NEWS BRIEFS: Calls to repeal Heritage Act gain ground

By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | Close to one-third of state lawmakers say they are for repealing the Heritage Act, according to an organization pushing its repeal.

Repeal the Heritage Act said 49 lawmakers have expressed public support for the law’s repeal. It requires two-thirds of the General Assembly’s two chambers to agree to any changes or removals of war and heritage monuments on public property, including those commemorating the Confederacy and African American heritage.

Lawmakers include 45 members of the S.C. Legislative Black Caucus, Democratic Columbia Reps. Beth Bernstein and Seth Rose, and Republicans Reps. Nathan Ballentine of Chapin and Gary Clary of Clemson. 

Last week, Statehouse Report noted four in five current legislators did not have an opportunity to vote on the 2000 legislation. In an opinion piece, editor Andy Brack called for the law’s repeal during this week’s session.  

“The curious thing about laws is they can be repealed,” Brack wrote. “Unfortunately, lawmakers sometimes seem to forget they have the power to get rid of a law when it is no longer useful.”

On Tuesday, the city of Charleston voted to remove a statue of John C. Calhoun from a public park. The 115-foot and 124-year-old statue was removed by Wednesday evening. Read about it here. After the vote, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson issued an opinion that the statue was not protected by the Heritage Act.

While the legislature did not take any action on repealing the Heritage Act this week during a special session, calls to repeal the Heritage Act continued to grow. As of Wednesday, the Repeal the Heritage Act coalition gathered more than 100,000 signatures since June 6 across petitions started by alumni and students of eight South Carolina colleges and universities, including the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, Winthrop University, the Citadel, and the College of Charleston. 

On June 19, USC and Winthrop requested, as required by the Heritage Act, that the state legislature rename buildings on their campuses. Clemson renamed its Calhoun Honors College on June 12.  

The Southern Poverty Law Center recognized the Repeal the Heritage Act effort on Tuesday, urging its 420,000 followers to support its petitions. 

In other news:

Senate, House pass COVID-19 recovery funds. The Senate approved a spending measure Tuesday that directs $1.2 billion in federal funds toward state and local agencies hit by the pandemic. The House then passed the measure Wednesday. McMaster signed it into law Thursday. Read it here. Spending includes:

• $500 million for S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce’s Unemployment Trust Fund;
• $222.7 million for the S.C. Department of Education academic recovery camps;
• $270 million for state and local government expenditures through the S.C. Department of Administration;
• $42 million for statewide testing and monitoring through S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control Statewide Testing;
• $16.8 million for an emergency stockpile through the S.C. Emergency Management Division;
• $125 million for a Hospital Relief Fund through the Department of Administration;
• $50 million for broadband mapping and planning, infrastructure and mobile hotspots; and,
• $10 million for grant management oversight and compliance through the Department of Administration.

The September session to come.  A special September session will be a two-week term with six legislative days, according to legislative staff. During that time, lawmakers are expected to complete a state spending plan. The sine die resolution allows any bill that has passed either chamber to be taken up during that time. 

Virus continues to surge. Four-digit daily new infection numbers for South Carolinians battling the coronavirus continued this week. As of Thursday, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported 881 patients were in hospital beds across the state. Some counties were beyond 90 percent of their hospital bed capacity. Across the state, bed utilization was at 75.4 percent. Thursday’s report included an additional 1,106 positive cases, bringing the state’s total to 28,962 confirmed infected, and eight additional deaths, bringing the confirmed mortality count to 691. 

Lactation support signed into law. The legislature this week ratified and Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law an act requiring employers to provide lactating employees daily break times and to make reasonable efforts to find a private space for expressing breast milk. Read the law here. The breaks are not required to be paid unless the employer already provides compensated breaks and does not require employers to create a permanent or dedicated space for use by pumping employees.

S.C. gets high marks for Energy Freedom Act. The annual Solar in the Southeast report praised South Carolina for passing the Energy Freedom Act in 2019, paving the way for solar expansion in the state. The report also found the state is outpacing solar watts per customer generated than the rest of Southeastern states, and Dominion Energy in South Carolina was listed among “sunrisers” for its four year plan for more solar 807 watts per customer in 2019 to 1,809 watts per customer in 2023. Read the report here. 

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