By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | The state’s revenue forecasters reported data this week that showed South Carolina has seen an average annual revenue increase of $409.2 million in the eight years since the Great Recession.
The S.C. Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office’s Executive Director Frank Rainwater made the agency’s annual presentation Tuesday to the Senate Finance Committee. One of the slides, showed eight years of revenue increases, ranging from the lowest of $108.4 million in 2014 to the giant $696.1 million in 2019.
The presentation also highlighted potential changes in state and federal revenue for local governments due to the 2020 Census, which Statehouse Report reported on in 2019. Read more.
In other news (staff reports):
Having some laughs: Several former Charleston-area legislators held a reunion this week at Bowen’s Island, the seafood joint run by former state Rep. Robert Barber near Folly Beach. They enjoyed laughs, old war stories and, according to former state Rep. Jimmy Bailey, “no arguments!”
Pictured from left are: former state Reps. Lucille Whipper, a daughter, Sen. Robert Ford, Barber, Bailey, Sen. and Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell, Rep. Bob Kohn, Sen. Ernie Passailaigue, Sen. Larry Richter, Rep. Ted Mappus and Rep. Steve Gonzalez.
Senate panel looks at juvenile justice changes Feb. 12. A Senate Judiciary subcommittee is continuing its work on a large reform package on how the state deals with child offenders in an effort to keep them out of the system and in their schools and communities. Read about the bill here. The next meeting on S. 1018 is 9 a.m. Feb. 12 in room 105 of the Gressette building at the Statehouse in Columbia. See agenda here.
- This week, the U.S. Justice Department found faults with the state’s Juvenile Justice Department. Read more about the issues, and how the department plans to respond here.
House passes state Farm Aid Fund. It’s now up to the Senate on whether to approve a bill (H. 4209) that seeks to establish a state Farm Aid Fund. Farmers in the state have been beset by natural disasters (read more in our 2019 article), and the bill seeks to create a state fund to help give aid to farmers ahead of the slower federal aid. The bill has been referred to the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
Protections for native wildlife clear the House. The Senate has another House-bill on its plate with H. 4831, which addresses possession of native reptiles and amphibians, and prohibit the release of nonnative captive wildlife. Only five House members voted against the bill. It is now in the Senate Fish, Game and Forestry Committee.
Senate still stuck on education. The Senate is mired in amendments and debate on S. 419, a massive bill seeking to alter many facets of public K-12 education in South Carolina. This week, senators added an amendment that allows school districts to establish their starting dates, bucking the old mandate of waiting until at least the third Monday in August.
Kerfuffles. This week saw Democratic lawmakers lashing out at each other inside the Statehouse (long story short: Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a white man from Columbia who has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, questioned presidential candidate Tom Steyer’s consultant payments to Rep. Jerry Govan, a black man from Orangeburg; This led to racial tension within the party; read more). This week also saw four Republican lawmakers walking out in protest over the judicial election process (read more).
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