By Sam Spence, special to Statehouse Report | South Carolina legislators will meet starting next week to begin talks on how more than $3 billion in federal funds will be spent, with House lawmakers convening Tuesday in Columbia.
On the agenda for the SRS and ARPA Appropriations Ad Hoc Committee is how nearly $2.5 billion from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) passed by Congress will be spent in the Palmetto State, as well as $525 million from a U.S. Department of Energy settlement over radioactive waste stashed at the federal Savannah River Site.
Generally, ARPA funds can be used for COVID-19 response, public-health and public-sector services and infrastructure spending on water, sewer and broadband needs.
Early talk on one possible use of ARPA funds includes picking up the tab on a $350 million portion of a massive container port expansion in North Charleston. Lawmakers have already pledged $200 million in state money to the project, which drew some criticism as it was briskly folded into state appropriations earlier this year.
“The virus has had an enormous impact on the economy, as you know, with logistics and the supply chain and things to help to streamline and facilitate that sort of flow we believe will be allowable,” Gov. Henry McMaster told The State in July.
Lawmakers will also start discussions on how to dole out $525 million from a Department of Energy settlement over nuclear waste kept past federal deadlines at the Savannah River Site near Aiken. Some $75 million of the $600 million overall deal has already been set aside for private lawyers hired by Attorney General Alan Wilson.
In other recent headlines:
State passes 10,000 deaths due to COVID-19. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Wednesday said the state reported 15 additional deaths blamed on COVID-19, pushing the state total past the 10,000 mark. More: WIS TV.
Census shows growth along coast, Charlotte area. South Carolina gained almost 500,000 people between 2010 and 2020, according to long-expected new figures released yesterday by the U.S. Census. The state’s 11 percent growth to 5.1 million people was clustered along the coast and in the Charlotte suburbs. The top three counties by population remain Greenville, Richland and Charleston. Just over half of the state’s 46 counties, most of them rural, lost population. Other results: The percentages of white and Black South Carolinians dropped while Hispanic or Latino residents rose from 5.1 percent to 6.9 percent. More: The State | The Post and Courier.
Voters beg legislators to end gerrymandering. Voters are complaining to state legislators about the ills of gerrymandered redistricting, including split precincts and communities, as they travel the state prior to working on plans to redraw legislative districts as required every 10 years. More: Charleston City Paper.
Feds approve S.C. plans for over $2B in federal funding. The U.S. Department of Education has approved South Carolina’s plan for $2.1 billion in federal aid for the classroom tied to the COVID-19 recovery. More: The Post and Courier
State animal shelters ask for public’s help with influx of pets. The state’s animal shelters have declared a “state of emergency” as a summer influx of abandoned pets and a lull in adoptions threaten to overwhelm the facilities. More: WCSC TV
Sam Spence is editor of the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
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