BRIEFS: Goldfinch urges flooding fixes now

By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | Coronavirus and the state’s budget may be the top priorities in the lead-up to a September mini-legislative session, but flooding also isn’t going away and lawmakers have a chance to do something about it, Murrells Inlet Republican Sen. Stephen Goldfinch told Statehouse Report Wednesday.  

“Everybody is lobbying for their own little pet project to happen in September. Flooding should absolutely be at the top of the list. It is a huge economic problem in South Carolina,” he said.

South Carolina watched from a thousand miles away this week as a Category 4 hurricane came ashore in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Laura was expected to have an “unsurvivable” 20-foot storm surge in Cameron Parish, Louisiana — although after the storm swept through, some say that surge swelled to a more modest, but still devastating 9 feet and brought waters 40 miles inland. 

Storm surge from a Category 4 storm would swamp as far inland as St. Stephen, Conway, Moncks Corner, Walterboro and across Interstate 95 in Jasper County — all about 40 miles inland, according to a NOAA interactive map. 

Goldfinch is the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 259, which seeks to create a revolving fund and a governing body to help low-lying property owners get low-interest buyout loans from the bank. 

The bill passed the Senate 44-1 on March 19 and was referred to the House Ways and Means committee. Committee Chair Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, did not respond to a request to comment on the bill and whether it could get a vote on the House floor when the body meets Sept. 15.

In a similar vein, in 2019, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development began offering $16 billion for “large-scale migration or relocation” and other steps to deal with flooding. North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas have since expressed interest in using  that money to fund buyouts, the purchasing and demolishing of homes exposed to storms, among other things, according to The New York Times.

In other news:

Budget stuff remains unclear, but still some surplus. The revenue forecasters for state spending met Aug. 24 to close the books on the fiscal year of 2019-2020, which ended June 30, but had revenues delayed as tax deadlines were extended amid the pandemic. The year ended with about $467 million above the $9.4 billion originally predicted for revenues, according to Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Executive Director Frank Rainwater. (For context, in January, Rainwater’s team was predicting a $507 million surplus, on top of unexpectedly recurring surplus revenues from the previous year of $350 million.) However in an interview Thursday, the state’s Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom said the year closed at a $775 million budget surplus. That includes money that agencies didn’t spend and that’s why it doesn’t match with the figures reported Monday, Rainwater said. 

Now comes the tricky part for the Board of Economic Advisors: Predicting what revenues the state should expect for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. It will convene again 1 p.m. Aug. 31 to discuss  predictions. Many expect advisors to be conservative in their estimates. 

• Related: Senate budget writers convene Sept. 1. The Senate Finance Committee will meet 10 a.m. Sept. 1 virtually for more than six hours of scheduled testimony from state leaders on the economy and revenue. See the agenda here. 

Home births facilitated by midwives could change. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is proposing changes for midwives — licensed medical professionals who facilitate births outside a hospital setting — that could make having a home birth more difficult for some but allow midwives to perform at-home suturing and intravenous fluid procedures. Any changes will need to be approved by the state legislature. Read more. 

House equity committee talks forfeiture reform Aug. 31. The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform subcommittee of the House’s Equitable Justice System and Law Enforcement Reform Committee meets 2:30 p.m. Aug. 31 in room 110 of the Blatt building on Statehouse grounds in Columbia. The meeting will hear testimony from four witnesses on the law enforcement practice of seizing a person’s assets before a trial. See the agenda and witness list here. 

Senate convenes Sept. 2. The Senate will convene as a full body noon Sept. 2 in its chamber at the Statehouse in Columbia. Senate President Harvey Peeler said the body would discuss making voting safe for the Nov. 3 general election. 

House committee to look at federal funds starting Sept. 2. The House Ways and Means CARES Act Ad Hoc committee will meet virtually 2 p.m. Sept. 2 and Sept. 9 on updates on initial federal funding authorization and on what’s needed for a second phase of funding. The committee met this week for more than an hour in a meeting conducted by Executive Budget Office Director Brian Gaines.  See the agenda here. 

House convenes Sept. 15. The House of Representatives will convene as a full body noon Sept. 15 in its chamber at the Statehouse in Columbia. 

• Have a comment?  Send to:  feedback@statehousereport.com