially now, compared to neighboring states.
“That’s because we were thinking ahead,” the governor told a joint session of the legislature. “Now we must continue to think ahead.”
In his Wednesday address, McMaster outlined several recommendations to state lawmakers:
- Rainy day. $500 million added to a $616 million reserve fund to “be prepared for any future economic uncertainties, should they arise.”
- Small business. $123 million in state funds for small business grants due to the economic climate.
- Kindergarten. $48 million to expand access to all-day kindergarten for every lower-income student in the state.
- Classrooms. $35 million to fund classroom improvements.
- Charter schools. $25 million more for public charter schools.
- Broadband. $30 million to expand broadband access.
- College. $80 million for state financial aid for qualified college students.
- Training. $60 million for skills training for high-demand
In other recent news:
Biden taps Harrison to lead national Democratic Party. President-elect Joe Biden picked South Carolina’s Jaime Harrison to lead the Democratic National Committee just two months after he lost a high-profile U.S. Senate election that catapulted him onto the national scene. More: The New York Times.
S.C. Legislature to take days off amid pandemic, security fears. The S.C. House and S.C. Senate will take off next week, including Wednesday’s inauguration day after the FBI warned state governments of planned protests. The Senate will next meet Jan. 21, with the House’s next full session set for five days later. More: AP News
S.C. lawmakers unveil bills to tackle race issues. Members of the South Carolina House of Representatives Equitable Justice System and Law Enforcement Reform Committee introduced four bills Tuesday on the first day of the 124th session of the S.C. General Assembly. The committee was formed during calls for social justice in the summer of 2020. More: Florence Morning News
S.C.’s Haley sets sights on 2024 presidential. Former S.C. Gov. and Trump administration official Nikki Haley has started a political action committee in an attempt to help Republicans retake the House and Senate in 2022, and bolster her brand ahead of an anticipated 2024 run for president. More: The Post and Courier
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
Everybody hates it
Enjoy this new cartoon from Robert Ariail, first published in our sister newspaper, the Charleston City Paper. Love it? Hate it? What do you think: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Mind-numbing, time-wasting abortion bill on the table again
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Here we go again. South Carolina is wading into a divisive abortion debate before anything else happens in the state Senate to appease the GOP’s conservative base. It’s a futile effort that’s ultimately unconstitutional and a huge waste of time and money.
But these legislator knuckleheads don’t really care. They want to ram it through now that the state Senate has 30 Republican votes to 16 seats held by Democrats.
Gov. Henry McMaster egged them on in his State of the State address: “Let this be the year that we further protect the sanctity of life – with the heartbeat bill. It’s time to vote. Send me the heartbeat bill and I will immediately sign it into law.”
Hogwash. If Republicans were concerned about the “sanctity of life,” they would get to work to reduce poverty. They would raise the minimum wage. They would make schools far better and stop being wussies on access to affordable health care. In other words, they’d start caring more about the living.
What’s even more frustrating is that the tone-deaf state GOP obviously didn’t learn anything since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Republican leaders haven’t grasped that continuing to play the politics of division is not helping the country to heal. Rather than giving top priority to, say, making sure more people get vaccinated more quickly to wipe away the pandemic, the state Senate’s top legislative priority is this so-called fetal heartbeat bill that will make abortions illegal just six weeks after conception. That’s before most women realize they’re pregnant.
“Protecting life in the womb has become the politically expedient mantra of South Carolina Republicans,” state Sen. Mia McLeod, D-Richland, said in the Democratic response to McMaster’s address. “In fact, you and other Republican leaders have made a divisive, unconstitutional bill your number one priority again this session, instead of focusing on protecting the 5 million living, breathing human beings who are already here.”
It’s legislating in the absurd. Why? Because fetal heartbeat bills from other states already have been found unconstitutional in lower courts and appeals are already headed to a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court. What South Carolina does makes no difference at the federal level. So it is doing the legislative equivalent of “piling on.” In other words, it’s just politics as usual.
“The state Senate is spending precious time rushing through extreme legislation that would make almost all abortions illegal in South Carolina,” said South Carolina’s Vicki Ringer of Planned Parenthood. “It is absolutely disgraceful and irresponsible.”
And what happens if the Senate, which already has rushed the bill through a subcommittee, eventually approves the anti-abortion measure? Lawsuits.
“The state will be forced to pay their own legal costs for private attorneys and will have to pay the legal costs for those who bring the lawsuit,” Ringer said. “The typical cost for one of these cases is $1 million, but costs may run up to $10 million or more, as experienced by the state of Texas in the Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt case in 2016.”
Another negative impact of the S.C. proposal — it would hurt women in the state, particularly those who live in communities of color, are immigrants or who have been discriminated against.
Ringer said the bill “would prevent women from getting abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy — only about two weeks after a missed period. … It is an extreme piece of legislation and would make almost all abortions illegal in South Carolina.”
Furthermore, the bill — which has no exclusions for rape, incest or medical necessity — would dramatically interfere with how doctors in the state treat their pregnant patients and threaten their lives.
“A patient experiencing a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy may need emergency treatment to prevent serious damage to her health or to save her life,” Ringer said. “This legislation would effectively tie doctors’ hands rather than allowing them to treat their patient without fear of prosecution.”
Let’s hope state lawmakers see the folly of what they’re doing and a bipartisan coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats dispose of this bill as the legislative trash that it is.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report. His column also is published in the Charleston City Paper, Florence Morning News, Greenwood Index Journal, The (Seneca) Journal, Camden Chronicle Independent and Hartsville Messenger. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
S.C. Hospital Association
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Statehouse Report to you at no cost. This week’s spotlighted underwriter is the South Carolina Hospital Association, the Palmetto State’s foremost advocate on healthcare issues affecting South Carolinians. The mission of SCHA is to support its members in addressing the healthcare needs of South Carolina through advocacy, education, networking and regulatory assistance.
Founded in 1921, the South Carolina Hospital Association is the leadership organization and principal advocate for the state’s hospitals and health care systems. Based in Columbia, SCHA works with its members to improve access, quality and cost-effectiveness of health care for all South Carolinians. The state’s hospitals and health care systems employ more than 70,000 persons statewide. SCHA’s credo: We are stronger together than apart.
- To learn more about SCHA and its mission, go to: http://www.scha.org.
From calls to resign to talk about choices, socks, more
Here’s a new feature that will link you to opinions from editorial pages around the state:
Rice took principled stand on impeachment
“Voters rendered their judgment on Mr. Trump’s leadership last year, denying him a second term. And Republicans soon will have to grapple with how much they want Mr. Trump to continue to lead and define their party. This obviously will be crucial to Mr. Rice’s political future, and to other Republican leaders as well.”
— The Post and Courier, 1/15/21
Five S.C. congressmen should resign over election vote
Five South Carolina congressmen, all of whom live in safe GOP districts, failed the Palmetto State last week for continuing to breathe life into Trump’s utterly false claim that the election was stolen from him. They should be ashamed of themselves and resign from positions of public trust. These men — Joe “You Lie” Wilson, Jeff Duncan, Ralph Norman, Tom Rice and William Timmons — defiled the Constitution last week. Shame on each of you. Resign.”
— Charleston City Paper, 1/13/21
Choices have consequences
“We are at a turning point in this country. We have choices before us. We can choose civil discourse and a path toward greater understanding among our diverse people or cave to those who are calling for a revolution and what appears to be an attempt to turn away from any progress we have made in the civil rights and liberties arena. We can choose love and understanding over hate and willful ignorance. We can choose to heal or we can choose to let a great nation be torn apart.”
— Greenwood Index-Journal, 1/12/21
We need unity not more impeachment
“Donald Trump will be gone from the presidency in eight days. Biden will be president. The transition of power should now happen without further political grandstanding and divisiveness.”
— The Orangeburg Times & Democrat, 1/12/21
Graham loses title as most ludicrous senator
“Until late December, the shapeshifting Graham — John McCain is my hero; no, Donald Trump, McCain’s despiser, is; stay tuned for Act 3 — had a lock on the title of most ludicrous senator. Then [Missouri Sen. Josh] Hawley, auction bidder and mob inciter, pounced. Graham’s lock has been picked.”
— George Will, Washington Post, 1/12/21
On Duncan’s Trump socks
“Please, Congressman Jeff Duncan, put those socks back in the sock drawer. Actually, this past week they would have served a better purpose had you placed them firmly in the mouth of the man whose last name they bear — Trump. It is now rather safe and maybe even cool to not only condemn the actions of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, but also denounce the man who at the very least inspired the sad and tragic events that unfolded there last week.”
— Greenwood Index-Journal, 1/12/21
Seniors frustrated with vaccination plan
To the editor:
I wonder if there’s been a run on torches and pitchforks at local hardware stores. After declaring that those who are 70 and older would now be included under Phase 1A of the state’s “plan,” beginning yesterday, last night our feckless governor used the State of the State address for a “victory lap.”
Unlike many “seniors,” I have experience with computers and know my way around the health care system. I have been trying to schedule an appointment since Monday, when Henry [McMaster] announced that the 70+ would be eligible and could begin getting vaccinated on Wednesday. I immediately began my efforts and encountered malfunctioning websites, telephones that were never answered, e-mail that was ignored, and incorrect information, all of which are ongoing.
Our economy continues to struggle and our per capita death rate is higher than 16 other states, including Georgia, Florida, Idaho and West Virginia. The State of the State, Henry, is stressed and struggling. Because of Henry’s malfeasance South Carolina now has more than 365,000 cases and 5,911 deaths attributable to COVID-19. It’s time for Henry McMaster to admit his errors, apologize and move on.
— Gere B. Fulton, Columbia
Fix gun laws
To the editor:
On Jan. 6, 2021, lawmakers and staff in the U.S. Capitol chambers in Washington, D.C., were told by police to get down and shelter in place. Also, remove the gas masks from under the seats and wait. Some reported they could hear the intruders banging on the doors to enter. Some made phone calls to family and loved ones to report in.
I was a classroom teacher during the D.C. sniper shootings in suburban Maryland in October 2002. That is when we first learned to lock the doors, hide under desks and wait for the “all clear.” By 2020, “code red” drills are standard procedures in schools and some office buildings.
I wonder if those in the Capitol thought about children in this country who practice that drill on a regular basis. I wonder if they think about the thousands of students who hid under desks and in closets that still carry the memory of active shooters in their buildings. I wonder if they will remember the fear they felt as they continue to vote against national background checks. I vividly remember with deep sadness the weeks during the sniper shootings hiding in silence with children waiting.
The S.C. Legislature is set to open the 2021-2022 session on Jan. 12, 2021. Among the pre-filed bills, several deal with firearms, some promoting open carry and deleting CWP (Concealed Weapon Permits) language. I wonder if our lawmakers will imagine hiding under their desks, waiting.
— Sharon Klompus, Greenville
Send us your thoughts
We love hearing from our readers and encourage you to share your opinions. But to be published, you’ve got to provide us with contact information so we can verify your letters. Letters to the editor are published weekly. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. Comments are limited to 250 words or less. Please include your name and contact information.
- Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com
In stereo
Here’s an old photo in stereo, but what does it show? Can you tell anything else about it? Send your guess to feedback@statehousereport.com — and remember to include your name, home city and contact information.
Last week’s mystery, “Shells and something else,” showed a curious dark brown object in the middle ofs 
ome shells on a beach.
We got a lot of great guesses on what it was — an egg case from a skate fish or a piece of basalt rock with fossilized imprints. In reality, it was a piece of eroding Native American pottery near a shell ring at Botany Bay on Edisto Island. (You might have gotten the answer right had you read our sister publication, Charleston Currents, earlier in the week in a photo essay by English Purcell!).
But Jerry Morris of Barnwell didn’t need the tip. He immediately identified the object as a shard of Native American pottery, likely from the early Woodland period. Why? “This design, made by using a reed or similar object was one of the first types of pottery made around 4,000 years ago,” he told us. Outstanding. Thanks, Jerry!
Others who identified the shard — some with a little help from Charleston Currents — were David Lupo of Mount Pleasant, George Graf of Palmyra, Va., Marian Greely of Charleston; Jay Altman of Columbia; and Henry Eldridge of Tega Cay.
Lesson of the day: Read Charleston Currents, too! It comes out every Monday morning.
Send us a mystery. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
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