10 issues S.C. legislators will face starting Tuesday

S.C. legislators return to Columbia on Tuesday, facing a packed agenda.

That’s bad news if your issue is not a crisis.

Historically, the Legislature has dealt with crises first. (Roads. Hurricane relief. Pension reform.)

Then, it has passed a budget and kicked the can down the road on other issues. (The theory? There is always next year.)

Legislators also are notorious for doing as little as possible in election years. (Certainly, nothing controversial.) And 2018 is an election year for S.C. House members.

So, while medical pot or tax reform or “open” carry might be your issue, 2018 might not be its year.

A look at 10 key issues legislators will face, starting Tuesday:

1. The nuclear fallout

S.C. electricity customers will be top of mind when lawmakers return Tuesday to Columbia, thanks to the unresolved crisis stemming from the July 31 abandonment of the $9 billion V.C. Summer nuclear construction project by SCE&G and the state-owned Santee Cooper utility.

Legislators will consider whether to repeal a 2007 law that enabled the fiasco. They also must decide whether to block investor-owned SCE&G from continuing to charge its customers $27 a month for the unfinished reactors – a move that SCE&G warns could bankrupt its corporate parent, Cayce-based SCANA.

Complicating the matter is a newly announced, $14.6 billion agreement buyout of SCANA by Richmond, Va.,-based Dominion Energy. Lawmakers say that deal should offer more to SCE&G’s beleaguered customers than Dominion now is offering, and they might have a chance to renegotiate its terms.

Lawmakers also are faced with deciding whether to sell Santee Cooper, which owns 45 percent of the failed project.

Gov. Henry McMaster is adamant that selling Santee Cooper is the best way to repay its customers for the hundreds of millions that they have paid for the abandoned reactors.

But that decision rests with the more hesitant S.C. Legislature.

2. Ethics reform, Part 2

It is the largest corruption scandal to rock the State House since the early 1990s Operation Lost Trust. But will it lead to stronger ethics laws?

Some lawmakers say special prosecutor David Pascoe’s State House corruption probe demands changes, citing guilty pleas from three state legislators and charges pending against others.

But updating the state’s ethics laws could be a heavy lift.

Two years ago, lawmakers passed some reforms, most notably ending the practice of lawmakers policing themselves and requiring legislators to report private sources of income, but not amounts.

Requiring lawmakers to disclose more information about who pays them – including the clients who hire them as consultants – likely will be the focus of reformers.

Battles over whether legislative political caucuses should reveal their financial records and spending activities, and whether legislators’ emails should continue to be exempt from the state’s public records law also are likely.

3. The governor’s race gets serious

It’s an election year for the governor, all other statewide constitutional officers, and members of the U.S. House and S.C. House, so the public can expect to hear a good bit of political rhetoric coming from Columbia.

Two candidates for governor – Republican Gov. Henry McMaster and Democratic state Rep. James Smith – likely will start making their cases to voters during the legislative session. Both face challengers in their parties’ June primaries.

McMaster will have a statewide audience Jan. 17, when he delivers his State of the State address. Also watch to see whether Smith uses his position in the House as a bully pulpit, calling for a new party to take the governor’s office for the first time in 20 years.

4. Reining in mega-farm excesses

Bills to more tightly control the amount of water that mega-farms use and when they can apply pesticides are pending in the Legislature.

A bill to require, for the first time, that industrial-scale farms get state permits before siphoning water from rivers is pending in the House. The odds of it passing this year are uncertain. The bill is controversial, and 2018 is an election year. Also, one its chief sponsors, state Rep. James Smith of Columbia, is running for governor as a Democrat.

A bill to limit crop-dusting near schools also has been introduced. State Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, introduced the bill last year amid concerns about crop-dusting by a mega-farm. Some farm interests say crop-dusters are being targeted unfairly; others say it makes sense to prevent planes from spraying pesticides near schools.

In addition to those environmental bills, a fight potentially is brewing over continued funding of the state Conservation Bank. The bank, hammered in recent audits, has been targeted by some lawmakers who are upset about the lack of public access to some of the land that the bank has protected with taxpayer money. Boosters say the bank has protected sensitive, ecologically rich land that could have been developed otherwise.

5. Reforming S.C. taxes

Tax reform isn’t just for federal lawmakers. S.C. legislators want in on reform, too.

But exactly what part of the state’s tax code would change is still to be decided by a special S.C. House committee. For months, that committee has been meeting and discussing ways to find the state more money without increasing taxes on the now roughly 5 million South Carolinians.

One option for lawmakers could be to cut the state’s 6 percent sales tax in half. To offset that drop in revenue, lawmakers could decide to start charging the state’s sales tax on items that are now exempt from that tax.

Tax reform is a priority for House Speaker Jay Lucas, who hopes movement on tax reform can be made in future sessions.

(That’s more likely than a reform bill passing this year. Typically, ideas bubble up in one chamber and, then, years later, are considered by the other.)

“South Carolina deserves a more reliable and predictable revenue stream, which can be achieved through a fairer, flatter and broader tax code,” said Lucas spokeswoman Caroline Delleney.

6. Making S.C. state workers a priority

Over the next five years, South Carolina’s more than 100 state agencies are at risk of losing more than 10,000 workers because those employees will reach retirement age.

The question is: Where will their replacements come from?

Those same state agencies already struggle to fill vacant positions, in part because of uncompetitive pay.

Pay raises are necessary to recruit younger workers, a consultant told lawmakers last year.

However, a 2 percent raise for all state employees would cost the state about $38.4 million, and the state’s weak revenue collections could threaten raises this year, just as road needs and hurricane relief have in other years.

“Pay needs to be dealt with,” said Carlton Washington, executive director of the S.C. State Employees Association. “It has long-range ramifications.”

7. Paying for schools differently

As legislators push for tax reform following Congress’ lead, education financing will be a big part of the debate. A 2006 state tax law shifted the burden of school operating costs off of homeowners – many of whose children use schools – and onto businesses.

That change has put poor, rural schools at a huge disadvantage to those in wealthier communities, perpetuating disparities in public education across the state.

Enacting a statewide tax rate for schools would level the playing field, some say. But there are a lot of moving pieces to figure out, and no solution will be inexpensive.

8. Paying for higher education

S.C. colleges and universities spent much of the 2017 session pushing legislators to pass a borrowing bill that would pay for the schools’ maintenance and construction needs.

The University of South Carolina wanted nearly $178 million, including $50 million to start construction on a new medical school. Clemson wanted $103 million. Another $94.9 million would have been be split among the 16 technical colleges and four two-year colleges.

A $1.1 billion bond bill was whittled down to a $500 million proposal, including only $251 million for S.C. colleges. Then, Gov. Henry McMaster’s veto threat killed the proposal.

Colleges will be back this year, seeking the first state bond to be approved since 2001.

9. Permitless carry

In 2017, the S.C. House approved a bill that would remove limits on carrying a handgun in the Palmetto State, either concealed or openly.

The bill, which advocates call “constitutional carry,” would eliminate the need to get a state-issued permit to carry a handgun, and any of the legal requirements or restrictions that go with it.

Firearms still would be barred from schools and other locations, where they already are barred by state law. Private businesses also still could bar firearms.

This year, the proposal is before the state Senate, where it must pass or it will die when the session ends.

10. Medical pot

Companion bills in the House and Senate would allow S.C. patients to use medical marijuana.

The “Compassionate Care Act” did not make it out of committee in 2017. But supporters collected testimony in several hearings on the medical benefits of products derived from marijuana, both from medical experts and the families of those suffering from chronic conditions.

Law enforcement agencies oppose the legislation, but the House version of the bill did get the approval of a medical affairs subcommittee.

The challenge this year will be it make it through both the full House and the Senate.

This story was originally published January 8, 2018 at 9:15 AM with the headline "10 issues S.C. legislators will face starting Tuesday."